The Red Cloud chief., 1892-06-24
CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS.
ID. Taimage Disoourses on Militant
Christianity.
es1swers 81 tho saviour Urged 10 Ne
neady for Aggressive Warfare
The Popular Preacher Go.
Ing to Europe.

III. laiuhRe prcfaCed MS sermon last
Sunday morning at Brooklyn with a
statement TO the effect that he would
eail on Wednesday for Europe and
night be able TO be present at the dis
tritration In the famine stricken dis
tricts of Russia of the Christian Herald
relief cargo, consisting of 5000, 900
pounds of -four and other supplies which
gccs out this week on the steamship
Leo, chartered for the purpose. He
congratulated the American people on
che generous spirit evinced by this
magnificent gift TO the starving people.
His sermon was from the text, Ephe-
Aians VI IL. "Put on the Whole Armor
Of God"
There Ia in this text a great rattle Of
ehiclds and helmets and swords. SOL
dicrs are ready for battle. We have
Sad recently in this church new enlist
mcnts and ! shall address myself to
chose in this and other churches who
are putting on the armor of God, and
who may feel themselves to be rs yet
only raw recruits. Mastery retreat"
= . term often used In military circles,
but in religion there Is no such thing.
IL Is called glorious advance or dis
graceful and ignominious falling back.
u would be a strange thing IL all our
anxiety about men ceased the moment
they were converted. You would al.
most doubt the sanity Of that farmer
who having planted the corn and seen
IT. just sprout above ground, should say:
my work Is all done. I have no more
anxiety for the field" No. There Is
work for the plow and tho hoe, and
thee must be q careful keeping up of
che fences and there must be q fright
eaing away Of the birds that would pill
oags the field. And I say the entrance
upon Christian life is only the implant.
alton of grace In the heart. There IL
earnest, hard work yet to be done, and
perhaps many years of anxiety before
therc shall be heard the glorious shout
Of Harvest home" The beginning to
be aChristian Is only putting down the
foundation; but after that there are
years OF hammering, polishing, carv-
Ing, lifting, before the structure Is
completed. II takes five years to make
. Christian character, 1t takes twenty
gears, It takes forty years, It takes
seventy years II u man shall live so long.
in other words, a man dying after half
. century Of Christian experience feels
chat he has only learned the "a Ii
Ca" OF a glorious alphabet. The next
year will decide q great deal in
your history, young Christian man.
10 will decide whether you are to
be . burning and shining light OF the
church, or n spark Of grace covered up
Tn y barrel of ashes. It will decide
whether you are to be n strong man in
Christ Jesus, with gigantic blows strik-
ing the iron mail of darkness, or q be-
'Awarfed. whining, grumbling soldier,
Chat ought to DO drummed out of the
Lords camp with the "Rogues' March"
You have only just been launched; the
voyage Is to be made. Earth and
Heaven and hell are watching to see
how fast you will sail, how we'll you
will weather the tempest, and whether
NJ Last amid the shouting Of the angels
you shall come into the right harbor.
Nay God help me this morning to give
you three or four words of Christian
counsel, rs I address myself more espe-
oAily TO those who have just now en-
tcrcd the Christian life.
Ny first word of counsel Is, Hold be-
fore your soul u very high model. Do
not say, ~ wish could pray like that
man, or have the conservation of this
one-" Say: Here is the lord Jesus
Christ q perfect pattern. BY that l
Oesu, with Gods grace to shape all my
Rife" In other words, you win never
be any more a Christian than you strive
% be. II you build a foundation twenty
by thirty feet, you will only have a
umall house. II you build a foundation
M hundred by one hundred feet, you
will have n large house. II you resolve
20 be only a middling Christian, you
will be only a middling Christian. II
you have no high aspiration In a world.
by direction, you will never succeed In
business. II you have no high aspira-
Zion in religious things you will never
succeed In religion. You have n right
% aspire to the very highest
style of Christian character. From
your feet there reaches out
. path Of Christian attainment which
you may take and / deliberately say
chat you may be a better man than was
Paul, or David, or Summertield, or Dod-
Aridge-a better woman than Hannah
1doore or Charlotte Elizabeth. Why
mot? Did they have n monopoly Of
christian grace? Did they have a pri-
snte key to the storehouse of Gods
mercy? Does God shut you out from
Tho gladness and goodness TO which
they were introduced. o, no, You have
Just the same promises, just the same
Christ, just the same Holy Ghost, just
che same offers of present and everlast-
ing love, and II you fall short of what
thsy were-aye. II you do o come
up TO the point which they reached and
90. beyond tit is not because Christ
has shut you out from any point Of
00sni and spiritual elevation. but be-
esasc you deliberately refused to take
ST. admit that man cannot become a
Christian like that without a struggle;
Out what do you get without fighting
for II? The fortresses of darkness are
% be taken by storm You may by
acute strategy flank the hosts of tempta-
Aions. there are evils, in the way that
ydu will have to meet face to face and