Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-02-04
STURDY CHRISTIANS.
THE TIMES DEMAND MEN AND WON
EN- OF HEROIC MOLD.

DR.. Talmage Draws Moral From the
Life Of Queen Esther-Active, Earnest,
working Christians Are Needed Now
and Always.
copyright. 1898. by American Press Asso-
clation.l
WASHINGTON, Jan. so. DIR. Talmage
here shows the style Of Christian char
acter required for the times in which
we live and pleads for more heroics.
The text is Esther iv, IA, "Who know
eth whether thou art come to the king
dom for such time as this?"
Esther tho beautiful was the wife
of Ahasuerus the abominable. The time
had come for her to present petition
to her infamous husband in behalf of
the Jewish nation, to which she had
once belonged. She was afraid to un-
dertake the work lest she should lose
her own life, but her cousin, Mordecai,
who had brought her up, encouraged
her with the suggestion that probably
she had been raised up of God for that
peculiar mission. "Who knoweth wheth-
er thou art come to the kingdom for
such a time as this?"
Esther had her God appointed work.
You and have ours. 1t is my business
to tell you what style of men and wom-
en- you ought to be in order that you
meet the demand Of the age in which
God has cast your lot. SO this discourse
will not deal with the technicalities,
but only with the practlcabllltles.
When two armies have rushed into bat
tie, the officers Of either army do not
want philosophical discussion about
the chemical properties Of human blood
or the nature Of gunpowder; they want
some one to man the batteries and take
out the guns. And now, when all the
forces of light and darkness, Of heaven
and hell, have plunged into the fight, it
is no time to give ourselves to the def
nitions and formulas and technicalities
and conventionalities Of religion. What
we want is practical, earnest, concen-
trated, enthusiastic and triumphant
help.
Aggressive Christianity.
In the first place, in order to meet the
special demand Of this age you need to
be- an unmistakable, aggressive Chris
tian. OF half and half Christians we do
not want any more. The church Of
Jesus Christ will be better without
them. They are the chief obstacle to the
ohurch's advancement. l am speaking
Of another kind Of Christian. All the
appliances for your becoming an earnest
| Christian are at your hand, and there is
a straight path for you into the broad
daylight Of Gods forgiveness. You may
this moment be the bondmen Of the
world, and the next moment you may
be princes Of the Lord God Almighty.
You remember what excitement there
was in this country years ago when the
Prince of Wales came here-how the
people rushed out by hundreds Of thou
sands to see him. Why? Because they
expected that some day he would sit
upon the throne of England But what
was all that honor compared with the
honor to which God calls you to be sons
and daughters Of the Lord Almighty,
yea. to be queens and kings unto God!
They shall reign with him forever and
forever.
But you need to be aggressive Chris
tians, and not like those persons who
spend their lives in hugging their Chris
tian graces and wondering why they do
not make progress. How much robust
ness Of health would man have If he
hid himself in dark closetl a great
deal Of the piety Of today is too exclu-
sive. 1t hides itself. 1t needs more fresh
air, more outdoor exercise. There are
many Christians who are giving their
entire life to self examination. They
are feeling their pulses to see what is
the condition Of their spiritual health.
How long would man have robust
physical health if he kept all the day
feeling his pulse instead Of going out
into active, earnest everyday work!
Won't Stand Analysis.
was once amid the wonderful, be-
witching cactus growths Of North Car
olina. l never was more bewildered
with the beauty Of flowers, and yet
when | would take up one Of these cac-
fuses and pull the leaves apart the beau
ty was all gone. You could hardly tell
that it had ever been flower. And
there are great many Christian people
in this day just pulling apart their Chris
tian experiences to see what there Is IN
them, and there is nothing left in them.
This style Of self examination is a
damage instead Of an advantage to their
Christian character. remember when
was boy l used to have a small piece
in the garden that l called my own, and
planted corn there, and every few
days would pull it up to see how fast
il was growing. Now. there are a great
many Christian people in this day
whose self examination merely amounts
to the pulling up Of that which they
only yesterday or the day before plant
ed. Oh, my friends, II you want to have
a stalwart Christian character, plant 1t
right out Of doors in the great field OF
Christian usefulness and though storms
may come upon it, and, though the hot
sun Of trial may try to consume 1t, 1t
will thrive until it becomes great tree
in which the fowls Of heaven may have
their habitation. | have no patience
with these fiowerpot Christians. They
keep themselves under shelter, and all
their Christian experience in small,
exclusive circle, when they ought to
plant it in the great garden Of the Lord,
so that the whole atmosphere could be
aromatic with their Christian useful
ness What we want in the church OF
God is more strength Of piety. The cen
tury plant is wonderfully suggestive and
wonderfully beautiful, but | never look
at it without thinking Of its parsimony.
( IL lets whole generations go by before II
r puts forth one blossom, so have really
more admiration when see the dewy
tears in the blue eyes of the violets, FOL
they come every spring My Christian
friends, time is going by so rapidly thai
we cannot afford to be idle.
A recent statistioian says that hu