Connecticut western news., 1898-02-03
STURDY CHRISTIANS.
THE TIMES DEMAND MEN AND WoM-
 eN OF HEROIC MOLD.

ANo cA 2hSSh LshhcT--<ActssNp 1s~NhcsAp
 Working Christians Are Needed Now
 and Always.
 Copyright. 1868, by American Press Asso-
 ciation.l
 WASHINGTON, Jan. 30. -Dr. Talmace 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, l4, "Who know eth whether thou art come to the king dom for such time as this?"
 Esther the 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- CT thou art come to the kingdom for such time as this?"
 Esther had her God appointed work. You and have ours. It 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 practicabili 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 defi- nitions and formulas and technicalities and conventionalities of religion. What we want is practical, earnest, concen- trated, enthusiastic and triumphant help
 Aggressive Chststianity.
 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 1G6OA NuIl6b WILL OO pCttCI WlbhOub them. They are the chief obstacle to the church's advancement. am speaking of another kind of Christian. All the appliances TOT your becoming an earnest Christian are at your hand, and there is 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. Whyf 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 closet? A great deal of the piety of today Is too exclu- sive. It hides itself. It 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 a 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.
 I was once amid the wonderful, be. witching cactus growths cf North Car olina.. never was more bewildered with the beauty of flowers. and yet when I would take up one of these cac- tuses 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 damage instead of an advantage to their was boy used to have a small piece in the garden that called my own, and planted corn there, and every few days l would pull it up to see how fast it 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, if you want to have stalwart Christian character, plant it right out of doors ill 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, it will thrive until it becomes great tree in which the fowls of heaven may have their habitation. 1 have no patience with these fowerpot 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 l never look at it without thinking of it's parsimony. It let's whole generations go by before it puts forth one blossom, so l have really more admiration when I see the dewy tears in the blue eyes of the violets, for they come every spring. My Christian friends. time is going by so rapidly that we cannot afford to be idle.
 A recent statistician says that hu- rnan life now has an average of only 32 years. From these 32 years you must subtract all the time you take for sleep and the taking of food and recreation. That will leave you about Is years. From these Is you must subtract all the time that you are necessarily engaged in the earning of livelihood. That will leave you about eight years. From these o; ;.Ik taiyn all tho daua