The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1898-02-19
CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
The Kind of Christians That Are
Needed In the World.
The Balf-and-H Hair Sort the Greatest OBJ
stacles TO Church Advancement
How Best to Qualify for
Christian Duties.

sermon, points out the style OF Chris
tan character required for the times
in W hich we live. The text is:
Whe knoweth whether thou art come to tn o
Kingdom for such time as this?-E 'Eher w.,
Esther, thu beautiful, was the wife
of Ahasueius, the abominable. The
tizae had come for her to present Pc
iEOn to her infamous husband in be-
half OF the Jewish nation, to which she
had once belonged. She was afraid to
undertake the work, lest she should
lose her own life; but her cousin, Nor
desai, who had brought her up encour-
aged her with the suggestion that
probably she had been raised up Of
Gsd for that peculiar mission. who
knoweth whether thou art come to the
kingdom for such time as thisr"
Esther had her God-appointed work.
You and l have ours. 1t is my bust
ness to tell you what style of men aud
women you ought to be in order that
you meet the demands OF the age in
which God has cast your lot. So this
discourse will not deal with the tech
niealities, but only with the practical
bilities. When two armies have
rushed into battle, the officers OF
either army do not want philosoph-
zeal discussion about the chemical
properties OF human blood or the ma
tire of gunpowder; thew 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
definitions and formulas and techni-
calites and conventionalities of reli-
gion. What we want is practical,
earnest, concen trated, enthusiastic and
triumphant help.
In the first place, in order to meet
the special demand OF this age, you
need to be an unmistakable, aggressive
Christian. 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 church's advancement. l am speak
ing 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 in
to the broad daylight Of Gods forgive
ness. You may this moment be the
bendmen 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 thousands
to see him. Why? Because they ex-
pected that some day he would sit up
on the throne of England. But what
was all that honor to which God calls
you-to be sons and daughters of the
Lord A mighty; 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
Christian graces and wondering why
they do not make progress. How much
robustness of health would u man have
if he hid himself in Il dark closet? A
great deal of the piety of to-day is too
exclusive. 1t hides ITSELF 1t needs
more fresh air, more outdoor exercise.
There are more Christians who are Civ
ing their entire life in self-eXamina-
ton. They are feeling their pulses to
see what is the condition of their spir-
itual health. How long would a man
have robust physical health If he
kept all the day feeling his pulse in
stead of going out into active, earnest
everyday work9
/ was once amid the wonderful, be.
witching cactus growths OF North Caro-
lima. 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
beauty was all gone. You could hard
ly tell that it had ever been a flower.
And there are great many Christian
people in this day just pulling apart
their Christian 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. | re-
member when l was boy |
used to have small piece in the garden
that called my own, and 1 planted
corn there, and every few days l
would pull it up to see how fast it was
growing. Now, there IRE 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 planted, Oh, my friends, if you
want to have stalwart Christian
character, plant it right out of doors,
in the great field of Christian useful
meas, and though storms may come
upon it, and though the hot sun of
trial may try to consume it, it will
thrive until it becomes a great tree,
in which the fowls of Heaven may
have their habitation. | have no
patience with these hower-pot Chris
tians. They keep themselves
under shelter, and all their Chris
tian experience in small, ex-
elusive circle, when they ought
to plant it in the great garden
of the Lord, SO that the whole atmos-
phere could be aromatic with their
Christian usefulness. What we want
IN the church of God is more strength
of piety. The century plant is won
derfully suggestive and wonderfully