The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-31
BEAUTIFUL WIFE OF A BRUTE.
TALMAGE breaches A SERMON ON
QUEEN ESTHER.

come Aggressive Christians-Hnlf
and Half Christians Too Numerous
and the Chief Obstacle TO the Adj
Nanccment of the Church.
washington, Jan. SO.-Dr. Talmage
here shows the style of Christian
character required for the times in which
we live. and pleads for more heroics. The
text is Esther 4I4: "Who knoweth wheth-
err thou art come to the kingdom for such
a time as this?'
Esther, the beautiful, was the wife OF
Ahasuerus. the abominable. The time had
come for her to present a petition to her
infamous husband in behalf 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 cous-
dn Mordecai, who had brought her up, en-
couraged her with the suggestion that
probably she had been raised up of God
for that peculiar mission. "Who knoweth
whether thou art come to the kingdom for
such 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 women you
ought to be in order that you meet the de-
mand of the age in which God has cast
your lot. So this discourse will not deal
with the technicalities, but only with the
probabilities. When two armies have
rushed into battle. the officers of either
army do not want a philosophical discus
sion about the chemical properties of hu-
man 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 heav-
en- and hell, have plunged into the fight,
it is no time TO give ourselves to the detini-
tions and formulas and technicalities and
conventonalities of religion. What we
want is practical, earnest, concentrated,
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 ad-
vancement. 1 am speaking of another
kind of Christian. All the appliances for
your becoming an earnest Christian are
at your hand, and there is straight path
for you into the broad daylight of God $
forgiveness. You may this moment be
the hondmen of the world and the next
moment you may be princes of the Lord
God Almighty. You remember what ex-
element there was in this country, years
ago, when the Prince or Wales came
here-how the people rushed out by hun
dreds of thousands to see him. Why? Be
cause 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 AL
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 Chris
tan graces and wondering why they do
not make progress. How much robust
ness of health would man have If he
hid himself in a dark closet? A great
deal of the piety of to day is too exclu-
sive. 1t hides itself. 1t needs more fresh
air, more outdoor exercise. There are
many Christians who are giving their en-
tire 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?
l was once amid the wonderful, bewitch
ing cactus growths of North Carolina. 1
never was more bewidered with the beau
ty of flowers, and yet when I would take
up one of these cactuses and pun the
leaves apart the beauty was all gone.
You could hardly tell that il had ever
been flower. And there are a 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 determination is a dam
age instead of an advantage to their
Christian character. I remember when
/ 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 pull
ing up of that which they only yesterday
or the day before planted. oh, my
friends, if you want to have a stalwart
Christian character, plant it 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 it, it will thrive I'M
til 1t becomes a great tree, in which the
fowls of heaven may have their habitation.
have no patience with these flower pot
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 use
tulness. What we want in the church of
zoo is more strength of piety. The cen
fury plant is wonderfully suggestive and
wonderfully beautiful. but never look at
Il without thinking of it's parsimony. 1t
lets whole generations go by before il nuts
forth one blossom; so l have really more
admiration when 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 af-
ford to be idle.
A recent statistician says that human
lie now has an average of only thirty-twc
years. From these thirty-two years Vol
must spbstract all the time you take for
sleep and the taking of food and recrea
ton; that will leave you about slxteer
years. From these sixteen Won mus
subtract all the time that you are neces
sarily engaged in to earning of a liveli
hood; that will leave you about eieh
years. From these eight years you mus
take all the days and weeks and month,
AL the length of time that is passed in
demonstrating you about one year in
which to work for God. O my SOUL wax,
mt 4 4