The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1898-02-23
A Real Blood Remedy.
STURDY CHRISTIANS,
TIE TIMES DEMAND MEN AND WON
EN- OF HEROIC MOLD.

EN- OF HEROIC MOLD.
DR.. Talmage Draws Moral From the
Life of Queen Esther-Act!ve, Earnest,
Working Christians Are Needed Now
and Always.
copyright. 1885, by American Press Asso-,
ciation.l
WASHINGTON. DIR. Talmage
here shows the style CT Christian char
acter required for the times il which
we live and pleads for more heroics.
The text is Esther ", IA, who know
eth whether thou art come TO the king
dom fer 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 III 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 time as this:''
Esther had her God appointed work.
You ard I 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 practicabilities.
When two armies have rushed into lat
tie, the officers of either army do not
want philosophical discussion about
the chemical properties Of human blood
or the nature Of sunpowdey; they want
some one to man the batteries and take
out the guns. Ard 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 deti-
nitions and formulas and technlcailtles
and conventionalities of religion. What
we want is practical, earnest, concen~
trated, enthusiastic ard triumphant
help.
Aggressive Christianity.
In the first place, in erder to meet the
special demand Of this ago you need to
bo al unnistakable, aggressive Chris
sian. 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
ehurch's advancement. am speaking
of another kind of Christian. All the
appliances for your becoming al earnest
Christian arc at your hand, and there is
straight path for you into the bread
daylight of Gods forgiveness. Yea may
this moment be the bondmen Of the
world, and the next moment you may
be princes cf the Lord God Almighty.
You remember what excitement there
was in this country years ago when the
Prince of Wales came bere-how the
people rushed out by hundreds CT 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 kcDor 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 huesing their Chris
tian graces and wondering why they &c
not make progress. How much robust
ness of health would a man have if lie
hid himself in dark olcset: A great
deal CT the piety Ct today is too cxclu-
sive. It hides itself. 1t needs mere fresh
air, moro 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 CT their spiritual health.
How long would man have robust
physical health if he kept all the day
feeling his pulse instead Of going ou'
into active, earnest everyday work:
Won't Stand Analysis.
I was once amid the wonderful, be-
%itching cactus growths CT North Car
olina. I never was more bewildere(
with the beauty CT flowers, and vet
when I would take up one CT these cac
fuses and pull the leaves apart the beau
ty was all gone. You could hardly tel
that it had ever teen flower. Acc
there are great many Christian people
in this day just pulling apart their Chris
tian experiences to see what there is IL
them, and there isnothirg left in them
This style of self examination Is {
damage instead of all advantage to theil
Christian character. l remember Whe,
I was boy used to have small piece
in the garden that I called my own, ant
planted corn there, and every few
days I would pull it Up to see how faS
it was growing. Now, there arc grea
many Christian people in this Ga,
whose self examination merely amount
to the pulling mp of that which they
only yesterday or the day before plant
ed. Oh, my friends, if you want to have
a stalwart Christian character, plant /
right out of doors III the great field O.
Christian usefulness, and though storms
may come upon it, and, though the he
sun of trial may try to consume i, l
will thrive until it becomes Z great tree
in which the fowls Of heaven may have
their babitation. l have 10 patienc'
with these fowerpot Christians. They
keep themselves under shelter, and al
their Christian experience i'll small
exclusive circle. when they. ought t