The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1898-02-22

iest hue should lose utT o"h
life. but her cousin. Mordecai. who
bad brought her up. encouraged her
with the suggestion that probably she
had been raised up Of God for that pc
culiar mission. who knoweth wheth'
er thou art come 70 the kingdom for
such a time as this?"
Esther had her God-appOlnted work.
You and / have ours. Il Is my busl-
ness 20 tell you what style Of men and
women you ought 10 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 tech
niealltles. but only with the practical
bilitles. When two armies hays rushed
into battle. the officers Of either army
do not want a philosophical discussion
about the chemical properties o. hu-
man blood or the nature ~ gunpowder.
they want some one 20 man the bat
teries and take out the guns. And
now. when all the forces o. light and
darkness. Of heaven and hell have
plunged into the fight. % ls no time
% give ourselves % the definitions and
formulas and technicalities and con-
ven'i0ual.tIes Of religion. What We
want IL p. sctlcal. earnest, concentrat-
ed, enthusiastic and triumphant help.
In the hrst place. In order 10 meet
the special demand Of this age. you
need 20 be an unmistakable. aggressive
Christian OF half-and-hali Christians
We DO not want any more. The church
Of Jesus Christ viii be better without
them. They are the chief obstacle 10
the church's Advancement. am
speaking Of another kind Of Christian.
All the appliances for your becoming
an earnest Christian are 40 your hand
and there Is O straight path for you
into the broad daylight 81 Gods for
glyencss. You may this moment be
the b0ndmcn % the world. and the
next moment YOU may be princes of
the Lord God Almighty You remem-
Der what excitement there was ln this
country, years ago. when the Prince %
Wales came herc-how the people
rushed out By hundreds % thousands
20 see him. Why? Because they ex-
pectei that some day be would slt up
on the throne Of EngIlue But what
was an that honor compared with the
honor 20 which God calls you-to be
sons and daughters o. the Lord Al
mighty; yea. 20 De queens and kings
unto God. They shall reign with him
forever and forever"
/ was once amid the wonderful. be-
witching cactus growths Of North Car
ollna never was more bewlldered
with the beauty OF flowers. and yet
when I would take up one Of these
cactuses and pull the leaves apart the
beauty was all gone You could hard
ly tell that Il had ever been a flower.
And there are a great many Christian
people IN this day Just pulling apart
their Christian experiences 20 Sc, what
there Is In them, and there Is nothing
left IN them.
This style Of determination Is a
damage instead Of an advantage 10
their Christian character. remember
when / was boy / used 20 have n
small piece In the garden that I called
my own. and planted corn there. and
every few days ! would pull IL up 20
see how fast Il was growing. Now.
there are a great many Christian peo-
pie In this day whose determination
merely amounts to the pulling I'D OF
that which they only yesterday or the
day before planted. Oh, my friends.
n you want 10 have a stalwart Chris.
tian character. plant Il right out o,
doors IN the great field OF Christian
usefulness, and though storms may
come upon Il. Eni though the hot sun
OF trial may try 20 consume Il. IL will
thrive until 10 becomes a great tree
In which the fowls OF heaven may have
their habitation. have no patience
with these fowerpot Christians. They
keep themselves under shelter. and
all their Christian experience In a
small, exclusive 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 wan,
In the church OF God Is more strength
Of piety. The century plant Is won.
derfully suggestive and wonderfully
beautiful. but ! never look at Il with.
out thinking % It's parsimony /, lets
whole generations 60 by before Il puts
| forth one blossom. 80 / have really
more admiration when ! see the dewy
tears IN the blue eyes OF the ylolets
for they come every spring. My Chris.
uan friends, time IL going by 30 rap.
idly that we can not afford 20 be idle
Again, II you want TO be qualified "a
meet the duties which this age dc,
mands Of you. you must, on one hand
avoid reckless iconoclasm. and. on N,
other hand, not stick too much e
things because they are old The ali
Is full OF new plans new projects. new
theories of government. now thc0logies
and ] am amazed to see how So many
/ Christians want only novelty 90 order
10 recommend @ thing 90 their conf
dence, and so they acillate aud swIna
TO and fro, and they are useless and
they are unhappy New plans sccu.
lar ethical, philosophical religious
cis-Atautic transatlantic - lonr
enough 20 make a line reaching from
the GormaH universities 90 Great Salt
Lake City Al. my brother. do not
take hold Of thing merely because %
Is new! Try Il by the realities " IN,
Judgment Day But on the other
hand. do not adhere TO anything mere
ly because It Is Old There Is not q
single enterprise Of the church or IN,
world but has sometime been scoifet
at There was time when men de-
rlded even Bible societies. and VIXEN q
few young men met In Massachusott.
and organized the first missionary So
ciety ever organized In this country