The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1898-02-10

lest she should lose her own
life; but her cousin, Mordecal, VINO
had 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 to the kingdom for
such time as this?'
Esther had her God-appointed work.
You and 1 have ours. 1t is my bust
Ness to tell you what style of men and
women 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 tech
nicaiities, but only with the practical
bilities. When two armies have rushed
Into battle, the officers of either army
do not want a philosophical discussion
about the chemical properties of hu-
man blood or the nature of gunpowder;
they want some one to man the bat
teries 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 technicalities and con-
ventionalities of religion. What we
want is practical, earnest concentrate
ed. 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 I am
speaking of another kind of Christian.
Al: the appliances for your becoming
an earnest Christian are at your hand,
ard there is straight path for you
xnto the broad daylight Of Gods for
ssiVeness. You may this moment be
the bondmen of the world, and the
next moment you may be princes of
ahe Lord God Almighty. You remem-
Der 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
60 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 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"
was once amid the wonderful he
wltchlng cactus groWths of North Car
DINA L never was more bewildered
with the beauty of flowers. and vet
when l would take up one of these
'eactMses 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
Teople in this day just pulling apart
their Christian experiences to see what
ehere is in them, and there is nothing
left in them.
This style of self-examination is
damage instead of an ADVANTAGE to
their Christian character I remember
when l was a boy 1 used to have
small piece in the garden that l called
my own and planted corn there. and
every few days l would pull it up 70
see how last it was growing. Now
ahere are great many Christian neo-
pie sn this day whose self-examination
merely amounts to the pulling IN of
that which they only yesterday or the
day before planted. Oh, my friends,
III You want to have a stalwart Chris
tlan character, plant it right ont Of
doors in the great field of Christian
usefulness, and though storms NAV
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 NAV have
their habitation. I have no patience
with these f1ower-pot Christians. Thew
keep themselves under shelter. and
all their Christian experience in
small, exclusive circle, when thew
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
beautiful, but I never look at it with
out thinking of it's parsimony. It lets
whole generations go by before it puts
forth one blossom; so I have really
more admiration when I see the dewy
tears in the blue eyes of the violets,'
for they come every spring. My Chris
tan friends, time is going by so rap
idly that we can not afford to be idle.
Again, if you want to be qualified to
meet the duties which this age de-
lmands of you, you must, on one hand,
avoid reckless iconoclasm, and, on the
other hand, not stick too much to
things because they are old. The air
lis FULL of new plans, new projects, new
theories Of government, new theologies,
and am amazed to see how so many
Christians want only novelty in order
ito recommend a thing to their conf
.dence; and so they vacillate and swing
TO and fro, and they are useless and
they are unhappy. New plans secu-
lar, ethical, philosophical, religious,
cis-Atlantic, transatlantic long
enough to make line reaching from
.4he German universities to Great Salt