Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1898-02-09

longed She was
afraid to undertake 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 pc
culiar mission. who knoweth wheth-
en- thou art come to the kingdom for
such time as this?"
Esther had her Godappointed work.
You and / have ours. 1t is my busi-
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
nicalities, but only with the practical
bilities. When two armies have rushed
into battle. the officers of either army
do not want 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, concentrat
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 10
the church's advancement. 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 Gods for
glveness. You may this moment be
the bondmen of the world, and the
next moment you may be princes of
the 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
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 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"
l was once amid the wonderful. be-
wltch1ng cactus growths of North Car
DINA. never was more bewildered
with the beauty of flowers, and yet
when | would take up one of these
cactuses and pull the leaves apart the
beauty was all gone. You could hard
ly tell that it had ever been 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 determination is a
damage instead of an advantage TO
their christian character. l remember
when was boy l used to have a
small piece in the garden that | called
my own, and planted corn there. and
every few days | would pull it up 70
see how fast it was growing. Now
there are great many Christian peo-
pie in this day whose self-examination
merely amounts to the pulling I'M of
that which they only yesterday or the
DAY before planted. Oh, my friends,
II you want to have a stalwart Chris
tian character, plant it right out of
doors in the great field of Christian
usefulness. and though storms NAV
come upon 1t, and though the hot sun
OF trial may try to consume it, ii will
thrive until 1t becomes a great tree
In which the fowls of heaven NAV have |
their habitation. l have no patience
with these flower-pot Christians. They
keep themselves under shelter, and |
all their Christian experience in a |
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
0~AheAy oueSSotiNS anu WONDERFULLY |
beautiful, but l never look at it with
out thinking Of its parsmony. It lets
whole generations go by before it puts
forth one blossom; so l have really
more admiration when l see the dewy
tears in the blue eyes of the violets.
for they come every spring. My Chris
tian 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-
mands 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
Is 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
10 recommend thing to their conf
dence; and 80 they vacillate and swing
10 and fro. and they are useless and
hey are unhappy. New plans-secu-
AR, ethical. philosophical. religious.
transatlantic - long
enough to make a line reaching from
ha |