Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-10-18
Sermon by Rev. Arthur
Allen. 4
"The Present Crisis"

"The Present Crisis"
"And who knoweth whether thou
art come to the Kingdom for such g
time as Esther 4:14.
The present crisis is always pres.
ent. There is no such thing as past
or future crisis. The present crisis
is the only one life has. The storysof
Esther illustrates the critical nature
of every period of human history
for history itself is but the sum total
of the deposits made by nations and
generations to the life of theworns
On the coast of Florida are beautiful
coral reefs, thrown up and constructs
ed through the process of the centnss
ries. They stand there today as a ST 8
lent monument to the successive gem
erations of little coral creatures. One
colony of these little animals comes
forward, lives, makes its depositaof
coral and dies. So one generation aps
pears on the scene Of action, makes
its deposit of life and passes outll
And if there is any exception to that
rule, if we depart without leaving q
deposit, then life is not as rich and
well-rounded and full as it otherwise
would be. 1t lacks something in coms
pleteness and history is held up in#its
upward movement toward great SUI
prelne climax.
We like Esther come to the king
dom for special hour and defnitgs
purpose is all the time being workea
out in human life and history. YoIS
do not have to search for illustras
tions of this truth. They are found
in the story of every nation whetheT
is be Hebrew or British or Frencn'
or American. Every great character
that ever walked across the worlds
life arose to meet a crisis, Joseph
became prime minister in the land
of the Nile that ne might saveshis
family, the chosen people, from faIp5 al5f5
inc by bringing them into Egypsy
Constantine became Emperor of
Rome that he might enaneip pate.
Christianity which was Sstrug
& fors and dsslssld'u
in the Roman Empire. It's not neces-
sary to multiply Illustrations. A
glance backward over our history
will furnish them in such quantity as
to convince us that every generation
has great moral problem of its
own. John Fiske wrote a book en-
titled "The Critical Period of Ameri-
can History" but someone else might
with good reason mark off another
or still another, and call it The Criti-
cal Period. Whether man live five
thousand years before Christ in
Babylon or nineteen hundreds years
after Christ in America, he is in
The Present Crisis.
God is not poor artist who brings
on the stage, in addition to the ac-
tors, others who have no parts as
signed. Every actor in the drama Of
life appears just when he does, be-
cause he is needed then to the de-
velopment ofthe plot and its solu-
ton. In the narrative of Esther
everything seems to hang on an if
or happen so. 1t is full of unexpected
turns and apparently unrelated
events only casually connected and
touching each other. If the king had
not have been intoxicated, the Jew
ess would not have been chosen
queen. If he had not have had a
sleepless night, Mordecai's service to
him would have been forgotten. The
accidental reading Of the state ar
chives recalled that he had once saw
ed the monarch's life. If Esther had
not have been queen at this time, her
nation would have perished in a
bloody massacre. The characters
seem to act spontaneously, but be-
hind the scenes in the shadow is
God, who 50 shapes events as to fit
together each individual and occa-
sion. And what seems to be mere
chance and the mutation of fortune
is actually Divine Providence and the
unfolding of great life scheme. Be-
ing great literature, this book is true
to life. The central fact of life itself
is that God prepares every life for a
peculiar service to its own time and
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