Year: 1861

Delivered at The Evangelical Lutheran Church,


Miliersburg, April 2Sth 1861.


"And who knoweth whether thou art come into
the kingdom for such a time as this2"-EsrtEa
A: l3.


The history of Esther was divinely intended
to show that no contingencies ever alter the
regard ofheaven for truth. A number of cap
tive Jews are in the province of forcigr
king. Jealousy arouses the cart of wick ed
subject of royal favor, and he asks to have
his own honor and fame written in the blood
Of those whose purer religion and better train
ing forbid homage to a mere man. H,
succeeds before the royal court, and the
authoritivc edict goes forth that every He
brew mnst die. The way to the kings hear
is shut up against the eloquence of dsinter
ested sympathy, and no one, without sum
mons, dares venture the presence of royalty
and yet be sure that the golden scepter will
indicate favor. Yet amid that people wht
shone by their obedience to royalty, there
was one for ''such a time that" whose
gentle power could venture to subdue the
infamy "though not according to the law
Need we say that it was a ,oemaa whose fer
vent affection and gratitude could triumph
over this artificial barrier to gene 'ous heart,
sayiDg,"I will go, and if perish, perish -
The result showed the appOsiteness OF poor
Mordecai's question: ssWho knowcth whether
thou hast come into the kingdom for such a
time as this?"


We live in perilous times. While it is
seldom wise to make an intelligent people
apprehensive of more than reality threatens
them, it is always mistake to lull their fears
that they may be surprised by the danger
they are i'll prepared to meet. At this late
hour it would be sur upon the common
sense of man, to say we are not in extraordi-
nary and fearful emergencies, and worse than
idle to deny the solemn news of each day, or
to check the enthusiasm begotten by the
righteous fears of loyal people, when no
ono within the circumference OF the land feels
himself competent so to define our regretted
Liabilities, as to tell where probability on the
side of apprehensiveness ceases, and improb-
ability on the side Of hope begins. True, it
will be said, these circumstances belong to
this time. There is, of course, no period but
has its peculiar difficulties differing from all
others. But while this is SO, it is strikingly
illustrated in worlds experience, that some
seasons by reason of the events that mark
them, are worthy to be remembered, if others
are ignored, as affording us lessons of much
moment and deciding questions the world
must have answered at some time. The Ref
ornation was encumbered, perhaps, with
nothing that belonged not to it, yet this les
sened in no degree the solemn duties of that
:empestuous time, and adds no qualification
TO the interest we feel in Its details, except
to make us rejoice that the burden of its
momentous issues rests not upon tho eifem-
macy OF times like this. Heartily do we
receive the saying that everything has its
day, and this very consideration ought to
teach us our duty. Time is but the vast
stage which God has builded where indvid.
uals, princpalities and powers, arc compelled,
N der hn IF Il iorl,n t,,u
hibit the serious dramas and real comedies
illustrating the responsibilities and follies ol
fallen creatures; the brief space in which
man, who errs, must solve those grave enig,
mas whose answers make up the sum of all
destiny; why then should we shrink from
considering the problems submitted to us, If
every time has but its own questions, and
even national difficulties are mere matters OF
courscl But it is not exactly, though nearly
the truth. If the whole universe were like
the inanimate world, thcn indeed, however
sudden the convulsion, however fearful the
calamity; be the revolutions of orbs and Sc
cession of volatile bodies never so swift, be
the storms of the elements lever SO mighty;
there is, yet, a grand harmony among the
forces that can not sin; the wind ,gods hos
really no fratricidal hatred to the mild sun
shine which opens the leaves and smiles on
the branches that bow to his march; no hostile
Jealousy when the comet with its adieu of
flame, flies from its more constant comrades;
but the very facts at which we wonder are the
index of the sure unerring laws that govern.
Here in this field of observation, no tact is
postponed; no fact is premature, no fact is
real y anomalous. Here, where there is no
responsibility acts and occurrences determine
the design and the law. Not so in the moral
world, where free agents act there there is
error, there is hostility, there are anomalies.
Mans acts do not always determine the NOR
al law by which he is governed, and do not
always show Gods holy design, otherwise,
sin would bejustfed as righte business; count
less inIamies Of the past would enact, against
the voice of conscience and the threats OF JUS
tice, that the strong should oppress the weak, ,
and the weak envy tho strong; then the black
list Of perfdy in store for the revelations OF
Judgment, would affirm, against the heart
and hopes of man, that lie, that men are not
created equal; while rebellion, usurping the
place of gratitude and loyalty, against all
the pleas of consecrated dead, would iift
hands unwashed of blood to heaven, do sac
ridce OF equity ON the altar Of avaricc, and
legalize treason in the name of God. In
the moral world, where sin is possible, there
Is postponement and remissness, prematurity
and wrong. Though then it be true that
everything has its day, and every generation
has its own questions TO decide, that it may
add to the wisdom of earth, geneT ations
have not always done it. Failing to answer
the stern queries of their times, they have
sometimes dropped them to increase tie fresh
burden Of the flying future, and, speeding to
the things that were, have decided nothing
but their own Indifference or lack Of ability