Democratic messenger., 1892-04-02
THE GNAT AND CAMEL
DR.. TALMAGE PoRTRAYS SOME OF
THE hYPocRITES or TODAY.

The Man Who Scorn> Petty Thief hut
Robs the Public in Trade-ViIIainy In
the Grain Market Perjury In Evading
Taxes Smuggling aud Bribery.
BROOKLYN. March 27.-The tendency
10 Journalism in religion and to hypo-
critical pretense in society received a
severe castigation from the pulpit of the
Brooklyn Tabernacle this morning DIR.
Talmage made vigorous onslaught
upon it. bash his remarks on the text
Matthew xiii. -. "Ye blind guides.
who strain at gnat and swallow u
camel
4 proverb is compact wisdom. knowl-
edge i'll chunks, library i'll a sentence,
the electricity of many clouds discharged
in one bolt. a river put through mill
race. When Christ quotes the proverb
of the text. he means to set forth the lu-
dicrous behavior of those who make a
great bluster about small sins and have
no appreciation of great ones.
In my text small insect and large
quadruped are brought into comparison
"a gnat and a camel. You have in
museum or on the desert seen the latter,
great awkward. sprawling creature,
with back two stories high and stomach
having "A collection of reservoirs for des-
ert travel, an animal forbidden 10 the
Jews as food. and i'll many literatures
entitled 1.-The ship of the desert" The
gnat spoken of in the text is in the grub
form. 1t is born in POL or pond, after
few weeks becomes a chrysalis, and
then after a few days becomes the gnat
as we recognize it. But the insect
spoken of i'll the text is i, very small
est shape and it yet inhabits the water
for my text is misprint and ought to
read strain ont gnat."
My text shows you the prince of incon-
sistencies. 4 man after long observa-
ton has formed the suspicion that in a
cup of water he is about 10 drink there
is grub or the grandparent of gnat
He goes and gets sieve or strainer. He
takes the water and pours il through the
sieve in the broad light. Ho says, Il
would rather do anything almost than
drink this water until this larva be ex-
tirpated. This water is brought under
inquisition. The experiment is success
full. The water rushes through the sieve
and leaves against the side of the sieve
the grub or gnat. Then the man care
fully removes the insect and drinks the
water i'll placidity.
But going ont one day. and hungry. he
devours ship of the desert" the camel.
which the Jews We're forbidden to eat
The gastronomer has no compunctions
of conscience. He suffers from no indi-
gestion. He puts the lower jaw under
the camels forefoot and his upper jaw
over the hump of the camel's back, and
gives one swallow and the dromedary
disappears forever. He strained ont a
gnat. he swallowed a camel.
THE SELF RIGHTEOUS PHARIsEEs.
While Clrists audience were vet smil-
ing at the appositeness and wit of his
illustration for smile they did in
church, unless they were too stupid to
understand the hyperbole-Christ prac-
tically said to them. That is you. :"
Punctilous about small things: reckless
about affairs of great magnitude. No
subject ever withered under a surgeons S
knife more bitterly than did the Phari-
sees under Christs scalpel of truth.
As an anatomist will take a human
body 10 pieces and put them unde. n
microscope for examination, SO Christ
finds his way To the heart of the dead
Pharisee and cuts it out and puts it un-
der the glass of inspection for all gem
erations To examine. Those Pharisees
thought that Christ would fiatter them
and compliment them. and how they
must have writhed under the red hot
words as he said. ''Ye fools. We whited
sepulchers. We blind guides. which strain
ont gnat and swallow camel"
There are in our day great many
gnats strained out and great many
camels swallowed, and it is the object
of this sermon to sketch few persons
who are extensively engaged in that
business.
First. remark that all those minis
ters of the Gospel are photographed in
the text who are very scrupulous about
the conventionalities of religion. but
put no particular stress upon matters Of
vast Importance. Church services ought
TO be grave and solemn. There is no
room for frivolity in religious convoca-
tion. But there are illustrations, and
there are hyperboles like that of Christ
i'll the text that will irradiate with smiles
any intelligent auditory
There are men like those blind guides
of the text who advocate only those
things i'll religious service which draw
the corners of the mouth down and de-
nounce all those things which have n
tendency to draw the corners of the
mouth mp, and these men will go 10 in
stallations and to presbyteries and to
conferences and TO associations their
pockets full of fine sieves To strain out
the gnats. while i'll their own churches
at home every Sunday there are fifty
people sound asleep. They make their
churches great dormitory. and their
somniferous sermons are cradle. and
the drawled ont hymns lullaby, while
some wakeful soul in pew with her
fan keeps the flies off unconscious per
sons approximate.
Now. | say it is worse to sleep in
/ IHuiAu Ailstli W iH lOT tUt
latter implies al least attention. while
the former implies the Indifference of
the hearers and the stupidity of the
speaker. In old age or from physical
intirnity. or from long watching with
the sick, drowSinesS will sometimes
overpower one. but when minister Of
the Gospel looks off upon an audience
and finds healthy and intelligent people
struggling with drowsiness. it is time
for him To give out the doxology OF pro
nounce the bencdiction. The great fault
Of church services today is not too much
vivacity. but too much somnolcncc. The
one is an irritating gnat that may be
tasily strained out; the other is great.
Eprawling and sleepy eyed camel of the
dry desert. In all our Sabbath schools,
IN all our Bi..ir ,Ii,-,e. III all our pull
pits we ntei To olrishien up our religious
message with such Christlike vivacity