The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-10-04
TALMAGE'S SERMON,
he TAKES THE TEXT: "LAUNCH OUT
INTO THE DEEP"
And Delivers Fine Discourse-Peoplo
Should Never Tire Seeking GOd-Do Not
Hug tho shore but Launch Out.

Quence of the preacher than through q
desire to hear from his own lips the mes
sage of thanks entrusted to him by the
car to the contributors Of the Christian
Herald famine cargo, which he and Mr..
Klopsch conveyed to Russia in the steam
err Leo, 1t is understood that DR.. Tai
mage has in preparation full account
of the mission to Russia, as well as of his
own preaching tour to Germany, England,
Scotland and Ireland. The text this
morning was taken from Luke 5: a:
Launch out into the deep"
| Christ, starting on the campaign Of the
| worlds conquest, was selecting his staff
| officers. There Were plenty of students
| with high forehcads, and white hands,
| and intellectual faces and refined tastes
| in Rome and Jerusalem. Christ might
| have called into the apOstleship twelve
| boOk-WOrmS, or twelve rhetOricianS, or
twelve artists. Instead he takes Il group
of men who had never made Il speech,
never taken n lesson in bclleS-lettreS,
never been sick enough to make them look
delicatc-their hands broad, clumsy and
hard-llnuckled. He chose fishermen
among other reasons j think, because
they We're physically hardy. Rowing
makes strong arms and stout chests.
Much climbing of ratlnes makes ones
head steady. A Galilee tempest wrestled
men into gymnasts. The opening work
of the church was rough work. Christ
did not want twelve invalids hanging
about him, complaining all the time how
badly they felt. He leaves the delicate
students at Jerusalem and Rome for their
goes down to the Seashore. and out of
the toughest material makes an apostle
ship. The ministry needs more cOrporeal
vigor than any other class. Fine minds
and good intentions are important, but
there must be physical force to back
them. The intellectual millwheel may be
we'll built and the grist good but there
must be enough blood in the millrace to
turn the one and to grind the other
He chose fishermen, also, because they
were used to hard knocks. The man who
cannot stand assault is not fit for the min
lStry. 1t always has been and always will
be rough work, and the man who. at every
censure or caricature, sits down TO cry, had
better be at some other work. 1t is 10 place
for ecclesiastical doll-babies A man who
cannot preach because he has forgotten his
manuscript or lost his spectacles, ought not
to preach at all. Heaven deliver the church
from Il ministry that preach In kid gloves,
and from sermons in black morocco covers!
These fishermen were rough and ready.
They had been i'll the severest of all colleges.
When they were Knocked over by the main
boom of the ship. they entered the "sopho-
more;" when washed off by great wave.
they entered the JUNIOR when floating
for two days, without food or drink, on a
plank, they came to the senior and when
at last their ship dashed on the beach in a
midnight hurricane, they graduated with
the first honor.
My text finds Jesus on shipboard with one
of these bronZed men-Simou by name.
This fisherman had been sweeping his net
in shaol water. Push ont" says Christ;
what is the use of hugging the shore in
this boat? Here is Il lake twelve miles long
and six wide. and it is all populated-just
waiting for the sweep of your net. Launch
out into the deep"
The advice that my Lord gave to Simon
is as appropriate for us all in q spiritual
sense. The fact is that most of us are Just
padding along the shore We are afraid TO
venture out into the great decps of God and
Christian experience We think that the
boat will be upset, or that we cannot 'cew
down the miZzen topSail," and our coward
ice makes us poor fishermen. | think | hear
the voice of Christ commanding us, as he
did Simon on that day when bright Galilee
set in among the green hills of Palestine
like water flashing in IN emerald cup:
Launch out into the deep
those who are padding in the margin of
Bible research. My father read the Bible
through three times after he was eighty
Years of age, and without spectaclcs; not
for the mere purpose of saying he had been
through il so often, but for his eternal profit
John Colby. the brother-in-law of Daniel
Webster, learned to read after he was
eighty-four years of age. in order that he
might become acquainted with the SCRIPT
ures. There is no book in the world that de-
m ma, 50 much of Our attention as the
Bible. Yet uinc-tenths of Christian men get
no more than ankle-deep. They think it is
good sign not to venture too far. They
never ask how or why; and If thcy see some
Christian becoming inqusitiye about the
deep things of God, they say: "Be careful,
YOU had better not go out so far from
shore My. answer is: The farther you go
| from shore the better. If you have the right
kind of ship. If YOU have mere worldly
| philosophy for the hulk, and pride for
sail, and self-concet for the helm.
| the first Squall will destroy you. But if
YOU take the Bible for your craft. the far
| tier you go the better: and after you have
| gone ten Thousand furlongs. Christ VII
still command: Launch out into the deep"
| Ask some such question as "Who is God?'
| and go on for ten years asking 1t. Ask it
| at the gate of every parable: amidst the ex-
element of every miracle; by the solitar-
ness of every patriarchal threshing floor;
! amidst the white faces of Sennacherib' $
/ Sllln turned I'D luIO Lne moonlight, AMIDST
| the flying chariots of the Golden city. Ask
| who Jesus is. and keep on asking it of every
| Bible lily, of every raven. of every star of
| every craZed brain cured, of every blind
| man come TO sunlight, of every coin in Il
| fish's mouth. of every loaf that got to be
| five loaves. of every wrathful sea pacitied,
| of every pulseless arm stretched forth in
| graduation; ask it of his mother, of Ay-
! gustus, of Herod. of the Syrophopnician
woman. of the damse that woke I'D from the
| death sleep: of Joseph, who had him buried;
Of the angel posted as sentinel at his tomb;
| of the dumb earth, that shook and groaned,
| and Numbered when he died.
A missionary in France offered Bible
in an humble dwelling. The man took it,
tore out a dozen pages. and with them
began to light his pipe. Some years after
the missionary happened in the same house
| The family had just lost their son in the
Crimean war. and his Bible had been sent
| back home. The missionary took it up and
| saw that it was the very same Bible that he
| had left in the house and from which the
leaves had been torn. The dying soldier
| had written on one of the leaves of the
Bible: "Reiected and scoffed at. but finally
believed in and saved" The Bible may be
| used to light the Pipe of Witticsm by some,
| but for us it is a staff in life, a pillow in
death and our JOY for eternity.
| Walk all up and down this Bible domain.
| Try every path. Plunge in at the prophe-
cies, and come out at the epistles. Go