The Opelousas courier., 1892-11-12
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
lHE BROOKLYN DIVINE's SUN
DAY SERMON
TEXT: ssLaunca o,,t

EXT Launch out into the deep.n-
ohr,st, starting on the campaign of the
worlds conquest, was seIectino His STAFF
oLncefs. There were rleutv Of students
;n4aI, III Ioreheads, and white hands, and
-nOs.ecGCal faces, ANA refined tastes in Rome
ano IN Jerusalem. Christ might have called
tneo the apostleship twelve bookworms. or
smeiye rhetorlcians, or twelve artists. In
$50 ne takes a group of men who had
~ ba,,a auaas a speech; never taken a lesson
- ueiesieCtres; never been sick enou:th to
make Them look delicate-their hands broad,
clumsy and hard knuckled. He choss fisher
uuien, among other reasons. | thinE. because
10y were physically hardy. Rowingmakes
aaohg arms and stout chests. Much climb
l1g OF fatllnes makes one's head steady. a
oa I'll tempest Wrestled men into gymnasts.
rue opening work of the church was rough
WORE. Christ did not want twelve invaljds
hanging about Him, complaining all the
.iLne now badly they felt. He leaves the
oellcate students at Jerusalem and Rome
ior tnelr mothers and aunts to take care of.
ana goes down to the seashore. and out Of
gne touenest material makes an apostleshio.
lhe ministry neel more cornoreaI vioor
than any other class. Fine minds and rood
intentions are important, but there must ba
pnyslcal torce to back them. The intellectual
MIL wheel may be we'll built and the prist
gooo, put there must be enough blood in
the mill race to turn the one and to grind
the other. sANH0
ne chose fishermen also because they were
used to hard knocks. The mar who cannot
stand assault is not fit for the ministry H.
always has been and always will be rough
VOTE, ana tne man who, at every censure or
caficature, sits down to cry had better be at
some oeher work. 1t is no place for ecciesi-
as5lcal doll babies. A man who cannot
preach because he has forgotten his manu-
scrip or lost his speetacles ought not to
preach at all. Heaven deliver the church
from a ministry that preach in kid gloves
from sermons in black morocco coyersi
Ihese hshermen were rough and ready.
They had been in the sternest of all colleges.
When they were knocked over by the main
boom OF the ship they entered the Sophomore.
when washed off by a great wave, they en-
tered the Junior: when floating for two days
without food or drink IN a plank they came
to the Senior, and when at last their hin
dashed on the beach in midnight hurricane
they graduated with the first honor.
MY text fnds Jesus came aboard with one
OF these bronzad men, Simon by name. This
fisherman had been sweeping his net in ghoal
water. Push out" says Christ; "what is
Inc use OF hugging the shore in this boat?
Here is a lake twelve miles long and six wide.
aud 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 a spiritual
sense. The fact is that most of us are lust
padding along the shore. We are afraid to
venture out INTO the great deeps Of God and
Christian experience. We think that the
boat will be upset, or that we cannot 'ssclew
down the m;zzen topsail," and our cowardice
makes us poor fishermen. I think I near the
voice of Christ commanding us, as He did
Simon on that day when bright Cables set
in among the green hills of Palestine, like
water flashing in an emerald cup, Launch
out into the Deep"
This divine counsel comes first to all those
who are padding in the margin of Bible re-
search. Ny father read the Bible through
three times after he was eighty years of age
and without spectac!es-not for the mere
purpose of saying he had besn through it 50
often, but forhis eternal profit. John Wolby,
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 Scriptures. There is
no book in the world that demands so much
of our attention as the Bible. Yet nine
tenths of Christian men get no more than
ankle deep. They think it is a good sign not
to venture too far. They never ask how or
why, and if they sea soma Christian bscom.
IL 4IHuASAOtNS OoSu OAS eSSp
they say: '.3e careful; you had better not
go out so far from shore.n
Ny answer is: The farther you go from
shore the better il you have tae right kind
Of ship. If you have worldly p~hilosophyfor
the hulk, and pride for a sail. and self con-
ceit for the helm, the first squall will destroy
you. But il you take the Bible for your
craft. the farther you go the better, and
after you have gone ten thousand furiongs
Christ will still command, Launch out into
the Deep Ask some such question as "Who
is God?" and go on for ten years asking It.
Ask it at the gate of every parable; amid
the excitement Of every miracle; by the soil
tariness of every patriarchal thrashing floor
amid the white faces OF Sannacherlbs slain
turned up into the moonlight; amid the ny
ing chariots of the Golden City.
Ask who Jesus is, and keep On asking 1t
of every Bible lily, of every raven, OF every
star, of every crazsd brain cured, OF every
blind man come to sunlight. of every coli
in a fish's mouth, of every loaf that got &c
be five loaves, Of every wrathful sst
paciied, of every pulseless arm stretches
forth in graduation; ask it of His mother
OF Augustus, of Herod. of the Syro
phnnician roman of the damsel that wok'
up from the death slesp, OF Joseph, VINO ma
Him buried, of the angel posted as sentine
ut His TOMB. of the dumb earth that shoo
ana groaned and Numbered when He died
A missionary in France offered a Bible in
an humble dwelling. The man took it, tore
out a dozen pages and with them began te
light his pipe. Some years after the mission
airy happened in the same house The family
had just lost their son in the Crimean war
nj his Bible had been sent back home. TIL
missionary took it up and saw that it wa;
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, Rejected and
scoffed at, but finally believed in and saved
The Bible may be used to light the pipe Of
witticism by some, but for US it is q staff in
life, a pillow in death and our joy for eter-
nifty.
Walk all up and down this Bible domain
Try every path. Plunge In at the prophe-
cies and come out at the ~enistles. Go with
the patriarchs until you meet the evange.
lists. Rummage and ransack, as children
who are not satisfied when they come to a
new house until they know what is in every
room and into what every door opens. Open
every jewel casket. Examine the skylights.
Forever BE- asking questions. Put to a
higher use than was intended the oriental
proverb, Hold all the skirts Of thy mantle
extended when heaven is raining gold.o
Passing from Bonn to Cobientz on the
Rhine. the scenery is comparatively tame,
But from Coblentz to Maysnre it is enchant.
ing. You sit on deck and feel as il this last
flash Of beauty must exhaust the scene; but
in a momsnt there is a turn of the river,
which covers up the former view with more