Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1892-04-02
THE GNAT AND CAMEL
DIR. TALMAeE PoRTRAYs SOME OF
THE HYPocRlTES OF TODAY.

The Man Who scorns Petty Thief. but
Robs tho Public In Trndo-yIliainy in
tho Grain Mnrsot-Pcrjury In Evnllns
,Faxcs-Smuggling md Bribery.
DRooKLYN. March 27.-The tendency
to Journalism in religion and to hypo-
critical pretense in society received a
severe castigation from the pulpit of the
Brooklyn Tabernacle this morning. DR..
Talmage made vigorous onslaught
upon it, basing his remarks on the text
Matthew xiii. "a. "Ye blind guides,
who strain at gnat and swallow q
camel.
A provcrb is compact wisdom, knowl-
edge in chunks, a library in sentence,
the electricity of many clouds discharged
in one bolt. Il river put through mill
race. When Christ quotes the proverb
of the text. he means to set forth the lu-
dicrons behavior of those who. make q
great buster about small sins and have
no appreciation of great ones.
In my text small insect and n large
quadruped are brought into comparison
"a gnat and camel. You have in
museum or on the desert seen the latter,
Il great awkward. sprawling creature,
with back two stories high and stomach
having collection of reservoirs for des-
ert travel. All animal forbidden to the
Jews as food, and in many literatures
entitled .'thc ship of the desert" The
gnat spoken of in the text is in the grub
form. 1t is born in pool or pond, after
a few weeks becomes chrysalis. and
then after few days becomes the gnat
as we recognize it. But the insect
spoken of in the text is ii very small
est shape and it yet inhabits the water
for lily text is Il lnisprint and ought to
read "strain ont Il gnat.
My text shows you the prince of incon-
sistencies a man after long observa-
ton has formed the suspicion that in u
cup of water he is about to drink there
is grub or the grandparent of gnat.
He goes and gets Il sieve or strliner. He
takes the water and pours it through the
sieve in the broad light. He says, 81
would rather do anything almost than
drink this water until this larva be ex-
tirpated" This water is brought under
inuuisition. The experiment is success
full. The water rushcs through tho sieve
and leaves against the side of the sieve
the grub or gnat. Then the man care
fully removes the insect ard drinks the
water in placidity.
But going out one day. and hungry. he
devours ship of the desert" the camel,
which the Jews were forbidden to eat.
The astronomer has no computations
of conscience. He suffers from no indi-
gestion He puts the lower jaw under
tie ca1nels forefoot and his upper jaw
over the hump of the camel's back, and
gives ono swallow and the droInedary
disappears forever. He strained out o
gnat. he swallowed camel.
THE SELF RIGHTEOUS PHARIsEEs.
While Christ's audience were yet smil-
ing at the appositeness and wit of his
illustration-for smile they did in
church. unless they were too stupid 4 q
understand the Eyperbole-Christ prac-
tically said to them, THAT is you. :
Punctilous about small things: reckless
about affairs of great magnitude. No
subject ever withered under surgeons
knife more bitterly than did the Phari-,
sees under Christ's scalpel of truth.
As al anatoinist will take human
body to pieces and put them under a
microscope for examination, SO Christ
finds his waj- to the heart of the dead
Pharisee and cuts it out and puts it I'M
der the glass of inspection for all gen.
erations to examine. Those Pharisees
thought that Christ would fatter them
and compliment them, and how they
must have writhed under the red hot
words us he SAID. I'VE fools, ye whited
sepulchers, we blind guides. which strain
out 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 a few persons
who are extensively engaged in that
business.
First, remark that all those minis
tiers 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 convcca-
ton. But there are illustrations, and
there are hyperboles like that of Christ
in the text that will irradiate with smiles
any intelligent auditory.
There arc men like those blind guides
of the text who advocate only those
things in religious service which draw
the corners of the mouth down and de-
nounce all those things which have Il
tendency to draw the corners of the
mouth up, and these men viii goto in
stallations and to presbyteries and to
conferences and to associations, their
pockets full of fine sleeves to strain out
the gnats, while in their own churches
at home every Sunday there are fifty
people sound asleep. They make their
churches a great dCTmltory, anu their
somniferous sermons are a cradle, and
the drawled out hymns a 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
church than to smile in church, for the
latter implies at least attention, whilo
the former implies the Indifference of
the hearers and the stupidity of the
speaker. In old age or from physical
infirmity. or from long watching with
the sick, drowsiness will sometimes
overpowcr 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 or pro-
nounce the benediction. The great fault
of church services today is not TOO much