The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1892-06-02
BLIND GUIDES.
Rev. Ir. Talmage Scores the Here
Journalists in Religion,
Who Are Particularly Alive to the Short
comings of the Neighbors While Per-
fectIy Complacent Regarding
Their Own Faults.

lHt lOliOWlnS ulScOuFSc "dS uCllNSlNt
by Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage in the
Brooklyn tabernacle from the text:
Ye blind guides, who strain at a gnat and
swallow a camel-Matt. xiii, "a.
A proverb is compact wisdom, knowl-
edge in chunks, library in a sentence,
the electricity of many clouds discharged
in one bolt, river put through mill
race When Christ quotes the proverb
of the text He means to set forth the
iudicrous behavior about small sins, and
have no appreciation of great ones.
In my text a small insect and a large
quadruped are brought into comparison
"a gnat and camel. You have, in
museum or on the desert seen the lat
ter, great awkward, sprawling crea-
ture, with back two stories high, and
stomach having q collection of reser-
voirs for desert travel, an animal forbid
den to the Jews as food, and in many liter
atures entitled ''the ship of the desert"
The gnat spoken of in the text is in the
grub form. 1t is born in pool or pond,
after few weeks becomes a chrysalis,
and then after few days becomes the
gnat as we recognize it. But the insect
spoken of in the text is in its very
smallest shape, and it yet inhabits the
water-for my text is a misprint and
ought to read "strain out q gnat."
My text shows you the prince of in
consistencies. A man after long obser-
walton has formed the suspicion that in
cup of water he is about to drink,
there is grub or the grandparent of a
gnat. He goes and gets a sieve or
strainer. He takes the water and pours
1t through the sieve in the broad light.
He says: II would rather do anything
almost than drink the water until this
larva be extirpated." This water is
brought under inquisition. The expert
ment is successful The water rushes
through the sieve and leaves against
the side of the sieve the grub or gnat.
Then the man carefully removes the in
sect and 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 COM
Functions of conscience. He suffers
from no indigestion. He puts the lower
jaw under the camers forefoot, and his
upper jaw over the hump of the camel's
back, and gives one swallow and the
dromedary disappears forever. He
strained out a gnat; he swallowed a
camel
While Christ's audience were yet smil-
ing at the appositeness and wit of Hisil-
lustration-for smile they did in church,
unless they were too stupid too under
stand the hyperpole-Christ practically
said to them; THAT is you" Punctil-
ious about small things; reckless about
affairs of great magnitude No subject
ever withered under a surgeons knife
more bitter than did the Pharisees I'M
der Christ's scalpel of truth. As an
anatomist will take human body to
pieces and put them under microscope
for examination, so Christ finds His way
to the heart OF the dead Pharisee and cuts
it out and puts it under the glass for in.
spection for all generations to examine.
Those Pharisees thought that Christ
would f1atter them and compliment
them; and how they must have writhed
under the red-hot words as He said: ''Ye
fools, We whited sepulchres, We blind
guides which strain out gnat and swal-
low camel"
There are in our day a great many
gnats strained out and a 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
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 convoca-
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
are men like those blind guides of the
text, who advocate only those things in
religious service which draw the cor
nerS of the mouth down, and denounce
all those things which have tendency
to draw the corners of the mouth
up, and these men will go to installa.
tions and to presbyteries and to con-
ference and associations their pockets
full of fine sleeves to strain out the
gnats, while in their churches at home
every Sunday there are fifty people
sound asleep. They make their churches
a great dormitory, and their somnifer-
GUS sermons are a cradle, and
the drawled-out hymns lullaby, while
some wakeful soul in pew with her
fan keeps the flies off unconscious per
sons approximate. Now, l say it is
worse to sleep in church than to smile
in church, for the latter implies at least
attention, while the former implies the
3. 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 overpower one; but when a
minister of the Gospel looks off upon
an audience and finds healthy and in
telligent people struggling with dro-w-
siness, it is time for him to give out the
doxology or pronounce the benediction.
The great fault of church services to-
day is not too much vivacity, but too
much somnolence. The one is an irri-
10 H.