Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-10-14
REV. DR.. TAlMAGe.
THE BROOKLYN DININE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "LAUNCH OUT lNTO THE
DEEP.

officers. There were plenty OF students |
with high foreheads, and white hands and
intellectual faces, and refined tastes in Rome |
and in Jerusalem Christ might have callei !
into the apostleship twelve bookworms, or |
twelve rhetoricians, or twelve artists. In |
stead He takes a group Of men who had
never made a speech; never taken lesson
in belleslettres; never been sick enough to
make them look delicate-their hands broad,
clumsy and hard knuckled. He chose fisher
men, among other reasons, l think, because
they were physically hardy. Rowing makes
strong arms and stout chests. Much climb.
ing of ratlines makes ones head steady.
Gsllee 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 mothers AMI aunts to take care OF,
| and goes down TO the seashore, and out OK
| the toughest material makes an apostleship.
! The ministry naet 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
mill wheel may be well built and the grist
good, but there must be enough blood in
the mill race to turn the one and to grind
the other.
He chose fishermen also because they were
| used to hard knocks. The ulan who cannot
stand assault is not at for the ministry. 1t
always hss 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 no place for ecclesi-
asticai doll babies. A man who cannot
preach because he has forgotten his manu-
script or lost his spectaces ought not to
preach at all. Heaven deliver the church
from ministry that preach in kid gloves
and from sermons in black morocco covers
These fishermen 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 washel of by great wavc, they en-
tered the Junior: when floating for two days
without food or drink on p,ank 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 cIrne aboard with one
OF these bronzed men, Simon by name. This
fisherman had been sweeping his net In shoal
water. Push out" says Christ what is
the use OF hugging the shore in this boat'
Here is lake twelve miles long and six wide,
, aud 1t 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 Just
: padding along the shore We are afraid TO
venture out into the great desps OF God and
Christian experience. We think that the
boat will be upset, or that We cannot 'clew
= down the m1zen topsail, an our cowardice
makes us poor lIsa.r.4-u. think | hear the
c voice OF Christ commanding US as he N |
c Slmon on that day when bright Gallo. set
q in among the green hills OF Palestine, like
!, water flashing in an emerald cup, Launch
II out into the deep.
II This divine counsel comes first to all thoSs
h.. rtt .,NfH la "a.
4 search My father read the Bible throu Sh
= three times after he was eighty years OF age
u and without spectacleS-n0t for the mere
purpose Of saying he had been throu "a 1t 50
often. but for his eternal profit John Wolby,
9 the brother-n.law OF Daniel Webster,
l. learned to read after he was elghty-foul
# wears OF age in order that he might becom'
. acquainted with the Scriptures. There !
no book in the world that demands 50 nv V
% of our attention Us the Bible. Yet N J
t. tenths of Christian men get no more thar
- ankle deep They think it is good sign no
: to venture too far. They never ask no" OF
le why, anl il they seq some Christian btcom
Or ing inquisltve about the deep things OF III
they say "3e careful; you had better no
90 out so far from shore.
In Nv answer is: The farther you go troI
ce shore the better IL you have tIe ri5ht KIN
a. of ship. II you have worldly philosophy 10
the hulk, and pride for sail. anu sell con
s. ceit for the helm, the first squah will destro
be YOU. But il you take the Bible Tor you
ou craft, the farther you go the oetter, an
:: after YOU have gone ten thousand furlong
IL Christ will still command, Launch out int
vc the deep" Ask some such question as Nv
he In GodY' and 90 on for ten years asking i
r. Ask it at the gate OF every parable; am,
the excitement OF every miracle; by the sol
Vi tarness of every patriarchal thrashing noo
ca amid the white faces of Sennscheribs slal
turned up into the moonlight; anna the ~
ing chariots of the Golden City.
Ask who Jesus is aud keep on asking
of every Bible lily, OF every raven, OF ever
star, of every crazed brain cured, OF ever
cal blind man come to sunlight of every co
Igs in a fish's mouth, Of every loaf that go1
NV be five loaves, OF every wrathful 81
~ uacihed. of every puIseless arm stretch'
nSs fortb in oratuetion. ask it OF His mothe
Ugh of Augustus, OF Herod OF the Syr
eaf phenician woman, of the damsel that wo
of up from the death sleep, OF Joseph, VINO III
Him buried of the angel posted as sentiL
out at His tomb. OF the dumb earth that sho
my and groaned and thundered when He die
md A missionary In France offered Bible
Ia, an humble dwelling. The man took 1t to
iuy out a dozen pages and with them began
by light his pipe. Some years after the missic
,itv ary happened In the same house The fam
,r had just lost their son In the Crimean vi
,1 ." and his Bible had been sent back home. I
My missionary took it up and saw that it v
hus the very same Bible that he had left in I
nal house and from which the leaves had be
- torn. The dying soldier had written on c
'lng of the leaves Of the Bible, REJECTED a
age scolfed at, but finally believed in and savet
lr,e The Bible may be used to light the pipt
= witticism by some but for Us 1t is staff
. life, pillow In death and our joy for ct
nifty.
Walk all up and down this Bible donna
Try every path. Plunge in at the prop
cies and come out at the epistles. Go W
said the patriarohs until you meet the evan
was lists. Rummage and ransack as child
to who are not satisfied when they come t.
~ new house until they know what is in ev
ival room and into what every door opens. o.
len. every jewel casket. Examine the skyligt
nlet Forever be asking questions. Put Il
~ higher use than was intended the orler
h'ch proverb, Hold all the skirts OF thy maj
re. extended when heaven is raining gold"
y so Passing from Bonn to Coblentz on
o,I Rhine, the scenery Is comparatively tn
But from Coblentz TO Mayence 1t Is encht
ldl- ing You sit on deck an1 feel as II this
ark. flash of beauty must exhaust the scene;
W n in a moment there is a turn OF the ri
-. which covers up the former view with II
hai luxuriant vinegar ds, and more del
n to castles, and boIder bluffs vine wreatl
,erse and grapes 80 ripe that II the hills
o,,. touched they would bleed their rich
oui' away into the bowls Of Bingensand IL
heimer. Here and tn ere there arc sire
of water melting into the river like sni
Joys swallowed in the bosom OF &
~ g gladness.
Ilk IS And when night begins to throw It's b
Knit. mantle over the shoulder OF the hills,
essel you are approaching Decentralization
n in Sy,,nS ;ha quo scaSa With tbsir baantv Of
lie IS one a thrill that he feels but once, yet
the lasts him forever SO this river Of