The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-10-19
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE-S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Launch Out Into the Deep"

TEXT: HLaunch out into the deep."-
Luke ", 4.
Christ. starting on the campaign of the
worries conquest, was selecting His stall
officers. There were plenty Of stucents
with high foreheads. and white hands, and
intellectual faces, and refined tastes in Rome
and in Jerusalem. Christ might have called
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 beileslettres; never been sick enough to
make them look delicate-their hands broad,
clumsy and hard knucklei. 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. A
Galilee TEMPEST wrestled men into gymuasts.
The opening work of the church was rough
work. Christ did not want twelve inva)idS
hanging about Him, complaining all the
time how badly they felt. He leaves the
delicate students at Jerusalem and Rome
for their mothers and aunts to take care OF,
and goes down to the Seashore. and out OF
the toughest material makes an apostleship.
The ministry need more corporeal vlgor
than any other class. Fine minds and good
intentions are imoortant, but there must be
iphysical 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 tney were
used to hard knocks. The man who cannot
stand assault is not fit for the ministry. 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 no place for ecclesi-
astical doll babies. A man who cannot
preach because he has forgotten his manu-
script or lost his spectacles 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 washed of by great wave. they en-
tered the Junior: when floating for two days
without food or drink on plank they came
to the Senior, and when at last their ship
dashed on the beach in midnight hurricane
they graduated with the first honor.
J. Ny text finds Jesus came 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 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 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 mizzen topsal, and our cowardice
makes us poor fishermen. think l hear the
voice Of Christ commanding us as He did
Simon on that day when bright Calilee set
in among the green hills OF Palestine, like
water flashing in an emerald cup, Launch
out into the deep"
i This divine counsel comes first to all those
who are padding in the margin OF Bible re-
search. My father read the Bible through
three times after he was eighty years Of age
and without spectacles-not for the mere
purpose of saying he had been through it so
often, but for his eternal profit. John Wolby,
the brother-in.law of Daniel Webster,
learned to read after no 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. let nine
Itenths 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 they sea some Christian becom-
ing inquisitive about the deep things OF God
they say: "9e careful; you had better not
go out so far from shore"
NV answer is: The farther you go from
shore the better If you have the right kind
of ship. II you have worldly philosophy for
the hulk, and pride for a sail, aud self con-
ceit for the helm, the first saualI will destroy
you. But if you take the 5ible for your
craft, the farther you 60 the better and
after you have gone ten thousand furlongs
Christ will still command. Launch out into
the Deep Ask some such question as who
Is God~ and 20 on for ten years asking IL.
ASK it at the gate of every parable; amid
the excitement Of every miracle; oy the SOL
amid the white faces of Sennacheribs slain
turned up into the moonlight; amid the ay-
ing chariots Of the Golden City.
Ask who Jesus is, aud keep on asking 1t
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 a ish's mouth, of every loaf that got to
be five loaves, of every wrathfui sea
paciied, Of every pulseless arm stretcneo
forth in gratulation; ask it OF HIS motner'
of Augustus, Of Herod. OF the Syro-
iphoenician woman, of the damsel that woke
iup from the death sleep, Of Joseph, who had
Him buried, of the angel posted as sentlnel
lat His tomb Of the dumb earth that shook
and groaned and thundered when He died.
A missionary in France offered Bible in
an humble dwelling. The man took it, tore
out dozen pages and with them began to
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,
and his Bible had been sent back home. The
missionary took it 10 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 he'd written on one
OF the leaves Of the Bible, Rejected aud
scotfed at. but finally believed in and saved"
The Bf6ie may oe USED to light the pipe Of
witticiSm by some, but for us it is staff 10
life a pillow in death and our joy fer eter-
nifty.
Walk all up and down this Bible domainl
Try every path. Plunge In at the prophe-
cies and come out at the epistles. Go with
the patriarchs until you meet the evange-
lists. Rummage and ransack rs 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"
Passing from Bonn to Coblentz on the
Rhine the scenery is comparatively tame.
But from Coblentz to Mayence it enchant-
ing You sit on DECK and feel as if this last
accL ~ boo,,fp y,,nct axbapct bo coana. hp