The free press., 1892-10-20
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIviNE's sun
DAY SERMON.


officers. There wzre plenty OF students
with high forebsads and white hands, and
intellectual faces. nnI refine tastes in Rome
and in Jerusalem Christ might have callei
into the apostlesnip twelve booGworns, or
twelve rhetoricisns, or twelve artists. In
stead He takes q group Of men Who had
never made a speech: never taken a lesson
In belleslettres; never been sex enough 70
make them look delicate-their hands broad,
clumsy and hard knuckiel. Hechoss fisher
men, among other reasons ! tank, because
they were physically hardy. Rowing makes
strong arms and stout chests. huco clmn-
ing of ratlines makes ones head steady.
GaIlee tempest wrestied men into gymnasts.
The opening work of the church was rough
work Christ did not want twelve invaiids
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 10 the seashore and out OF
the toughest material makes an aoostleship.
The ministry neei more corporal vigor
than any other class. Fine minds and good
intentions are important. but there must be
phvsical 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.
BE chose fishermen also because they we're
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. It IS no place for eccies-
astical doll babies 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
aud from sermons in black morocco coyerSl
These fishermen we're 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 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.
NV text finds Jesus came aboard with one
Of these hronzed men, Simon by name. This
fisherman had been sweeping his net in shoai
water "Push out" says Chris; "what IS
the use of hugging the shore in this boat9
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
10 as appropriate for us all III spiritual
sense The fact is that most of US are just
padding along the shore. We are afraid to
venture out into the great Gesps Of God aud
Christian experience. We think that the
boat will be upset. or that we cannot ''clew
down the mizzsn toDsail, and our cowardlce
makes us poor fishermen. / thjuk / hear ths
voice of Christ Commanding u.s. He did
Simon on that day when bright Galuee sab
in among the green hills OF Palestine, lik,
water flashing in an emerald CUP, "Launcl
out into the deep"
This divine counsel comes first TO al. 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 50
often. but for mis- eternal profit. Ohm Wolby,
the brother-in law OF Daniel Webster,
learned to read after he was eightY-tour
years of age in order that he might become
acquainted with the Scriptures. There IS
no BOOK in toe world that demands 50 muca
of our attention as toe Bible. Yet min =
tenths OF Christian men get no more tna9
ankle deep. They think il IS good sign not
to venture too far Tley never ask how or
why. and if they see some Christian b=co n
ing inquisitive about the deep taings OF G1l
they say: "Se careful; YOU had better no.
20 out so far from suors,'
Ny answer is: The farther you 20 IRON
shore ths better if you have tlA right kin
of ship. Ii you have worldly pniiosoDny Tor
ceit for the helm, the first squai will DESTROY
YOU But ii you take the Bible Tor your
craft, the farther you 90 the better, ana
after you have gone ten thousand turiodgs
Christ will still command, "Launcn out into
the deep Ask some such question as VINO
is Godw and 20 on for ten years asking Dr..
Ask it at the gate of every parable; anna
the excitement of every miracle, By toe SOL
tariness of every patriarchal thrashIng n)5T;
amid the white faces of Ssnnacherlo's SIAN
turned up into the moonlight, amld the ny
ing chariots OF tbs Golden City.
Ask who Jesus Is, AMI keep on asking II
of every Bioie Ii Y. pf every raven, OF every
star, OF every crazsi brain cured, of every
blind man come TO sunlight, oil every coin
IN fish's mouth, OF every loaf that got 70
be five loaves, of every wrathtu sea
pacihed, of every pulseless arm stretched
forth in graduation; ask it Of dis mother,
of Augustus of Herod, OF the Syro-
ph9nician woman, of the damsel enat WoHe
up from the death Sleep, Of Joseph, VINO nad
Him buried, of the angel postei As sehtlhel
at His tomb. of the dumb earth that snoos
and groaned and thundere1 when He died
missionary in France offered a 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.
ary happened in the same house The family
mad Just lost their son in the Crimean war
and his Bible had been sent back home, The
missionary took it up and saw that twas
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 aud
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 a staff in
life. pillow in death and our joy for eter-
nity
Walk all up and down this Bible domaini
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, as children
who are not satisfied when they come to
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 is enchant-
ing. You sit on deck and feel as if this last
dash of beauty must exhaust the scene: but
In a moment there is turn of the river.
which covers up the former view with more
iuxuriant vineyards and more defiant
castles. and bolder bluffs. vine wreathed.
and grapes so ripe that if the hills be
touched they would bleed their rich life
away into the bowls of Bingen and Hook