The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-04-13
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON,
Subject: 'TStrainins at Gnats aud
Swallowing Camels.'

0aut. and s,oaUow camel Matthew
xiii, "a.
A proverb is compact wisdom, knowledge
in chuuka library in q sentence, the elec.
tricity of many clouds discharged in one bolt,
a river put through millrace When Christ
quotes the proverb Of the text He means to
set forth the ludicrous behavior OF those
who make great bluster about small sins
and have no approximations OF great ones.
In my text small insect and q large
quadruped are brought into comparisons
guat and camel You have in museum or
on the desert seen the latter, great awk-
ward. sprswliug creature, with back two
stories high and stomach having a collection
Of reservoirs for desert travel an animal
forbidden to the Jews as food. and in many
literatures 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
after few days becomes the gnat as we
recognize it. But the insect spoken ofin the
texts in its very smallest shape. and yet it
inhabits the water-for my text is mlsprlnt
and ought to read ''strain out q gnat.n
My text shows you the prince Of lnconas
tencies. A man after long observation has
formed tho suspicion that In cup OF water
he is about to drink there is a grub or the
grandparent Of . gnat, rHegoes and gets
sieve or strainer. He takes the water and
pours it through the sieve in the broad light.
He says II would rather do anything al
most than drink this water until this larvs
be extirpated." This water is brought un-
der inquisitiou. The experiment is success.
fu'. The water rushes through the sieve and
leaves against the side Of the sieve the grub
or gnat.
Then the man carefully removes the insect
and drinks the water in placidity. But 60
ing out one day and hungry, hs devours a
''ship Of the desert" the camel, which the
Jews were forbidden to eat. The gastrono-
mer has no compuuctions Of conscience. he
lower jaw under the camel's forefoot and his
upper jaw over the hump Of the camers
back, and gives one swallow and the drone-
diary disappears forever. He strained out q
gnat, he swallowed camel.
While Christ's audience were yet smiling
at the oppositeness and wit Of Hisillustration
for smile they did in church, unless they
were too stupid to understand the hyperbole
Christ practically said to them. THAT IS
YOU" Punctlious about small things; reck-
less about affairs of great magnitude. No
subject over withered under surgeons
knife more bitterly than did the Pharisees
under Christ's scalpel Of truth.
As an auatomiss will take human body
to pieces and put them under microscope
for examination, so Christ finds His way to
the heart Of the dead Phar1see aud cuts it
out and puts it under the glass OF inspec.
ton for all generations to examine. Those
Pharisees thought that Christ would fat
ter them aud compliment them. and how
they must have writhed under the red hot
words as He said, ."Ye fools, ye whited
sepulchers ye blind guides which strain
out gnat and swallow q camel
There are in our day great many gnats
strained out and great many camels
mon to sketch a few persons who are ex-
tensively engaged in that business.
First, remark, that all those ministers
of tho Gospel are photographed in the text
who are very scrupulous abont the conven-
tionalities 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 frivoity in
religious convocatioD. But there are Illus
trations. 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 thoss things in religious SER
vice which draw the corners Of the mouth
down, and denounce all those things which
have tendency to draw the corners OF the
mouth up, and these men will 60 to installa-
tions and to presbyteries and to conferences
and to associations, their pockets full Of fine
sieves to strain out the gnats while in their
own churches at home every Sunday there
are fifty people sound asleep. They make
their churches great dormitory, and their
somniferous sermons are q cradle, and the
drawled out hymns q lullaby. while some
uakeful soul in pew with her fan keeps the
flies of unconscious persons approximate.
Now, I 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
indifference of the hearers and the stupidity
OF the speaker.
In old age, Oh from physical infirmity, or
from long watches with the sick, drowsiness
will sometimes overpowsr one, but when
minister of the Gospel looks of upon an
audience and finds healthy and intelligent
people struggling with drowsiness it Is time
for him to give out the do1ology or pro.
nounce the benediction. The great fault OF
city, but too much somnolence. The one is
an irritating gnat that may be easily
strained out; the other is a great, sprawling
and sleepy-eyed camel Of the dry desert. In
all our Sabbath schools, in all our Bibla
classes, in all our pulpits we need to brighten
up our religious message with such Christ
like vivacity as we find in the text.
take down from my library the biog.
rapnles or ministers ana writer's OF the past
ages inspired and uniuspired, who have done
the most to bring souls to Jesus Christ, and
consecratsd their wit and their humor to
Christ. Elijah used it when he advised the
Baalites, as they could not make their God
respond, telling them to call louder as their
god might BE- sound asleep or gone a.hunt.
ing. Job used It when he said to his self
conceited com;orters, "Wisdom will die
with yeu" Christ not only used it in the
text, but when He ironically complimented
the putre6ed Pharisees, saying, 1.-THE whole
need not q physician" and when by one
word He described the cunning OF Herod,
saying, "Go ye, and tell that fox
Matthew aenry's Commentaries from the
first page to the last coruscated with humor
Is summer clouds with heat lightning. John
Bunyan's writings are as full Of humor as
they are of saving truth, and there is not an
aged man here who has ever read "Pigrim's
Progress who does notremember that while
reading it he smiled as often as he wept.
Chrysostom, George Herbert, Robert South,
John Wesley, George Whitedeld, Jeremy
Taylor, Rowland Hill, Nettleton, George 6.
Finney and all the men Of the past who
greatly advanced the kingdom of Col con-
secrated their wit and their humor to the
cause Of Christ.
So it has been in all the ages, and say to
these young theological students, who clu'.
ter in these services Sabbath by Sabbath,
sharpen your wits as keen as scimiters and
and then take them into the holy war. It is
avery short bridge between smile and q
tear, a suspension bridge from eye to lip.
and it is soon crossed over. and a smile is
sometimes just as sacred as q tear. There is
asmuch religion, aud think little more,
in a spring morning than in stariess mid
night. :,
Religious work without any humor or vii
in it is banquet with a side Of. beef, and
that raw, and no condiments and no desser