The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-16
PETTY ANNoYANcES OF LIFE.
TALMAGE TELLS OF THE HORNET
IN BIBLICAL HISTORY.

Swarm of the PestiferOus insects
The HittfteS and Canaanites Driven
Prom Their Country by the same
Insect-Dinerent Forms Assumed
by the Small Singing AnnOyanees
Of Life and the Lessons To he De-
Quoted From Them.
Washington. Dec. 15-Dr. Talmage to-
dav chose for his discourse theme that
will appeal to most people, viz; The petty
annoyances Of life. His text was. The
Lord thy God viii send the hornet.
Deut. 7:20
It seems as if the insectile world were
determined to extirpate the human race.
Il bOmbards the grain fields and the orch
ards and the vineyards. The Colorado
beetle, the Nebraska grasshopper, the New
Jersey locust. the universal potato-bug,
seem 10 carry on the work which was be
gun ages ago when the insects buzzed out
of Noah's Ark as the door was opened.
In my text, the hornet flies out on its
mission. 1t is a species Of wasp, swift in
its motion and violent in its sting. Its
touch is torture to man or beast. We have
all seen the cattle run believing under the
cut of its lancet. In boyhood we used TO
stand cautiously looking at the globular
nest hung from the tree branch. and while
we were looking at the wonderful covering
We were struck with something that sent
US shrieking away. The hornet goes in
swarms. 1t has captains over hundreds,
and twenty of them alighting on one man
will produce death.
The Persians attempted to conquer a
Christian city, but the elephants and the
beasts on which the Persians rode were
l.
army was broken up, and the besieged city
was rescued. This burning and noxiOus
insect stung out the Hitutes and the Ca
naaniteS from their country What gleam-
ing sword and chariot of war could not ac-
complsh was done by the puncture of an
insect. The Lord sent the hornet.
My friends, when we are assaulted by
great behemoths of trouble, we become
chivalric and we assault them: we get
on the high-mettled sJeed of our cour-
age, and we make a cavalry charge at
them, and, if God be with US, we come
out stronger and better than when we
went IN. But, alas, for these insectile
annoyances of life-these foes too small
10 shoot-these things without any av-
oirdupois weight-the gnats and the mid
ges and the flies and the wasps and the
hornets In other words, it is the small
singing annOyances of our life, which
drive us out and use us up. In the best
conditioned life, for soma grand and
glorious purpose God has sent the hor-
remark, in the first place, that these
small singing annoyances may come in
the shape of a nervous organization.
People who are Frustrated under ty-
phoid fever or with broken bones get
plenty OF sympathy; but who pities any
body that is nervous2 The doctors say,
and the family say. and everybody says.
Oh, she's only a little nervous: that's
allE The sound of a heavy foot, the
i hars ii, clearing OF a throat, discord
the shawl and the glove on the same
person, curt answer, a passing slight,
the wind from the east, any one of ten
thousand annoyances opens the door for
the hornet. The fact is that the vast
majority of the people in this country
are overworked, and their nerves are
the first to give out. A great multitude
are under the strain Of Leyden who
when he was told by his physician
that II he did not stop working while ne
was in such poor physical health he would
die, responded Doctor, whether / live or
die, the wheel must keep going round "
These sensitive persons Of whom | sneak
have a bleeding sensitiveness. The flies
love to light on anything raw. and these
people are like the Canaanites spoken OF
in the text or in the context-they have a
very thin covering and are vulnerable al
net
Again. the small insect ANNOYANCE NAV
come to us in the shape of friends and ac-
quaintances who are always saying dis
agreeable things. There are some peOple
you cannot be with for half an hour but
you feel cheered and comfOrted. Then
there are other people you cannot be with
for five minutes before you feel misera.
BILE. They do not mean to disturb you
but they sting you to the bone. They gath.
er up all the yarn which the gossips spin
and retail it. They gather up all the adj
verse criticisms about your person. about
your business, about your home about
your church. and they make your ear the
funnel into which they pour il. They
laugh heartily when they tell you, as
though 1t were a good joke, and you laugh
too-outsde.
These people are brought to our atten.
tion in the Bible in the Book of Ruth
Naomi went forth beautiful and with the
finest of worldly prospects and into anoth
er land: but, after while, she came bach
widowed and sick and poor. What die
city: They all went out, and, instead Of
giving her common-sense consolation
what did they do? Read the Book Of
Ruth and find out. They threw up theil
hands and said, rs this Naomi?" as
much as TO say, How awful bad you do
iookp' When 1 entered the ministry
looked very pale for years, and every
year, for four or five years. a hundred
times a year l was asked if l haC
not the consumption; and, passing
through the room l would som etimes hea
people sigh and say, A-ah, not long 70
this world / resolved in those times
that / never, in any conversation, would
say anything depressing, and by the hell
OF God have kept the resolution. Thes
people of whom l speak reap and bind il
the great harVest-field of disbursement
some day you greet them with an hilari
Zing at you with some depressing infor
nation. THE Lord sent the hornet
When see so many people in the Worl
who like to say disagreeable things an
write disagreeable things, ! come almos
in my weaker moments to believe what
man said to me in Philadelphia one Mon
day morning. ] went to get the horse a
the livery stable and the hostler, a plai
man, said TO me, Mr. Talmage, l SAY
that you preached to the young men yes
terday." 1 said Yes He said, mo use
no use; mans a failure"
The small insect annoyances of liz
sometimes come in the shape of local ply
steal trouble. which does not amount to
positive prostratiOn, but which bother
you when you want to feel the best Pei
haps it is a sick-headache which has bee
the plague of your life, and you appoir
some occasion of mirth. or sociality, q
usefulness, and when the clock strikes tn
hour you cannot make your appearance
Perhaps the trouble is between the ca
and the forehead, in the shape of mel
ralgic twinge Nobody can see il or syn
pathize with it; but just at the time VINE
you want your intellect clearest, and you
disposition brightest, you feel a sharl
keen. disconcerting thrust The Lord sci
the hornet"
Perhaps these small insect annoyance
will come in the shape of a domestic irr
tation. The parlOr and the kitchen d