The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1895-12-20

the vineyards. The Colorado beetle,
the Nebraska grasshopper, the New
Jersey locust, the universal potato-bug,
seem to carry on the work which was
begun 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 species OF wasp,
swift in its motion and violent in its
sting. It's 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. It has captains over hun
dreds, and twenty of them alighting on
one man will produce death.
The Persians attempted to conquer
Christian city, but the elephants and
the beasts on which the Persians rode
were assaulted by the hornet, so that
the whole army was broken up, and
the besieged city was rescued. This
burning and noxious insect stung out
the Hittites and the Canaanites from
their country. What cleaning sword
and chariot OF war could not accomplish
was done by the puncture of an insect.
The Lord sent the hornet.
Ny friends, when we are assaulted
by great behemoths of trouble, we be-
come chivalric, and we assault them;
we get on the bigh-mettled steed of our
courage, and we make 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 insec-
tile annoyances of life-these foes too
small to shoot-these things without
any avoirdupois weight-the gnats and
the midges 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 some
grand and glorious purpose God has
sent the hornet.
Iremark, in the first place, that these
small singing annoyances may come
in the shape of a nervous organization.
People who are Frustrated under
typhoid fevers or with broken bones
get plenty of sympathy; but who pities
anybody that is nervous? The doctors
say, and the family say, and everybody
says, "Oh, she's only little nervous;
that's all!' The sound of a heavy foot,
the harsh clearing OF a throat, dis
cord in music, a want of harmony be-
tween shawl and the glove on the same
person, a 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 coun-
try are overworked, and their nerves
are the first to give out. A great null
titude are under the strain of Leyden.
who, when he was told by his physician
that If he did not stop working while
he 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 speak have bleeding sensitive
ness. The flies love to light on any
thing 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 at all
points. "And the Lord sent the hor-
net"
Again, the small insect annoyances
may come to us in the shape of friends
and acquaintance who are always say
ing disagreeable things. There are
some people you cannot be with for half
an hour but you feel cheered and COM
forted. Then there are other people
you cannot be with for five minutes be-
fore you feel miserable. They do not
mean to disturb YOU, but they sting you
to the bone. They gather up all the
yarn which the gossips spin, and re-
tail it. They gather up all the adverse
criticisms about your person, about
your business, about your home, about
your church. and they make your ear
the funnel into which they pour 1t.
They laugh heartily when they tell you,
as though 1t were good joke, and you
laugh too-outside.
These people are brought to our at
tention in the Bible. in the Book of
Ruth. Naomi went forth beautiful and
with the finest OF worldly prospects, and
into another land; but, after awhile,
she came back widowed and sick and
poor. What did her friends do when
she came to the 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 their hands and said,
rs this Naomi?" as much as to say.
How awful bad you do lookv' When I
entered the ministry looked very pale
for years, and every year, fer four or
five years. hundred times a year,
was asked IL had not the consumption;
and. passing through the room / would
sometimes hear people sigh and say,
"A-ah! not long for this worldr' re-
solved in those times that I never. in
any conversations would cav ANYTHING