The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-10-25
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

Subject: Small Annoyances-We Should
Strive 10 Overcome the Troubles of
Life-WIth the Help of Gods Grace
Petty Grievances Become blessings.
Copyright, Louis Klopsch. 1897
WASHINGTON, D. C.-This sermon by DR..
Talmage deals with a subject which ap-
peals to all classes and conditions OF men.
His text Is Deuteronomy VIII, 20, "The
Lord thy God will send the hornet"
In my text the hornet flies out on its mis-
sion. 1t Is q 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 It's lancet. In boyhood we used to stand
hung from the tree branch, and while We
were looking ut the wonderful covering We
were struck with something that sent US
shrleking away. The hornet goes In
swarms. 1t has captains over hundreds,
and twenty OF them aliRhting on one man
will produce certain death.
My friends, when we are assaulted by
great behemoths of trouble We become
chivalrlc, and we assault them. We get on
the high mettled steed OF our courage, and
we make cavalry chaI Se at them, and II
God be with US we come out stronger and
better than when we went In. But alas for
these insectile annoyances or life,, these
foes too small to shoot, these things with
out any avoirdupois weight, the gnats and
the midges and the flies and the wasps and
the hornetsl In other words, 1t is the
small, singing annoyances of our life
which drive US out and use US up. In the
glorious purpose God has sent the hornet.
Iremark, in the first place, that these
small, singing annoyances may come In
the shape OF nervous organization. Peo-
pie who are prostrated 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 alp The sound OF
heavy foot, the harsh clearing OF throat,
a dIscord In music, a want OF harmony be-
tween the shawl and the glove on the same
person, a curt answer, a passing slight, the
wind from the east, any one OF ten thou
sand annoyances, opens the door for the
hornet. The fact Is that the vast maj jority
of the people in this country are over
worked, 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 he was in such poor physi-
tor, whether live or die, the wheel must
keep going round" These sensitive per-
sons Of whom I speak have bleeding sen-
sitiveness. The aies love to light on any
thing raw; and these people ure like the
Canaanites spoken OF in the text or in the
conte1t-they have a very thin covering
and are vulnerable at all points. "And the
Lord sent the hornet"
Again, the small insect annoyances may
oopoa 70 IN tho oh no NJ friapdo and ao-
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 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 retail
it. They gather up all the adverse cri:i-
ness, about your home, about your church,
and they make your ear the funnel into
which they pour it. They laugh heartily
when they tell you, rs though it wee d
good Joke, and you laugh, too-outslde.
The small insect annoyances OF life
sometimes come in the shape Of local
physical trouble which does not amount
to positive prostration, but which
bothers you when you want to feel the
best. Perhaps It is sick headache which
has been the plague of your life, and you
appoint some occasion OF mirth or sociality
or usefulness, and when the clock strikes
tho hour you cannot make your appear
ance. Perhaps the trouble Is between the
ear and the forehead In the shape OF
aneuralgic twinge. Nobody can see It or
sympathize with it, but just at the time
when you want your intellect clearest and
your disposition brightest you feel sharp,
keen, disconcerting thrust. ''The Lord
sent the hornet"
Perhaps these small insect annoyarces
will come in the shape OF u domestic trri-
tation. The parlor and the kitchen do not
always harmonize. TO get good service
and keep it is one OF the great questions OF
the country. Sometimes 1t may be the ar
rogance and inconsiderateness OF employ
ers; but, whatever be the fact, we all i'd
NIT there are these insect annoyRnces
winging their way out from the culinary
department. If the grace OF God be not in
the heart OF the housekeeper, she cannot
maintain her equilibrium. The men come
home a. night and hear the story OF these
annoyances and say, "Oh, those home
troubles are very little things!'' They nre
small, small as wasps, but they sting.
Martha's nerves were all unstrung when
she rushed in asking Christ to scold
Ill y,
women who are dying, stung to death by
these pestIferous domestic annoyances.
"The Lord sent the hornet"
These small insect disturbances may also
como in the shape OF busine:s irrltations.
There are men here who went through the
24th of September, 1869, and the panics OF
1873 and OF 1893 without losing their
balance who are every day unhorsed by lit
tie annoyances-a clerks i'll manners, or
blot OF Ink on bill Of lading, or the ex-
travagance Of O partner who overdraws his
account or the underselling by a business
rival, or the whispering OF store conf
dences in the street, or the making ofsome
little bad debt which was against your judg-
ment, but you wanted to please somebody
else.
1t is not the panics that kill the NOR
chants. Panics como only once in ten or
twenty years. 1t is the constant din Of
these everyday annoyances which is send
ing so many OF our hest merchants into
nervous dyspepsia and paralysis aud the
grave. When our national commerce fell
fat on it's face, these men stood up and felt
almost defiant, but their life is going away
now under the swarm of these pestiierous
annoyances. 1.-The Lord sent the hornet"
The naturalist tells US tkat Il wasp some
times has family OF 10000 wasps, and 1t
does seem as II every annoyance OF your
life brooded n million. BY the help OF God,
to-day want to show you the other side.
naturalist tells US they are very important
In the worlds economy. They kill spiders.
and they clear the atmosphere. And
really believe God sends tho annoyances
OF our life upon US to kill the spiders OF
the soul and to clear the atmosphere OF
our skies.
These annoyances are sent on US, think,
to wake US up from our lethargY. There
Is nothing that makes q man so lively rs
nest Of 'yellow Jackets" and think that
these annoyances are Intended to persuade
US of the fact that this is not Il world for