The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1899-10-13
OUR MINOR TROUBLES
Sermon by Dr.. Talmage on Small
Annoyances.
lie Says II Il These which Test Chris
tian Eortitude and Pniicuce-
The Lesson of Trivial
Irrit0tions.
Copyright. 1889, by Louis Klopsch.

classes and conditions of men. His text
is Deuteronomy 1:2o, THE Lord thy
God will send the hornet"
1t seems as If the ipscctile world
were determined TO eNtirpate the HUI
man race. IT. bombards the graintolds
and the orchards and the vineyards
The Colorado beetle, the Nebraska
grasshopper. the New Jersey locust
the universal potato beetle, seem to
carry ON the work which was begun
ares ago when the insects buzzcd 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
i'm its motion and violent in its sting
Its touch is torture to man or beast
We have all seen the cattle run below
ing under the cut of its lancet, In boy
hood we used to stand cautiously look
ing at the globular nest hung from the
.ree 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 hun
dreds. and 20 of them alighting on one
man will produce certain death.
The Persians attempted 20 conquer
u 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 burn
ing 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
1.-The Lord sent the hornet"
Nv friends, when we are assaulted
by great behemoths of trouble we be-
come chiOiric and we assault them.
We get on the high mettled steed OF
our courage. and we make a cavalry
charge at them, and IL 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 to shoot, these things with
out any avoirdupois weight, the gnats
and the midgcs and the flies and the
wasps and the hornets, In other
words, it is the small singing annoy
ances of our life which drive us out and
use us up. In the best conditioned
life for some grand and glorious pur.
pose God has sent the hornet.
| remark, in the first place, that these
small singing annoyances may come
in the shape of a nervous organization
People who are Frustrated under ~
| 4 L
plenty of sympathy, but who pitiei
anybody that is nervous? The doctor
say and the family say and everybody
says: "Oh. she's only n little nervous
that's ALI" The sound of heavy foot
the harsh clearing OF a throat, a discor'
in music. a want Of harmony betweer
the shawl and the glove on the sam
person. a curt answer. a passing slight
the wind from the east, any one of tcI
thousand annoyances, opens the doc
for the hornet. The fact is that n,
vast majority Of the people in thi
country are overworked, and the
nerves are the first TO give out. \ greH
multitude are under the strain OF Ley
den who. when he was told by his ply
stefan that IL he did not stol
working while he was in sue
poor physical health he woul,
die, responded: Doctor, whethc
/ live or die, the wheel must keep goinl
round" These sensitive persons O
whom I speak have a bleeding sensi
tiveness. The flies love 10 light on any
thing raw, and these people are lik
the Canaanites spoken Of in the text o
in the conteX-they have a very .thil
covering and are vulnerable at al
points. "And the Lord sent the hornet.
Again. the small insect annoyance
may come to us in the shape of friend
and acquaintance who are always say
ing disagreeable things. There ar
some people you cannot he with for hal
an hour but you feel cheercd and com
forted. Then there are other peopl
you cannot be with for five minutes be
fore you feel miserable. They do no
mean TO disturb you, but they sting yol
TO the bone. They gather up all tn
yarn which the gossips spin and retail
it. They gather up all the adverse crit
icisms about your person, about you
business. about your home, about you
church, and. they make your ear IN
tunncl into which they pour ii. The.
laugh heartily when they tell you, O
though IL were n good joke, and 70
laugh, too-outsidc.
These people are brought TO our AT
tention in the Bible. in the book O
Ruth. Naomi went forth beautiful an
with the finest worldly prospects int
another land, but after awhile sh
came back widowed and sick and poor
What did her friends do when she cam
TO the city? They all went out, an,
instead of giving her common sens
consolation, what did they do? Rea,
the book Of Ruth and find out. The
threw up their hands and said: as thi
Naomi?" as much as 10 say: "IIoy
awful bad you do look" When | en-
tered the ministry, / looked very pal
for years, and every year. for four o
five years, many times year ! wa
asked II | had not consumption, and
passing through the room. woul
sometimes hear people sigh and say
"A-ah, not long for this world" re
solved in those times that | never &
any conversation would say anything
depressing. and by the help Of God