The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-07-28
STREAMING AT CHATS.
DIR. TALMAGE BREACHES ON HU,
MAN INCONSISTENCY.
Makes Use of IN Ancient Epigram to
illustrate the Folly of Mankind.
Prone to Magnify Small Things,
d of the Great


Copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1899
In this discourse, founded on an an
cient epigram repeated by Christ, DR..
Talmage illustrates the folly of being
very particular about insignificant
things while neglectful of vast con-
Germs. The text is Matthew xiii, "a,
"Ye blind guides, which strain at a
gnat n swallow a camel"
A proverb is compact wisdom, knowl-
edge in chunks, a library in a sentence,
the electricity of many clouds dis
charged in one bolt, a river put through
Droverb of the text, he means TO set
forth the ludicrous behavior of those
who make a great buster about small
sins and have no appreciation Of great
ones. In my text a small insect and a
large quadruped are brought into
comparison-a gnat and a camel.
You have in museum or IN the desert
seen the latter, a great awkward.
spraWling creature, with back two sto-
rieS high and stomach having a collec-
ton 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 a few weeks
becomes a chrysalis and then after a
few days becomes the gnat as we rec
ognize it. But the insect spoken Of in
the text is in it's very smallest shape,
and it yet inhabits the water, for my
text is a misprint and ought to read
strain out a gnat."
Nv tayt ChnyUG Won tho nrinaa Of in
constituencies. A man after long obser-
walton has formed the suspicion that
in q sup of water he is about to drink,
there is a grub or the g"randparent of
a gnat. He goes and gets a sieve or
strainer. He takes the water and pOurs
it through the sieve in the broad light.
He says, Il would rather do anything
almost than drink this water until this
arVa be e~Xtirpated." This water is
brought under inquisitiOn. The expert
ment is successful. The water ruSheS
through the sieve and leaves against
the side Of the sieve the grub or gnat.
Then the man carefully emOves the
insect and drinks the water in placidi-
ty. But going out n day, and hungry,
he devOurS a ship Of the desert" the
camel, which the Jews were forbidden
to eat. The gaStrOnOmer has 10 COM
FUNCTIONS Of conscience. He suffers
from no Indigestion. He puts the lower
Jaw uDutI the cdIIlel > 1OEelOOl, anu Ills
upper jaw over the hump of the camel's
back, and gives one swallow and the
drOmedary disappears forever. He
strained out a gnat, he swallowed a
camel.
CHRIST DID NOT FLATTER.
While Christ's audience was yet smil-
ing at the oppositeness and wit of his
illustration-fOr smile they did, unless
they were too stupid to understand the
hyperbOle-Christ practically said to
them, That is you" Punctilious about
small things; reckless about affairs of
great magnitude. No subject yer
WINGED under a surgeons knife more
bitterly than did the PhariSees under
Christ's Scapel of truth. AS an anatO-
mist will take a human body to pieces
and put the pieces under a microscope
for examination, so Christ finds his
way to the heart of the dead Pharisee
and cuts it out and puts it under the
glass of inspection for all generations
to examine. Those PhariseeS thought
that Christ would fatter them n
compliment them, and how they must
have writhed under the red-hOt words
as HI said, I'VE fools, we Whited sepul-
cheers, We blind guides, which strain
out a gnat and swallow a camel"
There are in our day a great many
gnats strained out and a great many
camels swallowed, and it is the object
of this sermon to sketch a few persons
who are extensively engaged in that
business.
First, | remark tina all those minis
ters of the gospel who are very scru-
puIOuS about the cOnVentiOnalities of
religion, but put no particular stress
upon matters of vast Importance, are
photographed in the text. Church SER
vices ought to be grave and solemn.
There is no room for frivOlity in reli-
-;o,,. o-1,Don+iA~ hY,t tGhca ocn ll11c
trations, and there are hyperboles like
that of Christ in the text that will ir-
adiat with smiles any intelligent au-
dience. There are men like those blind
guides of the text who advocate only
those things in religious service which
draw the corners of the mouth down
n d%enounce all those things which
have a tendency to draw the corners
of the mouth up, and these men will
go to installations, and to p~reSbyterles,
and to conferences, and to associations,
their pockets full of fine sleeves to strain
out the gnats, while in their own
churches at home every Sunday there
are fifty people sound asleep. They
make their churches a great dOrmitory,
and their somniferous m are a
cradle and the drawled out hymns 4
lullaby, while some wakeful soul in n
pew, with her fan, keeps the flies off
unconscious persons approximate. Now,
L say 1t is worse TO sleep In cnurcn tnan
to smile in church, for the latter i'm
plies at least attention, while the for
mer implies the Indifference of the
hearers and the stupidity Of the
speaker.
In old age, or from physical inirmi-
ty, or from long watching with the
sick, drowsiness will sometimes over
power one, but when a minister Of the
gospel looks off upon an audience and
finds healthy and intelligent people
struggling with drowsiness 1t is time
for him to give out the doXology or pro-
nounce the benediction. The great fault
of church services today is not toe
much vivacity, but too much somno-
lence. The one is an irritating gna'
that may be easily strained out, the
other is a great, SPRAYING and sleepy
eyed camel of the dry desert. In al
our Sabbath schools, in all our Bible
classes, in all our pulpits, we need tC
brighten up our religious message Will
such Christlike vivacity as we find III
the text.
l take down from my library the
biographies of ministers and writers
Of tho Do-A 1900 S---;rn1 on6 rrnin.