Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-07-17

Behavior of Those Who Magnify
Small Sins and Ignore Great Ones.
! Much In Little.
copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1901
WASHINGTON, July 16.-In this dis
course, founded on an ancient cpl
gram repeated by Christ, DR.. Talmage
illustrates the folly of being very par
Ecular about insignificant things,
while neglectful of vast concerns. The
text is Matthew xiii, "a: Eye blind
guides, which strain at a gnat and
swallow 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 a mill race. When Christ
quotes the proverb of the text, he
means to set forth the ludicrous be-
hayior of those who make a great
bluster about small sins and have no
appreciation of great ones. In my
text a small insect and q large CEIad
ruped are brought into compariSon-a
gnat and a camel. You have in mu-
scum or on the desert seen the latter,
a great awkward, sprawling creature,
ach having a collection of reservoirs
for desert travel, an animal forbidden
to the Jews as food and in many lit
eratures entitled ''the ship of the des-
ert." The gnat spoken of in the text
Is in the grub form. 1t is born in pool
or pond, after n few weeks becomes
q chrysalis and then after a few days
becomes the gnat as we recognize it.
But the insect spoken of in the text is
In Its very smallest shape, and it yet
inhabits the water, for my text is
misprint and ought to read "strain out
q gnat."
My text shows you the prince Of in.
consistencieS. A man after long OBJ
servation has formed the suspicion
that in a cup of water he is about to
drink there is a grub or the grand
parent 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, 81 would rather
do anything almost than drink this
water until this larva be extirpated."
This water is brought under inqufsi-
ton. The experiment is successful.
The water rushes through the sieve
and leaves against the side of the sieve
the grub or gnat. Then the man care
fully removes the insect and drinks the
water in placidity. But going out one
day and hungry, he devOurs ''ship Of
the desert" the camel, which the Jews
were forbidden to eat. The gastron
omer has no computations Of con-
science. He suffers from no indiges-
ton. He puts the lower jaw under
the camel's forefoot and his upper jaw
over the hump of the cameTs back and
gives one swallow, and the dromedary
disappears forever. He strained out
gnat; he swallowed a camel.
Christ's ScaIpeI.
While Christs audience was yet
smiling at the appositeness and wit of
his illustration-for smile they did, I'M
less they were too stupid to under
stand the hyperbole-Ch Christ practical
ly said to them, THAT is you" Pune
tilious about small things; reckless
about affairs of great magnitude. No
subject ever WINGED under a surgeons
knife more bitterly than did the Phari-
sees under Christ's scalpel of truth
AS an anatomist will take a human
body to pieces and put the pieces I'M
der 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 and compliment them,
and how they must have writhed I'M
der the redhOt words as he said, "Ye
fools, We whited sepulchers, We blind
guides, which strain out 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 per-
sons who are extensively engaged in
that business.
First, remark, that all those minis
tiers of the gospel who are very scru-
pulous about the conventionalities of re-
lgion, but put no particular stress up
on matters of vast Importance, are
photographed in the text. Church sery-
ices ought to be grave and solemn.
There is no room for frivolity in re-
1igious conyocation. But there are IL
Illustrations, and there are hyperboles
like that of Christ in the text, that
will irradiate with smiles any intelli-
gent audience There are men like
those blind guides of the text who ad-
yocate only those things In religious
service which draw the corners of the
mouth down and denounce all those
things which have a tendency to draw
the corners of the mouth up, and these
men will go to installations and to
presbyteries 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