The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1899-10-14
OUR MINOR TROUBLES
Sermon by DR.. Talmage on Small
Annoyances.
He says II Il These which Test Chris
tInn Fortitude and Patience
The Lesson of Trivial
IrritntIOns.
Copyright. 1899. by Louis Klopsch.

with a subject which appeals TO all
classes and conditions OF men. His text
is Deuteronomy 1920, THE Lord thy
God will send the hornet"
IL seems as IL the insectile world
were determined to eXtirpate the hui
man race. IL bombards the grainfields
and the orchards and the vineyards.
The Colorado beetle, the Nebraska
grasshoppcr, the New Jersey locust,
the universal potato beetle, seem to
carry on the work which was begun
ages 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. IT 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 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
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. IL has captains over hun
dreds, and &c Of them alighting on one
man will produce certain death.
The Pcrsians attempted to conquer
n Christian city, but the elephants and
the beasts on which the Persans rode
were assaulted by the hornet, so that
the whole army was broken up, and the
bcsicgcd city was rescued. This burn
ing and noXious insect stung out the
Hittitcs 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"
My friends, when we are assaulted
come chivalric and we assault them.
We get on the high mettled steed of
our courage, and we make 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
hb''o vi 'ui iliN which hilN' uS out anu
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 n nervous organization.
People who are FRUSTRATED under ty-
phoid fevcrs or with broken bones get
plenty OF sympathy, but who pitics
anybody that is nervous? The doctors
say and the family say and everybody
says: "Oh, she's only a little nervous;
that's ALL" The sound of heavy foot,
the harsh clearing of n throat, a discord
in music, n want of harmony between
the shawl and the glove on the same
person, n curt answer, 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
country are ovcrworkcd, and their
nerves are the first to give out. a great
multitude arc under the strain Of Ley
den who, when he was told by his ply
stefan 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 I speak have bleeding scnsi-
tivcncss. The flies love to light on any
thing raw, and these people are like
the Canannitcs spoken Of in the text or
in the contcx-they have n very thin
covering and arc vulnerable at all
points. "And the Lord sent the hornet"
Again. the small insect annoyances
may come to us in the shape Of friends
and acquaintances who are always say
ing disagreeable things. There are
some people you cannot he with for half
IN hour but you feel cheercd 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 retail
1t. They gather up all the adverse crit
icisms about your person, about your
business, 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, as
though il were n good joke, and you
laugh, too-outside.
These people are brought to our at
tcntion in the Bible, in the book OF
Ruth. Naomi went forth beautiful and
with the finest worldly prospects into
another land, but after awhile she
came back widowed and sick and poor
What did her friends do when she came
10 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 outl They
threw up their hands and said: "Is this
Naomi?" as much as TO say: allow
awful bad you do look!" When en-
tered the ministry, looked very pale
for years, and every year, for four OF
five years, many times year ] was
asked if l had not consumption. and
passing through the room, would
sometimes hear people sigh and say;
-A-ah. not long for this world!" re-
solved in those times that ! never In
any conversation would say anything
depressing. and by the help of God
have kept the resolution. These peo'
pIe of whom I speak reap and bind IN