The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1899-07-28
TALNlAGES SERMON.
DIVINE SATIRE, THE SUBJECT
LAST SUNDAY.
We Blind Guides which Strain ut
Gnat and Swallow CameI-Matthew
IS; 24-Great Minds Grapple with
Great Undertakings.

NNoA e4AAA AdIC- w AIA
quotes the proverb of the text, he
means to set forth the ludicrous be-
havior OF those who make a great
buster about small sins and have no
appreciation of great ones. In my
text, small insect and a large
quadruped are brought into compar-
ison-a gnat and a camel. You have
in museum or on the desert seen the
latter, a great awkward, sprawling
creature, with back two stories high,
and stomach having a collection of res
ervoirs for desert travel, an animal
forbidden to the Jews as food, and in
many literatures entitled 1.-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 be-
comes a chrysalis, and then after few
days becomes the gnat as we recognize
1t. But the insect spoken of in the
text is in its very smallest shape, and
1t yet inhabits the water-for my text
Is misprint and ought to read strain
out a gnat"
My text shows you the prince of in
consistencies. A man after long OBJ
servation has formed the suspicion
that in cup of water he is about to
drink. there is a grub or the grand
parent OF 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 larva be extirpated."
This water is brought under inquisi-
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 carefuny
removes the insect and drinks the
water in placidity. But going out one
day, and hungry, he devours a ship of
the desert" the camel, which the Jews
were forbidden to eat. The gastron-
omer has no compunctions of con-
science. He suffers from no indiges-
ton. He puts the lower jaw under the
oamel's forefoot. and his upper jaw
over the hump of the camel's back,
and gives one swallow and the drom-
edary disappears forever. He strained
out gnat. he swallowed camel.
While Christ's audience was yet
smiling at the appositeness and wit of
his illustration-for smile they did, un-
less they were too stupid to understand
the hyperbole-Christ practically said
to them, That is you" Punctilious
about small things; reckless about af-
fairs OF great magnitude. No subject
ever WINGED under a surgeons knife
more bitterly than did the Pharisees
under Christs scalpel OF truth. AS an
anatomist 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 1t out, and puts 1t
under the glass of inspection for all
generations to examine Those Phari-
sees thought that Christ would fiatter
them and compliment them, and how
they must have writhed under the red
hot words as he said: 'Ye fools, we
whited sepulchres, we blind guides,
which strain out a gnat and swallow a
camel"
aAO III Jul udy a GREAT
gnats strained out and a great many
camels swallowed, and 1t is the object
OF this sermon to sketch a few persons
who are extensively engaged in that
business.
First. l remark, that all those minis
tiers Of the Gospel who are very
scrupulous about the conventionalities
OF religion, but put no particular stress
upon matters Of vast Importance. are
| photographed in the text. Church
services ought to be grave and solemn.
There is no room for frivolity in relg-
ious convocation. But there are illus
| trations, and there are hyperboles like
that of Christ in the text, that will ir-
radiate 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
and denounce all those things which
have tendency to draw the corners OF
the mouth up, and these men will &c
to installations and to presbyteries and
to conferences and to associations
| lnCll POChClo lull vi nnC blCNCo "
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 sermons are q
cradle, And the drawled-out hymns 9
lullaby, while some wakeful soul in q
pew with her fan keeps the flies off un-
conscious persons approximate Now
say II is worse to sleep in church thar
to smile in church. for the latter i'm
plies at least attention, while the for
mer implies the indifferences of the
hearers and the stupidity of the
speaker.
In old age, or from physical infirm
ity, or from long watching with thu
sick, drowsiness will sometimes over
power one; but when a minister of thu
Gospel looks off upon an audience, ant
finds healthy and intelligent people
struggling with drowsiness, 1t is tim
for him to give out the doxology, o.
pronounce the benediction. The grea
fault of church services today, is no
too much vivacity, but too much som
Violence. The one Is an irritating gna
|