Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-04-07
Calnase
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase, D. ID.

Los Angeles, Cal, April 2.-The self
sufficiency OF wealth, the obstacles its
possession opposes to spiritual prog
ress and how these may be overcome
are the theme OF today's sermon. the
preacher choosing as his text Mark x,
20, Than for rich man to enter into
the kingdom Of God"
am thankful that 1 was so fortu-
nate as 70 visit Palestine before the
railroad engineers had made their sur
veys and built their bridges and erect
ed their depots and profaned the sa-
cred hills with the shriekings OF an
onrushing locomotive. How can the
Holy Land remain much longer dis
tinguished Ly the habits and customs.
the usages and CONGRATULATIONS of
Abrahamic and Davidic and Solomonic
and prophetic and apostolic days when
the iron rails have been run near the
family burying ground of the Mach
pelah cave, when the freight cars bring
the luggage formerly carried in the
camels' packs and when the drago-
mans strange, weird, thrilling stories
and midnight tales have given place to
the harsh and metallic voice of the
conductors who call: Next station Is
BethlehemT Change cars for Jericho
and the Dead scar "All aboard for
the Grand Trunk line for Sychar and
Damascusl" passengers for Caper-
naum and Magdala take forward carsr'
Ten minutes for refreshments at Jeri-
cho's wellP' SAIL aboardi All aboardy
Almost sacrilegious does II seem to
mention railroad train In connection
with these sacred places. In order to
interpret the literature OF the Bible
Alright you must read it by the customs
and the habits and the lives OF the peo-
pie Of past centuries. You must have
the sandals and the walled in towns
and the robbers upon the hillsides and
the shepherds and the wild beasts. You
must have just such Holy Land as
visited few years ago and the Holy
Land which hope you may yet be able
to visit before the railroad tracks have
honeycombed the sacred hills, as they
are now running up and down the
length and breadth OF our own land
But II you are to see the Holy Land
Y.
Even now there are railroad trains
running from Joppa to Jerusalem and
from Damascus TO Beirut. Soon all
those eastern cities will have their diff
ferent depots and their rival railroad
lines.
We would not use today the railroad
depot for a pulpit BY the ancient cam
els pack, and not by the modern
freight car. I would interpret the words
or my text, I see in the evening hour
two merchants coming over the west
ern hills toward Jerusalem. They are
pounding and prodding and driving
their camels along as fast rs they can
make them travel. But the camels are
very heavily laden. The road is steep.
The pace is slow. 1 hear one OF the
drivers turn to the other and say,
Isaac. doubt IL we will get TO the
city walls before the gate is shut"
TOO bad" says the other man. THAT
means we are going to have an awful
struggle making the old camels go
through the needles eye.- yes" an
swered the first speaker. "but we must
do IL, or else the robbers will steal
from us ali we have. There. see. the
gates are shut. We will have hard
job ahead OF u.s.
a Cry TO the Waterman.
The two men approach the city wall
with Its shut gates. "Ho, watchman.
ho!' they cry. open unto us; open
unto usr' NAY. nay" says the watch.
man: that is agalnst the law. But I
will open for you the needles eye IL
you wish" "All right" answer the
merchantmen; 1--WE will come In by the
needles eye"
With that the Waterman descends
from his lookout tower, and within the
gate he opens door. This heavy door
IL cut into the gate as. n panel can be
cut out OF door. 1t is called the
needles eye. In the meantime the
camels are unloaded. Then the own
ers command the big stupid brutes 10
kneel. and by coaxings and beatings
and growlings and cursings the cam
els on their knees are compelled to
drag themselves through this small
door. All the baggage which was pack
ed upon the camels' backs a carried
within the city walls in the arms of the
merchantmen. Then the door. or the
needles eye. Is shut, and the great city.
fearless or outside foes. sleeps on. All.
IL was no easy matter TO make n camel
go through The needles eye. 1t is no
easy manner for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom OF God. Christ says
IL. In the one case as in the other the
difhculty is almost insurmountable.
Whyf Why is it ''easier for camel
10 go through the eye OF a needle than
FOR a rich man to enter the kingdom OF
CodT"
The rich man, In the first place, is
ioath to bend the knee and come to
Christ az suppliant pauper. He dis
likes TO surrender his gold and silver
and railroad bonds and warehouses
and big bank account and to unlssd
all at the mercy seat. He hates to
say, Lord, all that / am and all that
have Is thine" And yet that is Just
the way the rich man must come. He
must come exactly In the same way
and with the same spirit which Christ
indicated when he told the rich young
ruler OF the east to surrender his pos
sessions Christ practically said 10
this would be disciple: Young man,
unloose Your gold and silver, your
farms and plantations and your herds
from OF your back. Go and sell all
that thou hast and give to the poor.
Then down on your knees at the mercy
seat, as an unloaded camel crawls
through the needles eye, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven and come
and follow me-" o man, today ara
you ready to lay your open pocketbook
at the Masters feet as well as your
prayers7
The Needles Eye.
Personally I do not see how any one
can make any other Interpretation out
or this text. Some commentators de-
clare that this passage Of Scripture
means. "If any man trust in riches it
Is as impossible for him to enter the
Kingdom Of God as for a great, big,
huge. long necked, thick Tipped. hump
backed, crooked limbed camel to go
through the eye or a sewing girls
needle" Others assert that the Greek
word for camel translated in a broad