The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-04-04
Caln1a9e
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, D. D.

A|OS <AASCECSs SAl., I1pI1l hS oS1A
sufaciency 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,
%, THAN for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of God"
l am thankful that l was so fortu-
nate as to visit Palestine before the
railroad engineers had made their sur
veys and built their bridges and erect
ed their depots and profaned the sa-
onrushing locomotive. How can the
Holy Land remain much longer dis
tinguished by the habits and customs,
the usages and conventionalisns 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 voiceEpf the
conductors who call: Next station is
Bethlehem "Change cars for Jericho
and the Dead sear' Gail aboard for
the Grand. Trunk line for Sychac and
Damascus!" Passengers for Caper-
naum and Magdala take forward cars!'
"Ten minutes for refreshments at Jeri-
cho's wellv' "All aboard! All aboard!'
Almost sacrilegious does it seem to
mention a 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 a 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 if you are to see the Holy Land
as saw it you must hasten there.
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 pulpit. By the ancient cam
els pack, and not by the modern
freight car, would interpret the words
of 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 as they can
make them travel. But the camels are
very heavily laden. The road Is steep.
The pace Is slow. l hear one Of the
drivers turn to the other and say,
Isaac, I doubt If 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" EYES," an
swered the first speaker, "but we must
do it, or else the robbers will steal
from US all 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, Waterman,
hop they cry. "Open unto us; open
unto us!' may, nay" says the watch
man; that is against the law. But
will open for you the needles eye If
you WISH" call right" answer the
merchantmen; I'VE will come in by the
eye"
With that the Waterman descends
from his lookout tower, and within the
gate he opens door. This heavy door
is cut into the gate as panel can be
cut out Of door. It is called the
needles eye. In the meantime the
eamels are unloaded. Then the own
ers command the big stupid brutes to
kneel, and by eoaxings and beatings
and growlings and cursings the cam
els on their knees are compelled to
drag themselves through this small
door. AL the baggage which was pack
ed upon the camels' backs is carried
within the city walls in the arms Of the
Then the door, or the
needles eye, is shut, and the great city,
fearless of outside foes, sleeps on. All,
It was no easy matter to make camel
60 through the needles eye. 1t is no
easy manner for a rich man to enter
Into the kingdom Of God. Christ says
1t. In the one ease as In the other the
difficulty is almost insurmountable
Why7t Why is it "easier for camel
to 80 through the eye Of a needle than
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of
Godr'
The rich man, in the first place, Is
loath to bend the knee and come to
Christ as suppliant pauper. He dis
likes to surrender his gold and silver
and railroad bonds and warehouses
and q big bank account and to unload.
ell 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
- DO H<.~ H e