Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-04-06
Calr'naSe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Prsnk Dc Witt Talmaoe, b. D.

Los Angeles, Cal, April 2.-The self
sufI1ciency Of wealth, the obstacle it,
possession opposes to spiritual prog.
ress and how these may be overcome
are the theme Of today's sermon. the
preacher choosing rs bis text Mark <,
%. THAN for rich man to enter into
the kingdom Of God"
am thankful that I was 80 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 profancd the sa-
cred hills with the shriekings Of an
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 voice Of the
conductors who call: Next station is
Bethlehem" Change cars for Jericho
and the Dead senw "All aboard for
the Grand Trunk line for Sychar 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 sacrilcgious 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 end 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 I
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 I saw 1t 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. I would interpret the words
Of my text. see i,f 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 II 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 60
through the needles eye" YES" 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 a hard
Job ahead Of u.s."
A Cry to the Waterman.
The two men approach the city wall
with its shut gates. "Ho, Waterman,
no" they cry. "Open unto us; open
unto u.s." may, nay" says the watch
man; that is against the law But l
will open for you the needles eye If
you wish" "All right" answer the
merchantmen; I'VE 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
Is cut into the gate as panel can be
cut out Of q door. It Is called the
needles eye. In the meantime the
camels are unloaded. Then the own
ers command the big stupid brutes to
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 is 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 Of outside foes, sleeps on. All,
1t was no easy matter to make a camel
go through the needles eye. 1t Ia no
easy manner for rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. Christ says
1t. In the one case as In the other the
difficulty Is almost insurmountable.
Why? Why Is 1t "easier for camel
to go through the eye Of a needle than
for rich man to enter the kingdom of
God"
The rich man. In the first place, Ia
loath to bead the knee and come ia
Christ az suppliant pauper. He dis.
likes to surrender his gold and silver
and railroad bonds and warehouses
and big bank account and to unload
all at the mercy seat. He hates to
bay. Lord. all that l am and all that
have 10 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 youna
ruler Of the east to surrender his pos
sessions. Christ practically said to
this would he disciple: "YounR man