The Fort Worth gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-189?, 1891-05-21

stones estate had wayward boy. and in
her despair she asked Mr. Gladstone to
take the boy in hand. While Prime Minis
ter of England with all the mighty affairs
of the kingdom in his hand he took that boy
in his study and counselled him, and then
knelt down and prayed with him and the
boy was saved. If we all had hearts of
sympathy like that what would be to US i'm
possible, rs it not delightful that can
sing so well?" said Jennie Lind in burst
of Joy that she could help others;
sis it not delightful that 1 can
sing SO wella And might we not all say in
thankfulkness to God: 'Is it not delight
full that We can sympathize with others and
encourage others, and help others, and save
othersa"
Again, in mending our nets we need, also,
to put in the threads of faith and tear out
all the
TANGLED MEsHEs OF UNBELIEF.
Our work is successful according to our
faith The man who believes in only half a
Bible, or the Bible in spots. the man who
thinks he cannot persuade others, the man
who hats. doubling about this and doubt
ing about that, will be a failure in Chris
tian work. Show me the man who rather
thinks that the garden of Eden may have
been an allegory, and is not quite certain
but that there may be another chance after
death, and does not know whether or not
the Bible is inspired, and ] tell you that
man for soul-saving is poor stick. Faith
in God and in Jesus Christ and the Holy
Ghost. and the absolute necessity of a re-
generated heart, in order to see God in
peace is one thread you must have in your
mended net, or you will never be . success
full fisher for men. Why, how can you
doubts The hundreds of millions of men
and women now standing in the church on
earth, and the hundreds of millions in
heaven, attest the power of this Gospel to
save With more than the certainty of a
mathematical demonstration, let US start
out to redeem all nations. The rottenest
thread that you are to tear out of your net
is unbelief, and the most important thread
that you are to put in it is faith. Faith in
God, triumphant faith, everlasting faith.
II YOU cannot trust the infinite, the holy,
the omnipotent Jehovah, who can you
trust7
Oh, this important work of mending our
nets! If we could get our nets right we
would accomplish more in soul-saving in
the next year than we have in the last
twenty years. But where shall we get
them mended2 Just where old Zebedee and
his two boys mended their netS-where you
are. flames, why don't you put your oar
in Lake Galilee, or hoist your sail and land
at Capernaum or Tiberias, or Gadara, and,
seated on the bank, mend your net? John,
why don't YOU go ashore and mend your
net9'' No they sat on the guards of the
boat,
OR AT THE PROV OF THE BOAT,
or in the stern of the boat, and they took
up the thread and the needle. and the ropes
and the wooden blocks, and went to work;
sewing, sewing; tying, tying; weaving,
weaving; pounding, pounding; until the
net mended, they push it off in the sea,
and drop paddle, and hoist sail, and the cut
water went through amid the shoals of fish.
some OF the descendants of which we had
Tor breakfast one morning while we were
encamped on the beach of beautiful Galilee.
lanes and John had no time to go ashore.
Ihey were not fishing for fun, as you and l
do in the summer time 1t was their liveli-
hood and that of their families. They
mended their nets where they We're, in the
snip. 'Oh, " says some one, Il mean to get
my net mended, and / will go down to the
public library, and L will see what the sci |
entists say about evolution and about the !
survival of the fttest, and / will read up |
what the theologians say about advanced
thought will leave the ship awhile, and |
will go ashore and stay there till my net |
Is mended-" Do that, my brother, and you |
Will have no net left Instead of their |
helping you mend your net, they Will |
steal the pieces that remain. Better stay |
in the gospel boat where you have all the |
means for mending your net. What are |
they, do you ask 1 answer all you need
you have where you are: namely, Bible
and place to pray. The more you study |
evolution and adopt what is called |
advanced thought, the bigger fool
you you will be- Stay in the ship
where James, the son of Zebedee. and John,
his brother, stayed. That is where all who
get their nets mended stay.
l notice that all who leave the Gospel boat
ana go ashore to mend their nets stay there. |
Or II they try again to fish
THEY DO NOT CATCH ANYTHING.
Get out of the Gospel boat and go up into
The world to get your net mended, and YOU |
will live to see the day when you will feel
ike the man who, having forsaken
sighed, Il would give thou
sand pounds to feel as did in 1S20'' The
lime will come when you would be willing
o give thousand pounds to feel as you
lid in 1891. These men who have given up
heir old religion cannot help you bit. 1t
s my opinion that the most of those minis
ers who gave up the old religion, are in
search Of notoriety. They do not succeed
II attracting much attention. They are
ired of obscurity. They must do some
hing to attract attention, SO they sit down
IN the beach and go to tearing to pieces the
1shlng nets, instead of mending them. The
'taid old denomination to which they be-
ong does not pay them enough attention.
10 they attract attention by striking their
4bilbiiiloliiSi- litS LIob StU SIOllSn dl- |
ention by standing in the pulpit, so they go
o work and break the church windows.
These dear brethren of all denominations, |
afflicted with theological tidgets. had better
70 to mending nets instead of breaking
hem Before they break up the old religion
md try to foist on US new religion, let |
hem go through some great sacrifice for
sod that will prove them worthy for such a |
work, taking the advice OF Talleyrand to a |
nan who wanted to upset the religion of |
esus Christ and start new one wnen
lie said: go and be crucified
nd then raise yourself from the |
rave the third day!" Those who propose
o mend their nets by secular and skeptical
looks are like man who has just one week
or fishing, and six of the days he spends in |
eading .'Isaak Walton's Complete Angler
nd Wheatley'S Rod and Line and |
SCOTS Fishing in Northern Water" and
'Pullman's Wade Mecum of Fly Fishing |
or Trout, and then on Saturday morning,
us last day out, goes to the river to ply his |
TT, but that day the fish will not bite, and |
ate on Saturday night he goes home with |
mpty basket and a disappointed heart.
deanwhile a man who
NEVER SAW BIG LIBRARY
n all his life has that week caught with an
Id fishing tackle enough to supply his own J
able and the table of all his neighbors, and
nough to salt down in barrels for the long
winter than will soon come in. Alas alas
when the Saturday night of our life
rops on US it shall be found that we have
pent our time in the libraries of worldly {