Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-05-23
REV. DR.. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.


thew iv., q
Il go a fishing" cried Simon Peter to his
comra les, and most Of the apostles had
hands hard from fishing tackle. The fish
cries OF the world have always attracted
attention In the Third century the queen
Of Egypt had for pin money four hundred
and seventy thousand dollars, received from
the fisheries of Lake Moeris. And il the
time should ever come when the immensely
of the woriFs population could not be fed
by the vegetables and meats OF the land. the
sea has an amountof animal life that would
feed ell the populations of the earth. AMI
fatten them with food that by its phos-
phorus woald make generation brainE and
intellectual beyond anything that The worI1
has ever imagined Ny text taxes us among
the Gailieau fishermen. One dav Walter
Scott, while hunting in an old drawer.
found among some old fishing tackle tie
manuscript Of his immortal book "Wavei,-
ley" which ne bad put away there as OF no
worth, and who knows but that to-day we
may ind some unknown wealth of thought
while looking at the fishing tackle in the
text
It is not q good day for fishing. AMI TIRES
men are in the boat repairing the broken
fishing mats. II you are fishing with hook
and line and the iiSh will not bite it is a good
time to put the anglers apparatus into better
condition Perhaps the last fish you bauiei
in wasso isrge 5hat something snaDpe4 o..
ifyou were fishing with a net there was a
mighty hcuniering o. the scales. or an ex-
posed pail on the side of the boat which broze
some OF the threads and let part or all OF the
captiYes Of the deep escape into their natural
clement. And hardly anything is more pro-
voking than to nearly land score or a hun
dred OF trophies from the deep and when ven
are IN the 1ull glee OF hauling in the spotted
treasures through some imperfeetion Of toe
net they splash back into tue waFs
This is too much of q trial Of patience for
most fishermen 10 endure and many a mal
ordinarily correct Of speech in such circum-
/ stances comes to an intensity o. utterance
unjustifiabie. Therefore no good fisherman
considers the time wasted taat is spent in
mending his net. Now the Bible again ami
again represents Christian workers as fiSn-
ers OF tnen, and we are all sweeping through
the sea OF mum unity some kind OF net In
deed, there have bean enough nets out aud
enough fishermen busy TO have landed the
whole human race in the kingdom OF God
long before this. What is the matter? The
Gospel is all right, and it has been good
time for catching souls for thousands OF
years. Why, then, the failures? The trou-
bic IS with the nets, and most OF them neei
TO be mended. | propose to show you what
is the matter with most of the nets and how
to mend them. In the text Old Zebedee and
his two boys, James and john were doing
good thing when they sat in the boat mend
ing then nets.
The trouble with many OF our nets is that
the meShes are too large It fish can get
his gills and half his body through the net
work, he tears ani rends and works his way
cut and leaves the place through which he
squirmed a tangie of broken threads. The
Bible weaves faith and WORKS right together,
the law and the Gospel, righteousness and
forgiveness. Some OF our nets have meshes
so wide that the sinner floats in and out and
isBot at any moment caught for the heavenly
landing. In our desire to make everything
so easy we relax we loosen, we widen. We
let men after they are once i'll the Gospel net
escape into the world and go into indulgences
and swim all around Galilee; from norta SIDE
TO south side aud from east side to west side,
expecting that they viii coma back again.
We ought to make it easy for them to get
into the kingdom of God, and as far as we
can, make it impossible for them to get out
The poor advice nowadays to many is;
'Go and do Just as you did before You vera
captured for God an / HEAVIER. The net was
not intended to be any restraint or any
hindrance. What you did before you vera
a Christian, do now. Go to all STYLES of
amusement. read all the styles of books, en-
gage IN all the styles OF behavior as before
You were converted" And 50 through thes3
meshes Of permission and laxity Ia y wriggls
out through this opening and that opening,
tearing the net as they 20, and soon all tho
souls that we expected to land in heaven be-
fore we know it ars back in the deep sea OF
the world Oh, when we go a-Sospel fishing
let us make it as easy as possible for souls to
get III, and as hari as possible to get out.
There should be no rivalry between
churches. Each one does work peculiar to
itself. There should be no rivalry between
ministers. God never repeats Himself. and
He never makes two ministers alike, and eaca
one has work that no other man in tina
universe can accomplish. II fishermen ars
wise, they will not allow their nets to en-
tangle, or if they accidentally get inter-
twisted, the work of extrication should bs
kindly and gently conducted. What glad
spectacle for men and angels when on our
+ recent dedication day ministers of all de-
nominations stood on this platform and
wished for each other widest prosperity and
usefulness, but there are cities in this eoun-
try where there is now going on an awful
ripping and reniing and tearing OF fishing
nets. Indeed all over Christendom at this
time there is a great war going on between
fishermen, ministers against ministers
Now nave noticed man cannot fish and
fight a5 tia sans time. He either neglect,
his nea Or h musket 1t is amazing hoy
much tlnas some Of the fishermen have to
joo& after otaer fishermen. 1t is more than
can do TO take care of my own net You
see the wind is just right, and it is such a
good time for fishing. AMI the fish are con-
ing IN 50 rapidly thar l have to keep my eva
and hand busy. There are about two hun
cred million souls wanting to get into the
ngdom of Got, aud it will require all the
nets and all the boats and all the fishermen
OF Christen1om to safely land them.
On, brethren OF ministry Let US spend
our time IN ils1ing instead of fighting. Bat
II anSr1y jerH my net across Jour net, ali
you JERK your net augrily across NINE, ws
VIII soon have two broken nstS aud no fish,
Tbs French revolution nearly DESTROYED TIA
french Histories, and ecclesiastical war is
the worst thing possible while hauling souls
INTO the kingdom. 1 had hoped that thu
millennium was about to dawn, but the lion
is yet too fond of the lamb. Ny frien1s, /
notice IN the text that James, the son OF
hebedee, and John, his brother, were busy
not mending somebody eise's nets but mend
ing their own nets, and | rather think that
we who are engaged in Christian work in
this latter part Of the nineteenth century
will require all or spare time to mend our
own nets. God help US il tina important
dutyl
In this work Of reparation We need to put
INTO tue nets more threads of common sense
When we can present religion as a great
practically we will catch a hun souls
where now we catch one. Present religion
as an intellectually and we will fail Out
IN the fisheries there are set across the
waters what are caifei gill nets, and the fish
put their heads through the meshes and then
cannot withdraw them because they ara
caught by the gills. But gill nets cannot be
OF any service IN religious work. Men ara
never caught for the truth by thsir heads: it
Is by the heart or not at all. No argument
ever saved man. and no keen analysis ever
brought man into the kingdom OF Col.
Heart work, not head work Away with
your Gill netSl Sympathy, helpfulnesz, c1u-
solution, love, are the names Of some Of tho
threads that we neel to weave in our Gospel
nets when we are mendinS them.
Again, in ule1 ling or nets we neal also
to nut in the threlds Of faith AMI tear out all
the tangled meshes OF unbeliaf Our work is
successful according tn our faith The man
who believes in only half q Bible, or the
Bible in spots; the man who THINKS he can
not persuade others; the man wlo halts
d0uoting about this ari about that, will be a
failure in Christian WORK Show ma tia
man wao rather THINKS that the gar Ian of
Eleu may have been al aliesory, AMI is not
quite certain but that there may be another
ciaacs after death. AMI does not know
whether Or nos the Bible is inspirei anil l
t>l YOU that man for soul saving is a poor
stic} Faith in Go ! and In Jesus Christ. AMI
tae Holy Glost. an tae aSs)lHte necessity of
a regeuerate heart 10 order 10 see God in
pe7ce, is one thread you must have In your
pleaded net or You viii never be a successful
fisher for men. Why. hog can YOU doubt
The hun ireis OF millions Of men and wc,-
men now standing in the church on earth,
and the hundreds of millions in heaven. attest
the power Of the Gospel II save. With more
than a certainty OF a mathematical demon
stratioa. let rs start out TO rs lem all nations
the rottsuest threat You are to tear out Of