The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-05-20

the last twenty years But where shall
we get them mended? Just where old
Zebedee and his two boys mended their
nets-where you are. James! why
don't you put your oar in Lake Galilee,
or hoist your sail and land at Caper-
naum, or Tiberias, or Gadara, and,
seated on the bank, mend your net?
John, why don't you go ashore and
mend your net? 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, ty-
ing; weaving, weaving; pounding,
pounding; until the net mended, they
push 1t 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 for
breakfast one morning while we were
encamped on the beach Of beautiful
Galilee. James and John had no time
to go ashore. They were not fishing
for fun, as you and l do in summer
time 1t was their livlihood and that
OF their families. They mended their
nets where they were, in the ship.
10" says some one, 81 mean to get my
net mended, and will go down to the
public library, and l will see what the
scientists say about evolution and
about the survival Of the fittest,
and l 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 mend
ing your net What are they, do you
.askP l answer all you need you have
where you are, namely, a Bible and
place to pray. The more you study
evolution, and adopt what is called ad-
vanced thought, the bigger fool you
will be. Stay in the ship and mind
your net That is where James, the
son Of Zebedee, and John, his brother,
stayed. That is where all who get their
nets mended stay.
notice that all who leave the gospel
Boat and go ashore to mend their nets
stay there. Or If they try again to fish,
they do not catch anything. Get ont 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 like the man who, having forsalSen
Christianity, sighed, 81 would give
thousand pounds to feel as did in 1920"
The time will come when you would
be willing to give thousand pounds
to feel as you did in 1891. These
men who have given up their old re-
ligion cannot help you bit. 1t is my
opinion that the most Of those ministers
who gave the old religion, are in search
of notoriety. They do not succeed in
attracting much attention. They are
tired Of obscurity. They must do some
thing to attract attention, so they sit
down on the beach, and go to tearing
10 pieces the fishing nets instead Of
mending them. The staid old dcnomi-
nation to which they belong does not
pay them enough attention, SO they
attract attention by striking their
grandmother. They do not get enough
attention by standing in tly pulpits, so
they go 10 work and break We church's |
windows.
These dear brethren Of all denomina-
tions, afflicted with theological fidgets,
had better go to mending their nets in
stead of breaking them. Before they
break up the old religion and try to
foist on us new religion, let them go
through some great sacrifice for God
that will prove them worthy for such
work, taking the advice of Talleyrand
TO a man who wanted TO upset the re-
ligion of Jesus Christ and start q new.
one, when he said: go and be cruci-
fled and then raise yourself frcm the
grave the third dayr' Those
who propose TO mend their nets
be secular and skeptical books are
like man who has Just one week for
fishing and six Of the days he spends in
reading "Isaak Walton's Complete An
gler," and "Wheatley's Rod and Line"
and "Scott's Fishing in Northern
Waters, and 'Pullman's Wade Mecum
Of Fly Fishing for Trout" and then on
Saturday morning, his last day out
goes to the river TO ply his art, but that
day the fish will not bite, and late ON
Saturday night he goes home with
empty basket and q disappointed
heart. Meanwhile man who never
saw big library in all his life has that
week caught with an old fishing tackle
enough to supply his own table and
the table Of all his neighbors, and
enough to salt down in barrels for the
ong winter that will soon come In.
Alasi alasl Hwhen the Saturday night
of our life drops on us, II shall be found
hat we have spent our time In. the
libraries Of worldly philosophy, trying
70 mend our nets, and we have only q
lew souls TO report rs brought TO God
through our fundamentally, while
'ome humble gospel fishermen, his
library made up Of a Bible and an
almanac, shall come home laden with
he results, his trophies the souls within
fifteen miles of his log cabin meeting
iouse. 0,....
In the time Of great disturbance in
Naples, In te49, Massaniello, a bare.
ooted fishing boy, dropped his fishing
ods, and by strange magnetism took
ommand Of that city OF six hundred
thousand souls. He took off his fishing
acket and put on robe OF gold in the
.resence of bowling mobs. He put his q
'and on his lips as a signal and they