The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-05-29
THE MENDING OF NETS.
sERnoN PREACHED BY REV T. De
WITT TAlMAGe SUNDAY, MAY II.

Ship with Zebedeo Their Father, Mend
ing Their Nets-Matthew Nv, III.
BROOKLYN, May 17.-lf proof of DR..
Talmage's immense popularity had been
needed, it would be amply furnished
by the promptitude with which the
people have awaited themselves of the
increased accommodation afforded by
the new Tabernacle. The vast edifce
Is as densely crowded at every service
as the older and smaller Tabernacle
was, DR., Talmage this morning paid
his attention to the theological disputes
which are agitating the churches, and
as usual gave sound practical advice to
both parties His text was Matthew
", 81, James the son of Zebedee, and
John his brother, in a ship with Zebe-
dee their father, mending their nets"
II GO A FISHING"
81 go a-fishing," cried Simon Peter
to his comrades and the most of the
apostles had hands hard from fishing
tackle The fisheries of the world have
always attracted attention, In the
Third century the queen of Egypt had
for pin money four hundred and seven
ty thousand dollars received from the
fisheries of Lake Moeris. And if the
time should ever come when the inn
mensity of the worlds population could
not be fed by the vegetables and meats
of the land, the sea has an amount of
animal life that would feed all the pop
ulations of the earth and fatten them
with food that by its phosphorus
would make a generation brainy and
intellectual beyond anything that the
world has ever imagined.
My text takes us among the Galilean
fishermen, One day Walter Scott,
while hunting in an old drawer, found
among some old fishing tackle the
manuscript of his immortal book
"Waverley," which he had put away
there as of no worth, and who knows
but that today we may find some I'M
known wealth of thought while look
ing at the fishing tackle in the text.
1t is not good day for fishing, and
three men are in the boat repairing the
broken fishing nets. If you are fishing
with hook and line, and the fish will
not bite, it is good time to put the
anglers apparatus into better condi-
ton. Perhaps the last fish you hauled
in was so large that something snapped
or, if you were fishing with net, there
was a mighty floundering of the scales,
or an exposed nail on the side of the
boat which broke some of the threads
AM let part or all of the captives of
the deep escape into their natural ele-
meat.
And hardly anything is more provok-
ing than to nearly land score or a
hundred of trophies from the deep, and
when you are in the full glee of haul
ing in the spotted treasures through
some i:nparfection of the net they
spla.h back into the wave. That is too
much Of trial of patience for most
fishermen to endure, and many man
ordinarily correct of speech in such
circumstances comes to an Intensity OF
utterancc uniustifabla Therefore nc
good fisherman considers the time
wasted that is spent in mending his
net Now, the Bible again and again
represents Christian workers us fishers
OF men. and we are all sweeping
through the sea of humanity some
kind Ct net
Indeed, there have been enough nets
out and enough fishermen busy to have
landed the whole human race in the
kingdom of God long before this.
What is the natter2 The Gospel is all
right, and it has been good time fol
catching souls for thousands of years.
Why. then, the failures7 The trouble
Is with the nets, and most of them
need to be mended Ipropose to show
you what is the matter with most Of
the nets and how to mend them Ir
tie It old z b,lee and his two boys
Jaluc- and John were doing a good
thing when they sat in the boat mend
ing their nets.
NETS WITH MESHES TOO LARGE.
The trouble with many Of our nets
is that the iua>hes are 700 large. If 6
fish can get his gils and half his body
through the network he tears ant
rends and works his way out. anc
leaves the place through Which be
s,luir,:Icl u tans|a Of brosen threads
The Bible weaves faith and works tigh
togctilC:, the las and the Gospel, right
eousness and forgiveness. Some of on
ner iioats in aud ont add is not at an,
moment caught for the heavenly land
ling In our desire to make everythin,
so easy we relax. we loosen, we widen
W., let n:cn after they are once in tn,
gospel net escape into the world and g
into indil .gence', and swim all arount
Galilce from north side TO south sid
and from east side to west side, expect
ing that they will come back again
We ought to make it easy for them t.
get into the kingdom of God, and, a
far as we can make it impossible TO
them to get out.
TIE poor advice nowadays to man,
is go and do Just as you did befor
you were captured for God and heaven
The net was not intended to be any re
straint or any hindrance What yo1
did before you were a Christian, d
now (io TO al styles OF amusement
read all the styles of books, engage il
all the styles Of behavior rs before yo
: were converted And SO throug
these meshes Of permission and laxit
7 they wriggle out, through this openin
and that opening, tearing the net a
they 20, and soon all the souls that W
expected to land in heaven, before W
know it are back in the deep sea of til
, world. Oh, when We go a-gospel ifs
ing let US make it as easy as possib
} for souls to get in and as hard as pc
sibs- to get out
Is the Bible language an unmeanil
verbiage when it talks about self deni
and keeping the body under, and abo