The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-05-18


should be no rivalry between churches.
Each one does a work peculiar TO itself.
There should be no rivalry between minis
tiers. God never repeats himself, and ne
never makes two ministers alike. and each
one has q work which no other man in the
universe can accomplish. If fishermen are
wise, they viii not allow their nets to en-
tangle; or if they do accidentally get inter
twisted, the work Of extrIcation should De
kindly and gently conducted. What a 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
country where there is now going on an
awful ripping and rending and tearing of
fishing nets. Indeed, all over cnristendom
at this time there is a great war going on
between the fishermen, ministers against
ministers.
Now have noticed man cannot fish and
fight at the same time. He either neglects
his net or his musSeL It is amazing how
much time some Of the fishermen have to
look after other 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 q
good time for fishing, and the fish are COM
ing in so rapidly that have to keep my eye
and hand busy. There are about two hun
dred million souls wanting to get into the
kingdom of God, and it will require all the
nets and all the boats and all the fishermen
of Christendom TO safely land them. At East
Hampton, Long Island, where / summer,
out on the bluffs some mornings we see the
flags up; and that is the signal for launching
out into the deep. For mile the water is
tinged with thai peculiar color that moi
Gates whole schools of piscatorlal revelry,
and the beach swarms with men with their
coat off and their sea-cap on and those Of us
who do not go out on the wave stand on the
beach ready to rejo ce when the boats come
back, and in our excitement we rush into
the water with our shoes on to help get the
boats up the beach, and we all lay hold the
lines and pull till we are red in the face, and
as the living things of the deep come
tumbling in on the sand, l cry out: Gap
tain, how maDyw And he answers:
About fifty thousand." And we shout to
the late omers, "Hurrah, fifty thousandI"
We must have an enthusiasm sonnet ling
like that If we are ever to take the human
race for God and heaven. Aye, we ought
10 have that enthusiasm Of the
beach multiplied a hundred fold and
by so much as an immortal soul is
worth more than blue-dsl. o, brethren Of
the ministry! Let US spend our time in fish
ing instead of fighting. But if ] angrlly
jerk my net across your net, and you jerk
your net engrily across mine, we will soon
have two broken nets and no fish. The
French revolution nearly destroyed the
French fisheries, and ecclesiastical war is
the worst thing possible while hauling souls
into the kingdom. I had hoped that the
millennium was about to dawn, but the lion
is yet too fond Of lamb. My friends. ] no.
tice in the text that James, the son Of
Zebedee, and John his brother were busy,
not mending somebody else's nets
but mending their own nets, aud | rather
think that we who are engaged in Christian
work in this latter part of the Nineteenth
MIL all 10
mend our own nets. God help US in the i'm
portant duty
In this work of reparaton we need to put
into the nets more threads of common sense.
When we can present religion as a great
practically we will catch a hundred 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 called gill nets, and the fish put
their heads through the meshes and then
cannot withdraw them because they are
caught by the gills But gill nets cannot
be Of any service in religious work. Men
are never caught for the truth by their
heads; il is by the heart or not at all. No
argument ever saved man and no keen
analysis ever brought man into the king
dom Of God. Heart work, not head work.
Away with your gill nets Sympathy,
helpfulness consolation, love, are the names
of some OF the threads that we need to
weave IN our SoSpel neLs Hnen we are
mending them.
Do you know that the worlds heart is
bursting with trouble. and If you could
make that world believe that the religion of
Jesus Christ is a soothing omnipotence, the
whole world would surrender tomorrow,
yea, would surrender this hour. The day
before James A. Garfield was inaugurated
as president, | was in the cars going from
Richmond TO Washington. A gentleman
seated next to me in the cars knew me and
we were soon in familiar conversation. 1t
was just after a bereavement and l was
speaking TO him from an ovsr-burdened
heart about the sorrow I was suffering
Looking at his cheerful face, said: 81
guess you have escaped all trouble. l
should judge from your countenance that
you have come through free from all
misfortune" Then he looked at me with a
look shall never forget, and whispered in
nv ear: "SIr, you know nothing about
trouble. Ny wife has been in an insane
asylum for fifteen years" And then he
turned and looked out of the window aud
into the night with q silence I was too over
powered to break This was another illus
tration Of the fact that no one escapes
trouble. Why, that man seated next to you
in church has on his soul a weigh compared
with which a mountain is feather. That
woman seated next to you In church has
grief the recital of which would make your
body, mind and soul shudder.
When you are mending your net for this
wide, deep sea of humanity, take out that
wire thread of criticism and that horse
hair thread Of harshness and pat In q soft
slken thread of Christian sympathy. Yea,
when you are mending your nets tear out
those old threads of gruffnes and weave in a
few threads of politensss and genialitv. In
the house Of God let all Christian faces
beam with look that means welcome. Say
''good morning" to the stranger as he en-
ters your pew, and at the close shake hands
with him and say: How did you like the
musicF Why. you would be to that man
q panel of the door Of heaven: you would
be TO him a note Of the doxology that
seraphs sing when a new soul entsrs That
man is a thousand miles from home and he
has just heard by telegraph that his
child is sick with scarlet fever and his
boy at collage has got into dis
grace and he has had business troubles and
is SO homesick he can hardly keep from cry
ing, just one word Of brotAerly kindness
from you would lift him into a small heaven.
have in other days entered a pew in
church. and the woman at the other end OF
the pew looked at me as much as to saw,
show dare youl This is my pew, and Ipay
the rent for it.n Well, l crouched in tbs
other corner and made myself as small as
possible, and felt as though had been steal
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