Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-05-22
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: Intending the Nets"

tneW w., -
81 90 fishing" cried Simon Peter to his
comrades, and g most of the apostles hai
hands hard from fishing tackle. The fish
cries of the world have always attracted
attention In the Third century the queen
of Egypt had fer pin money four hundred
and seventy thousand dollars, received from
the fisheries of Lake Moeris And II the
time should ever come when the immensely
of the wor IDS population could not be fell
by the vegetable and meats of the land the
sea has an amount Of animal life that would
feed all the populations of the earth, AMI
fatten them with a food that by its phoz-
phorus would make generation brainy and
intellectual beyond anything that the world
has ever imagined My text takes us among
the Galiean fishermen. One day, Walter
Scott while hunting in an old drawer,
found among some old fishing tackle the
manuscript of his immortal book "Waver-
ley" which he had put away there as OF no
worth, and who knows but that to-day we
may find some unknown wealth Of thought
while looking at the fishing tackle in tle
text
1t is not a good day for fishing. and thres
men are in the boat repairing the broken
fishing nets. II you are fishing with a hook
and line and the fish will not bite it is cool
time to put the anglers apparatus into better
condition. Perhaps the last fish you bauled
in was so large that something snapped. Or
ifyou were fishing with a net there was a
mighty houndering Of the scales. or an ex
posed nail on the side Of the boat which broke
some of the threads and let part or all OF tue
captives of the deep escape into their natural
element And hardly anything is more pro-
voking than TO nearly land a score or a hun
bred of trophies from the deep and when you
are in the full gee of hauling in the spotted
treasures through some imperfection Of the
net they splash back into the wave.
This is too much OF a trial of patience for
most fishermen TO endure and many man
ordinarily correct of speech in such circlIm
stances comes to an intensity OF uttsrance
unjustifdble. Therefore no good fisherman
considers the time wasted that is spent in
mending his net Now tae Bible again and
again represents Christian workers as fisn-
ers OF men, and We are all sweeping through
the sea Of hum lnity some kin of a net. IT,
deed 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 matter? the
Gospel is all right, and it has been a good
time for catching souls for thousands OF
years. Why, then, the failures? The trou-
bic is with the nets and most OF them neet
to be mended. Ipropose to show you what
is the matter with most Of the nets and how
to mend them In the text cd Zebedee and
his two boys, James and John, were doing a
good thing when they sat in the boat mend
ing their nets
The trouble with many OF our nets Is that
the meshes are too large. Ii fish can gee
his gills and half his body through the net
work, he tears and rends and works his way
out and leaves the place through which h1
squirmed a tangle Of broken threads The
Bible weaves faith and WORKS right together,
the law and the Gospel Righteousness and
forgiveness. Some OF our nets have meshei
so wide that the sinner floats in and out and
isnot at any moment caught for the heavenly
landing. In our desire 70 make everything
so easy we relax. we loosen, we widen. We
let men after they are once in the Gospel net
escape into the world and go into indulgences
and swim all around Galiee, from NORTH side
to south side and from east side TO west side,
expecting that they will come back again
We ought to make it easy for them to get
into the kingdom of God and, as tar as we
can, make it impossible for them to get ont
The poor advice nowadays to many Is;
$50 and do Just as you did before you were
captured for God an HEAVIER. The net was
not intended to be any restraint or any
" nav NOu 'iA' b@ADiN 80
a Christian. do now. Go to all styles Of
amusement. read all the styles OF books. ell
gage in all the styles Of behavior as before
YOU were converted And 50 through ties9
neshes Of permission and laxity they wriggie
out through this opening and that opening
tearing the net as they go, and soon all th9
souls that we expected to land in heaven be.
fore we know it are back in the deep SEA OF
the world Oh, when we 90 a-Gospel fishing
let US make il as easy as possible for souls 10
get in. and as hard As possible to get our.
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, ana
He never makes two ministers alike, ana each
one has work that no other man IN inc
universe can accomplish. II fishermen are
wise they will not allow their nets to en-
tangle. or if they accidentally get inter
twisted. the work of extrication should Do
kindly and gently conducted. What glad
spectacle for men and angels when on our
recent dedication day ministers OF all de,
limitations stood ON this platform and
..lshed for each other widest prosperity ana
usefulness but there are cities IN this coun,
try where there is now going on an awIul
ripping and rending and tearing OF hshlnS
nets Indeed all over Christendom at TINS
time there is a great war going on between
fishermen, ministers against ministers.
Now l nave noticed a man cannot 1sh and
fight at thu same time He either negIects
his net Or h 5 musket II is amazing hoy
much time some Of the fishermen have 10
LOOK after other fishermen. 1t is more than
/ can do to take care Of my own net. Won
see the wind is just ri yht and it is such a
good time for fishing. AMI the fish are con-
ing in so rapidly that l have to keep my eye
and hand busy. There are about two hun
0red million souls wanting to get into the
k ngdom of Go AMI it will require all the
nets and all the boats AMI all tbs fishermen
OF Christendom 10 safely land them.
On, brethren of ministry Let us spend
our time in fishing initeai of fighting. But
If | angrily JERK my net across your net, and
you JERK your net angrily across mine, VS.
will soon have two broken nets an1 no fish
The French revolution nearly destroyed thu
French fisheries. and ecclesiastical war is
the worst thing possible while hauling souls
into the kingdom. | had hoped that the
millennium was about to dawn, but the lion
is yet too fond of the lamb. My friends, l
notice in the text that James the son OF
Zebe1ee, and John. his brother, were busy
not mending somebody else'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 onr spare time to mend our
own nets God help us in thu important
duty.
In this WORK OF reparation We need to put
into the nets more threads of common sense.
When we can present religion as a great
practically we will catch 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 calie1 gill nets, ami tue lis
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 are
never caught for the truth by their heads; it
is by the heart or not at all No argument
ever saved a man. AMI no keen analysis ever
brought mau into the kingdom OF God.
Heart work. not head work. Away with
your gill netsl Sympathy, helpfulness, con-
solation love, are the names Of some Of the
threads that we need to weave in our Gospel
nets when we are mending them.
Again, i'll men ling our nsts We neel also
10 put in the threads Of faith AMI tear out all
the tangled meshes of unbelef. Our work is
successful according to our faith. The man
who believes in only half Bible, or the
Bible in spots; the man VINO thinks he can
not persuade others; the man WAC halts,
doubling about this aud about that, will be
failure in Christian work Show me tle
~. 4. H.. Ian Df