The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-05-18
ROWS IN THE CHURCHES.
TALMAGE GIVES BOTH SIDES A
LITTLE GOOD ADVICE.

luo NoAS VI 4o-udV 100 h6TRe-1OO
Many Nets Mixed Up Together.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, May 17.-If proof Of
DIR. TalmRge's immense popularity had been
needed, IL would be amply furnished by the
prompdtude with which the people have
awaited themselves of the increased ac.
commodation afforded by the new Taber-
nacle. 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 dis
putes which are agitating the churches, and
as usual gave sound practical advice to both
parties. His text was. Matthew w., 81:
James the son Of Zebedee, and John his
brother. in a ship with Zebedee their father,
mending their nets"
81 20 a-fishing,n cried Simon Peter TO his
comrades, and the 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. Aud II the
time should ever come when the immensity
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 populations of the earth
and fatten them with food that
by It's phosphorus would make generation
brainy and intelle ectual beyond anything
that tho world hae 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 to-
day we may find some unknown wealth OF
thought while looking at the fishing tackle
in the text.
IL is not a good day for fishing, ard three
| men are in the boat repairing the broken
fishing nets. II you are fishing with hook
and line and the fish will not bite, it is a
good time to put the anglers apparatus into
better condition Perhaps the last fish you
hauled in was so large that something
snapped. Or IL You were fishing with net,
there was n mighty foundering of the
scales or an exposed nail on the side of the
boat which broke some OF the threads and
let part or all of tho captives Of the
deep escape into their natural
element. And hardly anything is
more provoking than to nearly land
| score or hundred of trophies from the
| deep and when you are in the full glee Of
hauling In the spotted treasures, through
some imperfection Of the net they splash
| back into the wave. That is too much of a
trial of patience for most fishermen TO en-
dure, and many man ordinarily correct Of
/ speech In such circumstances comes to an in
| tensity Of utterance un1ustifable There.
| fore no good fisherman considers the time
| wasted that is spent in mendIng his net.
| Now the Bible again and again represents
| Christian workers as fishers Of men, and
we are all sweeping through the sea
| of humanity some kind Of "A net.
| Indeed there have been enough
| nets out and enough fishermen busy to have
landed the whole human race in the king
| dom of God long before this What is the
natters The gospel is all right, aud 1t has
| been good time for catching souls for
thousands of years. Why. then, the fall
uresa The trouble Is with the nets, and
/ most of them need to be mended. ! pro-
| pose 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,
l James and John. were doing a good thing
when they sat in the boat mending their
| nets.
| The trouble with many of our nets is that
| the meshes are too large. Ii fish can get
his gills and half his body through the net
| work he tears and rends and WORKS his way
out and leaves tho place through which he
| squirmed q tangle Of broken threads. The
| Bible weaves faith and works tight to-
gether. the law and the gospel, righteous
ness and forgiveness Some Of our nets
| have meshes so wide that the sinner floats
| In and out, and is not at any moment
caught for the heavenly landing. In our
desire TO make everything so easy we re-
lax. we loosen, we widen. We let men,
| after they are once I'm the gospel net es-
cape into the world and go into indulgences,
and swim all around Galilee, from north
| side 10 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 far as we can, make it impossible for
| them to get out. The poor advice nova
| days TO many is: "Go ana do just as you
did before you were captured for God and
heaven. The net was not intended to ba
any restraint or any hindrauce. What you
| did before you were a Christian, do now.
| Go to all styles of amusement, read all tha
styles OF books, engage in all the styles OF
| behavior as before you were converted.S
| And SO through these meshes Of permission
and laxity they wriggle out, through this
| opening and that opening, tearing the net
| as they go, and soon all the souls that We
expected TO land in heaven, before we know
it are back in the deep sea of the world.
Oh, when we go a-gospel-fshing, let US
make 1t as easy as possible for the souls to
| get In and as hard as possible TO get out.
| Is the Bible language all unmeaning
| verbiage when IL talks about self-denial and
| keeping the body under, and about walking
the narrow way and entering the straight
| gate, and about carrying the crossi Is
| there 60 be no way of telling whether man
| is Christian except by his taking the COM
| munion chalice on sacramental dayi May
| q man be as reckless about his thoughts.
about his words, about his temper, about his
| amusements, about his dealings after con-
| version as before conversionl One-half the
gospel nets with which we have been scoop
ing the sea have had suoh wide meshes
that they have been all torn to pieces by the
rushing out into the world Of those whom a
tighter net would have kept In. The only
use Of a net is to keep the fish from going
back TO where they were before and taking
them where they could not have been
taken by any other means Alas. that the
| words Of Christ are so little needed when
he said: "Whosoever doth not bear his
cross and come after me cannot be my
disciple" The church is fast becoming as
bad as the world, and when 1t gets as bad
as the world ii will be worse than the world
by 80 much as IL will add hypocrisy Of a
most appalling kind TO its other defects.
Furthermore, many OF our nets are torn
10 pieces by being entangled with other
nets. IL Is a sad sight 20 see fishermen
| fighting about sea-roOm and pulling in
| opposite directions each 20 get his net, both
nets damaged By the struggle and losing all
the fish. In a city like this Of more than
| eight hundred thousand. there ara at least