Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-06-05
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINEs SIN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: 'Mend the Nets~

) "HC'tStf1J
thew iv., 81.
II go fishing" cried Simon Peter to his
comrades, and q most of the apostles had
hands hard from fishing tackle. The fish
cries of the world have WAYS attract =
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. And if tn
time should ever come when the immensity
OF the woT! IDS 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 phos
phorus would make a generation brainy and
intellectual beyond anything that the world
has ever imagined. Ny text takes us among
the Galiiean fishermen One day. Walter
Scott, while hunting in All old drawer
found among some old fishing tackle the
manuscript of his immortal book WAIVER
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 thouoht
while looking 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 a 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
Ia was SO large that something snapped Or
if you were fishing with net there was a
mighty foundering Of the scales. or an ex-
posed nail on the side of the boat which broke
some of the threads and let part or al OF the
captlves OF the deep escape into their natural
element. And hardly anything is more pro-
VOklng than to nearly land score or a hun
dred OF trophies from the deep and when YOU
are IN the tull glee of hauling in the spotted
treasures through some lmperfection 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 a man
ordinarily correct of speech in such circlIm-
stances comes to an intensity of utterance
unjustifable. Therefore no good fisherman
considers the time wasted that is spent liz
mendlng his net. Now the Bible again and
again represents Christian workers as fish
ers of men, and we are all sweeping through
the sea OF humanity some kind of a net. In
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 good
time for catching souls for thousands of
years. Why, then, the failures? The trou-
bic is with the nets, and most of them need
to be mended. l propose 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, James and john were doing
good thing when they i'll the boat mend
ing their nets.
The trouble with many of our nets is that
the meshes are too large. Ii fish can get
his gllIs and half his body through the net
work, he tears and rendS and works his way
out and leaves the place through which he
squlrmed a tangle of broken threads. The
Bible WeaVeS faith and works right together.
the law and the Gospel, Righteousness and
forgiveness. Some or our nets have meSheS
so wide that the sinner floats i'll and out and
lSnOt at any moment caught tor the heavenly
landing In our desire TO make every thing
So easy, we relax, we loosen, widen. We
let men after they are once An the Gospel net
escape into the world and go into indulgences
and swim all around Gallee, from north side
to south side and from east side to west side
expecting that they will come back again.
Oug lit to make 1t 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 nowadays to many is:
go and do just as you did before you were
captured for God an / heaven. The net was
not intended to be any restraint Or any.
hindrance. What you did before you were
a Christian, do now. Go to all STYLES Of
amusement, read all the styles of books, en-
gage III all the styles OF behavior as before
you were converted" And so through these
meshes of permission and laXity they wrlggle
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 be-
fore we know it are back in the deep sea OF
the world. Oh, when we go a-Gospel fishing
let make it easy possible for souls to
get IN. and as haTi as possible to get out.
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, and
He never makes two ministers alike, and each
one has a work that no other man in the
universe can accomplish. If fishermen are
wise, they will not allow their nets to en-
tangle, or ii they accidentally get inter
twisted the work of extrication should be
kindly and gently conducted. What glad
spectacle for men and angels when on our
recent dedication day ministers Of all de-
nominations stood on this platform and
wished fer each other widest prosperity and
usefulness but there cities in this coun-
try where there is now going on an awful
ripping and rending and tearing Of fishing
nets. Indeed, ali over Christendom at this
time there is "A great going on between
fishermen ministers against minister's
Now / nave noticed man cannot fish and
light at the same time. He either negIects
his net or his musket 1t is amazing how
much time some of the fishermen have tC
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 a
good time for fishing. and the fish are com
ing in SO rapidly that l have to keep ny eye
and hand busy: There are ABOUT two hun
dred million souls wanting to get into the
Kingdom of God, and it win require all thu
nets and all the boats and all the fishermen
OF ChristendOm to safely land them.
On, brethren OF ministry Let us spend
our time in fishing instead of fighting. But
II angrily jerk my net across your net and
you jerk your net angrily across mine We
Will soon have two broken nets an no nsh.
The French revolution nearly destroyed the
French fisheries and ecclesiastical war is
INTO the kingdom. [ had hoped that the
millennium was ahOut TO dawn but the lion