Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1891-05-21
AMONG THE FISHERMEN.
DR.. TALMAGE DRAWS A PARA
LEI FROM THE TEXT.
Tho Nets OF Modern Religions too Loose
to Hold All the Catch - Harmony
Among the Ministers of God OF All
Denominations II Necessity.

II go a-flshihg, cried Simon Peter TO his
comrades, and the most OF the Apostles h ad
hands hard from fishing tackle. / he fisher
les Of the world have always attracted at
tention. In the third century The Queen
OF Egypt had for pin money four hundred
aud seventy thousand dollars received from
the fisheries OF Lake Moeries. And il the
time should ever come when the immensely
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 its
phosphorus would make Il generation
brainy and intellectual beyond anything
that the world has ever imagined.
My text takes us among the
Galilean fishermen. One half the
Gospel nets with which we have been
scooping the sea have had such wide meshes
that they have been all torn to pieces by the
rushing out into the world of those whom
tighter net would have kept In. The only
use of net is TO keep the fish from going
back to where they were before aud 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:
''Whosoeyer doth not bear his cross aud
come after me cannot be my disciple" The
church is fast becoming us bad rs the world,
and when it gets as bad as the world it will
be worse than the world by SO much rs it
Will add hypocrisy Of II most appalling kind
TO its other defects.
Furthermore, many of our nets are torn
to pieces by being entangled with other
nets. IL is sad sight to see fishermen
fighting about sea-room anl pulling in OPP
posilc directions, each 10 get his net, both
nets damaged by the struggle and losing
all the fish. IN Il city like this of more than
eight hundred thousand, three are ut least
five hundred thousand not IN Sabbath
schools or churches. And in this land, where
m - u lNrt u- mil lion
pie, there are at least thirty million not in
the Sabbath schools and churches. And in
this VOL OF more than fourteen hundred
million people, there are at least eight
hundred million not in schools and
churches. In such an Atlantic ocean of OPP
portunity there is room for all the nets aud
all the boats and all the fishermen.
and for millions more. There
should be no rivalry between churches.
Each one does 4 work peculiar to itself.
There should be no rivalry between minis
tiers. God never repeats himself, and lie
never makes two ministers alike, and each
one has Il work which no other man in the
universe can accomplish. If fishermen are
wise, they Will not allow their nets to en-
tanglc; or IL they do accidentally get
inter.twisted, the work of extraction
should be kindly and gently conducted.
What glad spectacle for meu and angels
when on our recent dedication day minis
tiers of all denominations stood OH this plat
form 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
Cbrstcndom ut this time there is great
war gong on between fishermen. ministers
against ministers.
Now have noticed q man cannot fish and
fight ut the same time. lie either neglccts
his net or his musket. 1t IS amazing how
much time some of the fishermen have to
look after other fishermen. 1t is moro than
| can do to take care of my own net. You
see the wind is just right and it IS such
good time for fishing and the fish are COM
Ing in so rapidly that have to keep my
eyes and hand busy. There are about two
hundred million souls wanting to
get into the kingdom of God and it will re-
qurc all the nets and all the boats and all
fishermen of Chrlstenden to safely land
them. At East Hampton, Long Island,
where | summer, out on the bluffs some
morning we see the flags up; and that is
the signal for launching out into tue deep.
Fol 4 mile the water is tInged with that pc
cular color that indicates whole schools of
piscatorial revelry and the beach swarms
with men with their coats off and their sea-
cap on and those OF us who do not go
out Oh the wave stand on the
beach ready to rejoice 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
OIL the sand, | cry out: Captain, how
many" And he answers: About fifty
thousand" And we shout to the late conf
ers, "Hurrah, fifty thousand"' We must
have an enthusiasm something like that If
we are ever to take the human race for God
and heaven. Aye, we ought TO have that
enthusiasm OF the beach multiply 4 hum
bred fold and by so much as an immortalsoul
Is worth more than blue-tish. q, brethren of
ministry. Let lis spend our time fishing
instead Of fighting.
When you are menulng your net for this
wide, deep sea of humanity, take out that
wire thread OF criticism and that horsC-hair
thread of harshness and put in Il soft silken
thread Of Christian sympathy. In the
house OF God let all the Christian faces
beam with look that means welcome. Say
good morning" to the stranger as he enters
your pew and at the close shake hands with
him and say How did you like The music"
Why, you would be to that man Il panel of
the door OF heaven; you would be to him II
note of the doXology that seraphs sing
when new soul enters. That man Is II
thous and miles from home and lie has Just
heard by telegraph that his child is sick
with scarlet fever and his boy at
college has got into disgrace and he
has had business troubles and is
so homesick lie can hardly keep from cry
ing. just one word Of brOtheriy kindness
from you would lift him into small
heaven. | have in other days entereda pew
in church and the woman ut other end OF
the pew looked ut me rs much rs TO say:
How dare you? This is my pew and pay
the rentw Well, crouched in the other
corner and made myself rs small us posi-
bic, and felt as though | had been stealing
. h.nI
q sharp edge to their religion aud they act
as though they thought most people had
been elected to be damned and they were
glad of it. Oh, let us brighten up our
manner and appear in utmost gentlemanli-
ness or ladyhoOd.
The object of fly-fshing is to throw the fly
far out, and then let it drop gently down
ard keep it gently rising aud falling with
the waters and not plunge it like man of
/ wars anchor; and abruptnCss and harsh
/ ness OF manner must be avoided in our at
/ tempt ut usefulness | know man in New
/ York who is more sunshiny and genial
| when he has dyspepsia than when he is
/ not suffering from that depressing trouble.
| I have found out his secret When he starts
! out in the morning with such depression
/ he asks for special grace to keep from snap
/ ping up any body that day, anl puts forth
/ additional determination to he kindly and
/ genial, and by the help of God, he accom-
.
! mendcd in these respects, the black threads
and the rough threads taken out, and tho
bright threads aud the golden threads of
| Christian genialiLy woven III.
Again. in mending our nets we need TO
| put in the threads of faith and tear ont all
The tangled meshes Of unbelef. Our work
is successful according 10 our faith. The
man who believes in only half Bible, or
the Bible in spots, the man who thinks he
cannot persuade others, The nan who halts,
doubling about this and doubling about
that will be failure in Christian work.
Show me the man who rather thinks that
the garden of Eden may have been an allie
CORY, and is not quite certain but that there
NAV be another chance after death. and
does not know whether or not the Bible i;
inspired, and l tell you that mar
for soul-saying is poor stick
Faith in God and in Jesus Christ
and the Holy Ghost, and the absolut,
necessity OF regenerated heart, in order Il
see God in peace is one thread you mus
have IN your mended net, or you will nevel
be a successful fisher for men. Why, how
can YOU doubt? The hundreds OF millions
OF men and women now standing III th'
church on earth, and the hundreds o
ia aft Tat tIa Nff Ia