Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1891-05-18
THE MENDING OF NETS.
SERMON PREACHED BY REV. T. DE
WITT TALMAGE SUNDAY, MAY II.


Text of the Discourse: james the Son of
Zebedee, and John His BrS:her. in a
Ship with zebedee Their Father, Mend
ing Their Nets-Matthew iv. 81.
BROOKLYN, May If proof of DR.
Talmage's immense popularity had been
needed it would be amply furnished
by the promptitude with which the
people have awaited themselves of the
increased accommodation afforded by
the new Tabernacle The vast editice
is as densely crowded at every service
as the older and smaller Tabernacle
was Or. Talnage this morning paid
his attention 70 the theological disputes
which are agitating the churches, and
as usual gave sound practical advice to
both parties His text was Matthew
iv. 81 James the son of zebedee, and
John his brother III :, ship with lebe-
dee their father mentling their nets.
Il co \ FISHING.
Il go a-fiSling. cried Simon Peter
to his comrades and the most of the
apostles had hands hard from fishing
tackle The fisheries of the world have
always attracted attention. In the
Third century the queen of Egypt had
for pin money four hundred and seven
ty thousand dollars received from the
fisheries of Lake uoeris. And if the
time should ever come when the i'm
mensity of the world 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 pop
ulations of the earth and fatten them
with a food that by its phosphorus
would make a generation brainy and
intellectual beyond anything that the
world has ever imagined
Ny 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 today we may find some I'M
known wealth of thought while look
ing at the fishing tackle in the text.
1t is not a 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 condi-
ton Perhaps the last fish you hauled
in was so large that something snapped
or, if you were fishing with a net, there
was IL mighty laundering Of the scales,
or an exposed nail OF the side of the
boat which broke some of the threads
and let part or all of the captives of
the deep escape into their natural ele
ment
And hardly anything is more provok-
ing than TO nearly land a score or a
hundred of trophies from the deep, and
when you are in the full glee of haul
ing in the spotted treasures, through
some i.nparfection Of the net they
splash back into the wave That is too
much of a trial Of patience for most
fishermen to. endure, and many man
ordinarily correct Of speech in such
circumstances comes to an intensity of
utterance uniustiiiab!e Therefore no
good fisherman considers the time
wasted that is spent in nending his
net. Now. the Bible again and again
represents Christian workers as fishers
of men. and we ara 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
tho -, ho
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 trouble
is with the nets. and most of them
need TO be mended propose to show
you what is the matter with most of
the nets and how 70 mend them In
the text old Xabetlee and his two boys
james and John were doing a good
thing when they sat in the boat mend
ing their nets
NETS WITH AIESHES TOO LARGE.
The trouble with many of our nets
is that the lneshes are too large. If a
fish can get his giIls and half his body
through the network he tears and
rends and works his way out. and
leaves the place through which he
squirmed Il tangle of broken threads.
The Bible wcaves faith and works tight
together, the Inv and the Gospel. right
eousness and forgiveness. Some of our
nets have neshes 50 wide that the sin
ner floats in and ont and is not at any
E., ~
ing In our desire to make everything
50 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
Galilee from north side to south side
and from east side to west side, expect
ing 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 nowadays to many
is: Go and do just as you did before
you were captured for God and heaven
The net was not intended to be any re-
straint or any hindrance. What you
dld OeIOfe you were q Christian, do
now. Go to all styles of amusement,
read all the styles of books, engage in
all the styles of behavior as before you
were converted" 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 fish
ing let us make it as easy as possible
for souls to get in and as hard as pos
5ible to get out.
Is the Bible language an unmeaning
when it talks about self denial
and keeping the body under, and about
the narrow way and entering
the strait gate and about carrying the
cross? Is there to be no way of telling
a man is a Christian except by
his taking the communion chalice on
sacramental day? May a man be as
reckless about his thoughts, about his
words, about his temper, about his
about his dealings after
as before conversion? One