The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-05-27

u hOIh peculiar 10 lJseiI. lneTe hnOulu
DO no rivalry between ministers. God
never repeats himself, and he never makes
two ministers alike, and each one has
work which no other man in the universe
can accomplish. If fishermen are wise,
they will not allow their nets to entangle;
or il they do accidentally get intertwsted
the work OF extrica;ion should be kindly
and gently conducted. What q glad spec
tacle tor men and angels when on our
recent dedication day ministers of all
denominations stood on this platform and
wished for each other widest prosperity
and usefu ness. But there are circles in
this country where there il now going on
an awful ripping and rending and tearing
of fishing ne :. Indeed, ali over christen-
dom at this time there is great war going
on between fishermen. ministers against
ministers
Now | have noticed a man cannot fish
and fight NJ the same time. He either
neglects his net or his musket. IL is
amazing how much time some OF the fish
ermen have 10 look after other fishermen.
IL is more than | can 10 20 take care OF
my own net. You see the wind il just
right and il is such good time Tor fishing
and the fish are coming in so rapidly that
i have To keep NV eve and hand busy.
There are about two hundred million
souls wanting 10 get into the kingdom of
God, and it will require all the nets and
all the boats and all the fishermen OF
ehristendom to safely land them. At
East Hampton, l.. l.. where | summer,
out on the bluffs some mornings we see
the flags up; and that is the signal for
launching out into the deep. For a mile
the water is tinged with that peculiar
color that indicates whole schools of pis-
Catorial revelry and the beach swarms
with men with their coats off and their sea-
caps on, and those OF us who do not 90
out on 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 on the sand. cry out
Captain how many% And he answers
About fifty thousand" And we shout
10 the late corners, "Hurrah. 5O.OOO?'
We must have an enthusiasm something
like that If we are ever to take the human
race Tor God and heaven. Aye, we ought
TO have that enthusiasm of the beach null
tiplied hundred fold and by so much as
an immortal soul is worth more than
blue-tish. o, brethren of ministry Let
US spend our time in fishing instead of
fighting. But if l sngrily jerk my net
across your net, and you jerk your net
angrily across mine, we will soon have
two broken nets and no fish. The French
revolution nearly destroyed the 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 il vet too fond OF lamb. NV friends,
/ notice in the text that James the son of
Zebedee and John his brother were busy
not mending somebody else's nets, but
mendin9 their own nets. and | rather
think that we who are engaged in Chris
tisn work in this latter part of the nine
teenth century will require AL OF our
spare time to mend our own nets. God
help us in the Important dutvl
In this work OF reparation we need TO
put into the nets more threads or common
sense. When We can present religion as
a great practically we will catch hun
bred souls where now we catch one.
Present religion rs an intellectually and
we will fail. Out in the fisheries there
are set across the waters what are called
gill nets and the fish put their heads
through the meshes and then cannot
Withdraw them because they are 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;
IL is by the heart or not at all. No argu-
ment ever saved a man; and no keen
ANALYSIS ever brought a man into the
kingdom OF God. Heart work, not head
work. Away with your gill nets! Sym
pathy, helplulness, consolation, love, are
the names of some Of the threads that we
need to weave in our gospel nets when we
are mending them.
Do you know that the worlds
heart is bursting with trouble and
If you could make that world
believe that the religion of Jesus
Christ is a soothing omnipotence, the
whole world would surrender tomorrow;
yea, would surrender this hour. The day
before James \. Garfield was inaugurated
as president, was in the cars going from
Richmond to Washing N. A gentleman
seated next 10 me in the cars knew me
and we were soon in familiar conversation.
1t was just after a bereavment and | was
speaking to him from an overburdened
heart about the sorrow | was suffering.
Looking at his cheerful face. l said: 81
guess you have escaped all trouble. L
should judge from your countenance that
you have come through free from all mis-
fortune" Then he looked at me with
look / shall never forget and whispered:
"Sir, you know nothing about trouble.
NY wife has been In an insane asylum
for fifteen years" And then he turned
and looked out of the window and into
the night with a silence | was too OVER
powered to break. That was another IL
lustration OF the fact that no one escapes
trouble. Why, that man seated next to
me in church has on his soul a weight
compared with which a mountain is a
feather. That woman seated next to YOU
in church mas grief the recital of which
would make your body, mind and soul
shudder.
When you are mending your net for this
wide, deep sea OF humanity, take out that
wire thread of criticism and that horse
hair thread OF harshness and put in a soft
81 ken thread of Christian sympathy Yea,
when you are mending your nets tear out
those old threads OF gruilness and weave
in few threads of politeness and gent
atty. In the house Of God let all the
Christian faces beam with a look that
means welcome. Say "Good morning"
10 the stranger as he enters your pew and
at the close shake hands with him and
say How do you like the music?" Why,
you would be to that man a panel of the
door of heaven, you would be 10 him 4
note OF the doxology that seraphs sing
when a new soul enters. That man ia
thousand miles from home and
he has just heard by telegraph
that his child is sick with scarlet