Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-05-21
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
DR.. TALmAGE breaches A SERMON
ON THE MENDlNG OF NETS.

Christians Should Look to 1t That Their
/ Nets for Souls Are Kept In Good
order-some Hints fhat viii BE of
yatue.
BRooKLYN. May l7-lf proof of DIR. Tai
images immense popularity had been need
ed il would be amply furnished by the
| promptitude with which the people have
| availed themselves of the increased accom-
mediation afforded by the new Tabernacle
| The vast edfice is as densely crowded at
every service as the older and smaller
| Tabernacle was. DIR. Taimage this morn
| ing paid his attention To the theological
| disputes which are agitating the churches.
aud as usual gave sound practical advice
to both parties. His text was Matthew iv,
| 81: james the son Of Zebedee, and John
| his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their
father, mending their nets .
| Il 20 a-fishing." 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 thequeen
of Egypt had for pin money four hundred
and seventy thousand dollars. received from
the fisheries of Lake Moeris. And II the
time should ever come when the immen
sity 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 Intellectual beyond anything
that the world has ever imagined. My
text takes us among the Galilean fisher
men. One day Walter Scott while hunt
ing in AN old drawer found among some
old fishing tackle the manuscript OF his
immortal book "Wayerey." which he had
put away there as of no worth, and who
knows but that today we may find some
unknown wealth of thought while looking
at the fishing tackle in the texti
PUT YOUR NETS IN GOOD ORDER.
IL is not a good day for fishing, and three
men are in the boat repairing the broken
fishing nets II you are fishing with a
hook and line and the fish will not bite II
Is good time TO putthe anglers apparatus
into better condition Perhaps the last
fish you hauled in was SO large that some
thing snapped Or If you were fishing
with net there was "A mighty founder
ing 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 the cap
tives 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 anc
when YOU are in the full glee OF hauling IN
the spotted treasures through some linper
lection of the net they splash back into tn,
wave
That is too much of trial Of patienc'
| a ~ a and
man ordinarily correct of speech IN sucf
circumstances comes TO an intensity O
utterance uniustifiable Therefore no gooe
fisherman considers the time wasted that
i spent in mending bis net. Now th'
Bible again and again represents Christian
workers as fishers OF men, aud we are al
sweeping through the sea OF humanit.
some kind OF net Indeed, there hav'
been enough nets out and enough fisher
men busy to have landed the whole human
race ia the kingdom Of God long befor
this What is the matteri The Gospel !
MI right, and it has been good time 10
catching souls for thousands OF years
WHY. then. the failures? The trouble !
with the nets, and most of them need TO D
mended. | propose to show you what
the matter with most of the nets and hoV
10 mend them ln the text old Iebede
and his two boys. James and John, wer
doing a good thing when they sat In Tn
boat mending their nets
The trouble with many of our nets
that the meshes are too large. II a iish ca
,,et his ellis and half his body through tn
network. he tears and rends and works hi
way out and leaves the place throug
|. which he squirmed tangle OF broke
tbraads The Bible weaves faith and work
ti,,ht together. the law and the Goape
> righteousness and forgiveness. Some Q
oI1r nets nave meshes so wide that the SIT
ner floats In and ont and is not at any ms
ment caught for the heavenly landing. |
our desire to make everything so easy
relax. we loosen. we widen. We let me
Alter they are once in the Gospel net escaI
into the world and go into indulgence
AMI swim all around Galilee, from mort
side TO south side and from east side
vest side, expecting that they will CON
hack again We ought to make It easy &c
Them TO get into the kingdom OF God, AM
% far as we can, make 1t Impossible x
them to get out.
i Tine moor advice nowadays to many
-.t,oand do lust as You did before you WEI
eaptured for God and heaven Ihe n
was not intended to be any restraint
any hinhrance What you dld oelofe "
were a Christian. do now 90 TO
: STYLES of amusement, read all the Styles
y hooks. engage in all the styles OF behave
as before you were converted Anu
through these meshes of permission al
Iaxity they wriggle out through tn
opening and that opening, tearing the u
as they 20. and soon all the souls that
expected to land in heaven before
. know il are back In the deep sea Of u
world oh. when we go a-gospei hshli
lei us make it as easy as possible ior sou
to ret in, and as hard as possible to gel OF
BIZ CHRISTIAN EVERY DAY
4. IL the Bible language an unmeanii
verbiage when it talks about sell GEM
and Keeping the body under anu aDo
walking the narrow way aud entering I
STRAIT gate and about carrying
crnssy Is there to be no way Of teiiii
. whether a man Is a Christian except pS
10 ,akiny the communion chalice on saci
mental day, May "A man be as recS ie
- ahout his thoughts, aboui his words apo
his temper. about his amusements, apo
~