The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1891-05-22


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 ChristsndOm at this
time there is a great war going on be
tween fishermen, ministers against min
isters-
Now have noticed that a man can
not fish and fight at the same time He
either neglects his net or his muslket-
1t is amazing how much time some of
| the fishermen have to look after other
| fishermen It Is more than can do to
take care Of my own net
o, brethren of the ministry! Let US
spend our time in fishing instead of
| fighting. But If I angrily 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 hsul-
| ing souls into the kingdom Ny
friends, notice in the text that James,
the son of Zebedee, and John, his
| brother, were busy not mending some
| body else's net, but mending their own
nets, and I rather think that we who
are engaged in Christian work in this
latter part of the nineteenth century
| will require all our spare time to mend
our own nets
In this work of reparation we need
| to put into the nets more threads Of
! common sense When we can present
| religion as a great practically we viii
| catch hundred souls where now we
| tellectuality 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 can not be OF any service
| in religious work Men are never
caught for the truth by their heads; it
| is by the heart or not all No argu-
ment ever saved man and no keen
/ analysis ever brought a man into the
| kingdom of God. Heart work, not head
work. Away with your gill nets!
| Sympathy, helpfulness, consolation.
love, are the names of some OF the
| threads that we need to weave in our
| gospel nets when we are mending
| them.
! When you are mending your net for
| this wide, deep sea of humanity, take
| out that wire thread of criticism and
| the hOrsehair thread of harshness and
put in soft silken thread of Christian
| sympathy. Yea, when you are mend
| ing your nets tear ont those old threads
| of gruffness and weave in a few
| threads OF pOliteness and geniality. In
the house of God let all the Christian
| faces beam with a 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 d
panel of the door of Heaven; you would
be to him a note of the dOxology that
seraphs sing when new soul enters.
That man is a thousand miles from
home and he has just heard by telegraph
that his child is sick with scarlet fever
and his boy at college has got into dis
grace and he has had business troubles
and is so homesiclz he can hardly keep
from crying. Just one word of brotherly
kindness from you would list him into
a small heaven. I have in other days
entered a pew in church and the woman
at the other end of the pew looked at
me as much as to say: How dare you?
This is my pew and pay the rent for
| iti'' Well, I crOuched at the other cor
ner and made myself as small as pos
! sible and felt as though I had been
| stealing something. So there are peO-
pie who have sharp edge to their re-
| 1igiou and they act as though they
thought most people had been elected
to be damned and they were glad of it.
Into all our nets we need to weave
all along the edge and all through the
center great, long, stout threads of
Christian patience How patient God
has been with US! Can we not be pa
tient with our fellows? If we all had
hearts of sympathy what would be to
US impossible? SIS it not delightful
that I can sing so well?'' said Jenny
Lind, in a burst of joy that she could
help others. rs it not delightful that
I can sing so vvell?'' And might we not
all say in thankfulness to God: ''Is it
not delightful that we can sympathize
with others, and encourage others, and
help others. and save others?"
Again, in mending our nets we need,
also, to put in the threads of faith and
tear out all the tangled meshes of IN
belief. Our work is successful accord
ing to our faith The man who believes
in only half Bible, or the Bible in
, ! spots, the man who thinks he can not
| persuade others, she man who halts,
doubting about this and doubling about
, | that, will be a failure in Christian work.