The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-05-21
THE MENDING OF NETS.
SERMON PRECHER BY REV.
r. DE WITT TALMAGE,
SUNDAY, MAY II.
Text Of the Discourse: James the
OH OF Zebcdee, and John His
Brother, in Ship With
Zebedee, Their Father,
Mending Their Nets.
Matthew iv, 21.

BROOKLYN, May 17-1f proof of Dr.
Talrnages immense popularity had been
needed, it would be amply furnished
by the promptitude with which the
people have availed themselves of the
increased accommodation afforded by
the new Tabernacle. The vast edifice
is as densely crowded at every service
as the older and smaller Tabernacle
was. DR.. Talmage this morning paid
his attention to 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, in ship with Zebe-
dee their father, mending their nets"
II GO A-FISHING."
II go a-fishing," 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 Moeris. And if the
time should ever come when the i'm
mensity 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 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.
My 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 un-
known wealth of thought while look
ing at the fishing tackle in the text.
1t is not 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 net, there
was a mighty fioundering 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 captives of
the deep escape into their natural ele-
ment.
And hardly anything is, more provok-
bEg than to nearly land score or a
hundred of trophies fromtthe deep, and
when you are in the full glee of haul
ing in the spotted treasures, through
some imperfection 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 a man
ordinarily correct of speech in such
circumstances comes to an intensity of
utterance unjustifiable. Therefore no
good fisherman considers the time
wasted that is spent in mending his
net Now, the Bible again and again
represents Christian workers as fishers
of men, and we are all sweeping
through the sea of humanity some
kind of a net.
Indeed, there have been enough nets
put and enough fishermen busy to have
landed the whole human race in the
kingdom of God long before this
What is the matter2 The Gospel is all
right, and it has been a good time for
catching souls for thousands of years
Why, then, the failures9 The trouble
is with the nets, and most of them
need to be mended. Ipropose to show
you what is the matter with most of
the nets and how to mend them. In
the text old Zebedee and his two boys
James and John were doing a good
thing when they sat in the boat mend
ing their nets.
NETS WITH MESHES TOO LARGE.
The trouble with many of our nets
is that the meshes are too large. If a
fish can get his gills and half his body
through the network he tears and
rends and works his way out, and
leaves the place through which he
squirmed tangle of broken threads
The Bible weaves faith and works tight
together, the law and thesGospel, right
eousness, and forgiveness. Some of our
nets have meshes SO wide that the sim
ner floats in and out and is not at any
moment caught for the heavenly land
ing. In our desire'to make everything
SO easy we relax, we loosen. we widen.
We letmen after they are once in the
gospel net, escape into tfeswold and &c
into indulgences, and swim all around
Galilee from north side to south side
and from.east side to west4ssde. expect
ing that they will come, back again.
We ought to make it easy for them te
get into the kingdom of God, and, a.
far as We can, make it impossible fol
them to-get out.
The poor advice nowadays to many
is: 'Go,and. do just as yotl did before
you were captured for Godsand heaven
The net was not intended TO be any re
straint or any hmdrance What yor
did before you were a Christian, dr
now. Go to all styles of amusement
read all thesstyles of books, engage IL
all the stylessof behaviorsas before yor
were converted" And so through
thesesmeshessof permissiorn and laxity
they wriggle~out, through fis~openint
and that opening, tearing the net a!
they go, and soonsan the souls that W.