Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-05-29
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "N1end the Nets"


comrades, and g most OF the apostles had
hands hard from fishing tackle. The fish
cries of the world have aways attracted
attention. In the Third century the queen
of Egypt had for pin money four hundred
and seventy thousand dollars received from .
the fisheries Of Lake MOeris. And if the
time should ever come when the imm ensity
of the wor DIS 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 a food that by IFS phOs
phoruS would make a generation brainy and
intellectual beyond any thing that the world
has ever imagined. Ny text takes US among
the GaiIean fishermen. One day, Waiter
Scott, while hunting in an old drawer,
found among some old fishing tackle the
manuscript of his immortal book "Waver-
ley" which he had put away there as of no
worth, and who knows but that to-day we
may find some unknown wealth of thought
while looking 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 putthe anglers apparatus into better
condition. Perhaps the last fish you hauled
In was SO large that something snapped. Or
if you were fishing with a net there was a
mighty houndering of the scales, or an ex-
posed nail on the side of the boat which broke
some of the threads and let part or al of the
captives Of the deep escape into their natural
element. And hardly anything is more pro-
vOklng than to nearly land a score hun
dred OF trophies from the deep and when you
are in the Iul glee Of hauling in the spotted
treasures through some imperfection Of the
net they splash back into the wave.
This is too much Of trial of patience for
most fishermen to endure, and many a man
ordinarily correct of speech in such circlIm-
stances comes to an intensity OF utterance
unjustitiabe. Therefore no good fisherman
considers the time wasted that is spent n2
mendlng his net. Now the Bible again nd
again represents Christian workers as fish
erS of men, and we are all sweeping through
the sea Of humanity some kind of a net. In
deed, there have been enough nets out and
enough fishermen busy to have landed the
whole human race in the kingdom of God
long before this. What is the matter? The
Gospel is all right, and it has been good
time for catching souls for thousands Of
years Why, then, the failures? The trou.
bic 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
to mend them. In the text Cd Z9bedee and
his two boys, James and John, were doing a
good thing when they sat i'll the boat mend
ing their nets.
The trouble with many of our nets is that
the meShes are too large If a fish get
his gilIs and half his body through the net
work, 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 light together,
the law and the Gospel, righteousness and
forgiveness. Some our nets have meSheS
so wide that the sinner floats III and out and
lsnOt az any moment caug ht for the heavenly
landing In our desire TO make eVeryt thing
SO 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 lnd''igenceS
and swim ali arOun1 Galilee, from north side
to south side and from east side to west side,
expecting 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
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 an heaven. The net was
not intended to be any restraint any
hindrance. What you did before you were
a Christian, do now. 10 to all styles OF
amusement read all the styles of books, en-
gage 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 60, and soon all the
souls that expected to land in heaven be-
fore we know it are back in the deep sea OF
the world. Oh, when we go a-GOspel fishing
let US make it easy possible for souls to
get In, and hari as possible to get out.
There should be 10 rivalry between
churches Each one does work peculiar to
itself There should be no rivalry between
ministers. God never repeats Himself, and
He never makes two ministers alike and each
one has work that no other man in the
universe can accomplish. If fishermen are
wise they will net allow their nets to en-
tangle or ii they accidentally get inter-
twisted, the work of extrication should be
kindly and gently conducted. What glad
spectacle for men and angels when on our
recent dedication day ministers Of all de-
nominations stood on this platform and
wished fer each other widest prosperity and
usefulness, but there cities in this cOun-
try where there is now going on awful
ripping and rending and tearing of fishing
nets Indeed all over Christendom at this
time there is Il great war going on between
fishermen ministers against ministers.
Now nave noticed man cannot fish and
light at the same time. He either negIects
his net or his musket 1t is amazing how
much time some of the fishermen have &c
look after other fishermen. 1t is more than
can do to take care of my own net. You
4 see the wind is just right, and it is such a
tgcod time for fishing, and the fish are com
Ing in so rapidly that [ have to keep NY eye
and hand busy. There are ABOUT two hun
dred million souls wanting to get into the
kingdom of God, and it will require all thu
nets and all the boats and all the fishermen
of Christendom to safely land them
Oh, brethren of ministry Let us spend
our time in fishing instead of fighting. But
If l angrily jerk my net across your net and
you Jerk your net angrily across mine, we
will soon have two broken nets an 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
is yet too fond of the lamb. My friends, !
notice in the text that James, the son OF