The Brookhaven leader., 1891-05-28
than sixtv-four million

1
at least eight hundred million not in
schools and churches. In such an At
lantic ocean of opportunity there is room
| for all the nets and all the boats and
| all the fishermen and for millions more
There should be no rivalry between
| churches. Each one does a work pc
culiar to itself. There should be nc
rivalry between ministers. God never
repeats Himself, and lie never makes
two ministers alike, and each enc has a
work which no other man in the uni
verse can accomplish. If fishermen are
wise, they will not allow their nets tC
| entaugle: or il they do accidentally get
| intcrtwiStcd the work of cXtricatior
should bc kindly and gently conducted
What glad spectacle for men anC
| angels when on our recent dedication
| day ministers of denominations stood
on this platform and wished for each
other widest prosperity and usefulness
But there are citizens in this country
where there is now going on an awful
ripping and rending and tearing of fish
ing nets. Indeed, all over Christendom
at this time there is a great war going
on between fishermen, ministers against
minist tCrs
Now have noticed a man can not
fish and fight at the same time. He
either neglectS his net or his musket
1t is amazing how much time some OF
the fishermen have to look after other
fishermen. 1t is more than | can do 10
take care of my own net. You see the
= :
time for fishing and the fish are coming
in so rapidly that have TO keep my eye
and hand busy. There are about two
hundred million souls >yauting to get
into the kingdom of God, and it will re-
quire all the nets and all the boats and
the fishermen of Christendom to safely
land them. At East Hampton, L. L.,
where ! summer, out on the bluffs some
morning we see the flags up: and that
is the signal for launching ont into the
deep. For mile the water is tingcd
with that peculiar color that indicates
whole schools of piscatorial reyelry,
and the beach swarms with men
with their coats off and their sea
caps on, and those of us who do not
go out on the wave stand on the beach
ready to re joice 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
to the late comers: "Hurrah,
fifty thousand" We must have an
enthusiasm something like that if we
are ever to take the human race for
God cnd 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
bluc-fish. O, brethren of ministry,
Let US spend our time in fishing instead
of fighting. But | augrily jerk my
net across your net, and you jerk your
net augrily across mine, we will soon
have two broken nets and no fish.
The French revolution nearly de-
strOvrd the French fisheries, and ecclc-
siastieal war is the worst thing possible
] had hoped that the millennium was
about to dawn. but the lion is yet too
fond of lamb. My friends, notice in
the text that James the son of Zebcdec
and John his brother were busy not
mending somebody else nets, mending
their own nets, and ! rather think that
we who are engaged in Christian work
in this latter part of the nineteenth cen.
tuary will require all our spare time to
mend our own nets. God help us in the
important duty.
In this work of reparation we need
to put into the nets more threads OF
common sense. When we can present
| religion as great practicality we will
catch a hundred souls where now we
catch one. Present religion as an in
| tellcctuality and we will fail Out il
| the fisheries there are set across the
| waters what are called gill nets
and the fish put their heads through
the meshes and then can not with.
| draw 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 tt1th by their
heads; it is by the heart or not at all.
No argument 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.
Sympathy, helpfulncss, consolation,
love, are the names of some of the
threads that we need to weave in ouI
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 sur
render this hour. The day before James
A. Garfield was inaugurated as presi-
dent | was in the cars going from Rich
mond to Washington. A gentleman
seated next to me in the cars
knew me, and we were soon in
familiar conversation. 1t was just
after bereavement, and / was
speaking to him from an overburdened
heart about the sorrow ! was suffering.
Looking at his cheerful face, l said Il
guess you have escaped all trouble.
should judge from your countenance
that you have come through free from
all misfortune" Then he looked at me
with look | shall never forget and
whispered in my ear: "Sir, you know
nothing about trouble. My wife has
been in an insane asylum for fl
teen years" And then he turned and
Al, ,uf he