Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-05-29


chance after death, and does not know
whether or not the Bible il inspired and |
tell you that man for soul saving is a pocr
stick Faith In Col and In Jesus Christ and
the Holy Ghost, aud the absolute necsssity OF
a resenerated heart in order to see God In
peace, is one thread you must have In your
mended net or you will never be a successful
fisher for men Why. how can you doubt'
The hundreds OF millions OF meu and wo-
men now standing IN the church on earth,
and the hundreds Of millions In hesven, attest
tho power OF the Gospel II save With more
than a certainty OF a mathematical demon
cration. let us start ont TO redeem all nations.
The rottenest thread You are TO tslr out OF
your net Is unbellef. ami the most important
thread you are TO put in IL Is faith. Faith in
God, triumphant hith. everlasting faith. IL
you cannot trust the infinite, the holy, the
omuipotent Jehovah who can yor trust
Oh, this important work OF mel1ing our
netSl IL we could get our nH's riEht we
would accomplish more in soI!-'lvlnS in tb"
next year than we have in the last twenty
years. But waers shall we get them
msndei' Just wherS tho oil Zebelee and
his two boys mnnie tneir netS-where you
are "JamsS why don't you put your oar
In Lake Galilee. or hoist your sail and Ian
at Capernaum or TiberiaS or Garllra, anil
seated on the bank manl your metz John,
why don. YOU 90 ashore an me1f your
nett No, they sat on the gulrls OF the boat
or at ths prov OF thu bolt. Al | they t0Ot NJ
the threat an the needle. an tn ro0aS aud
the wo len blocks, a1d want t. work: sew
ing sewing; tying tying: weaving, W hayng;
pounding. 20 In'ling, natil, th' me- mentei,
they push it of into the sea ant drop paidIe
aud hoist sail, anl the cutwater went
through amid the sholls os fish. some OF tho
10 ~ uyhtch had for breakfast
one morning while we were encamped on the
beach of b bsautiful Glliles James and John
had no time TO go ashore. Thsv were not
fishing for fun, as you and do in summer
time. II was their livelihood and that OF
their families. They mendel their nets
where they were, in the ship
oh SAWS some one, "l mean 10 get my
net mended, and will 90 down 10 the public
library, and will see what the scientists say
about evolution and about the survival OF
The tttea Rui will rad I'd what the
theologians say about advanced thought
will leave the ship awhile and will go ashore
and say there until my net is mended." Do
that, my brother, and you will have no net
left Instead OF their helping you mend
your net, they will steal the pieces that re-
main. Better stay in the Gospel boat where
you have all the means for mending your
net. What are they, do you askl answer
Z, v.
Bible and a place to pray. The more you
study evolution, and adopt what is called
advanced thought, the bigger fool YOU will
BE-. Stay in the ship and mind your net.
That is where James the son OF Zebe,lee and
John his brother staid. That is where all
who got their nets mended stay.
These dear brethren of all demo minationS
afflicted with theological f1gets bad better
go 10 mending nets instead OF hr eaking them.
Before they break up the old eligion and
try to fotst on US a new religion let them 70
through some great sacrifice for God that
will prove them worthy for such q work,
taking the advice OF Tallevranl ID a man
who wanted 10 upset the religion of Jesus
Christ and start a new one, when he said:
Go and be crucihed ani then raise yourself
from the grave the third day" Those who
propose to mend their nets by secular skep-
tical books are Just like a man who has Just
one week for fishing, and six OF tue days he
spenis in reading lsaak Walton's Complete
Angler, and Wheatley's Rod and Line
and Scott's Fishing in Northern Waters"
AMI Pullmau's Wade Mecum OF Fly Fishing
for Trout and then on Saturday morning,
his last day out goes 10 the river to ply his
art, but that day the fish will not bite and
late on Saturday night he goes home with
empty basket and disappointed heart.
Meanwhile a man who never saw big
library in ali his life, has that week caught
with an old fishing tackle, enough to supply
his own table and the table Of all his neigh
bors, and enough 10 salt down in barrels for
the long winter that will soon come in Alas!
Alas II, when the Saturday night OF our
life drops on us 1t shall bs found that we
have spent our time in the libraries OF
worldly philosophy, trying TO mend our nets
and VIC have only few souls TO report as
brought to God through our instrumental
ty, while some humble Gospel fisherman, his
library made up OF a Bible and an almanac,
shall come home laden with the results, hls
trophies the souls within fifteen miles Of his
log cabin meeting house.
In the time OF great disturbance in Naples
in l64a Massaniello a bare footed fishing
boy, droppei his fishing rod, and by strange
magnetism took command OF that city OF six
hundred thousand souls. He took off his fish
ing jacket and put on a robe Of gold in the
presence OF bowling mohs. He put bis hand
on his lip as a signal, aud they were rent.
He waved his hand away from him, and they
retired to their homes. Armies passed in 70
view before him He became ths nations
idol. The rapid rise and complete supremacy
OF that young fisherman, Massaniello, has no
parallel in all history. But something equal
TO that aud better than that is an everyday
occurrence in heaven.
God takes some OF those, who in this world
were fishers of men, and who toile1 very
huinbly, but because Of the way they mended
their nets and employed their nets after they
were mended, and suddenly hoists them and
robes them and scepters them aud crowns
them and makes them rulers over cities, aud
He marches armies OF saved ones before them
Ia review Massaniellos unhonored on earth,
but radiated in heaven. The fisher boy OF
Naples soon lost his power but those people
OF God who kept their nets mended and
rightly swung them shall never lose their ex-
alted place, but shall reign forever and ever
and ever. Keep that reward in sight.
But do not spend your time fishing with
hook and line. Why did not James the son
OF Zsbslee sit on the wharf at Cana, his feet
hanging over the lake and with long pole
aud worm on the hook dipped into the
wave, wait for some mullet TO swim up and
be caught Why did not Zebedee spend his
afternoon trying to catch one eelf No. that
work was too slow. These men were not
meuding a hook and line; they were mend
ing their nets. So let the church OF God not
be content with having here one soul
and next month another soul brought into
the kingdom. Sweep all the sess with nets
scoop nets seine nets drag nets all encom-
passing nets-and take the treasures in
by hundreds and thousands and millions, aud
nations be born in day, and the hemisphereS
quake with the tread OF rausoming Cod
DO you know what will be the two most
tremendous hours in our heavenly existanC ~
Among the quadrillions Of ages which shal,
roll on, what two occasions will be to us the
greatest
The Jay Of our arrival there will be to us
one of the two greatest. The second great
est, think will be the day when we shall
have put in parallel lines before us what
Christ did for us and what we did for Christ
the one so great, the other 80 little. That
will be the only embarrassment in heaven.
My Lord ami my God! What will We do and
what will we say when on one side ara placed
the Saviour's great sacrifices for us and our
small sacrifices for Him-His exile, His
humiliation, His agonies on one hand, and
our poor weak, insufficient sacrifices on the
other' To make the contrast less over
whelming, let US quickly mend our nets aud
like the Galilean fishermen may We be dl vine
| ly helped to cast them on the right aide oi