Connecticut western news., 1891-05-20
THE MENDING OF NETS.
SERMON PREACHED BY REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE SUNDAY, MAY 17.

sERMON PREACHED BY REV. T. DE
 WITT TALMAGE SUNDAY, MAY 17. Text of the Discourses James the Son of
 Zebedee. and John His Brother. in a
 Ship with Zebedee Their Father, Mend-
 ing Their Nets-Matthew iv. 21.
 BROOKLYN. May l7. If proof of Dr. Tallnage's 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. Tallnage 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. 21. James the son of Zebedee. and John his brother. in a ship with Zebe dee their father. mending their nets"
 T GO F1sH1NG.'
 T 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 food that by it's 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
 It is not a good day for fishing, and three men are in the boat repairing the broken fishing nets. If you are fishing with hook and line, and the fish will not bite. it is good time to put the anglers apparatus into better condi- tion. Perhaps the last fish you hauled In was so large that something snapped; :; or. if you were fishing with net, there was mighty houndering 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 ing than to nearly land score or hundred of trophies from the deep. and when you are in the full glee of haul ing in the spotted treasures. through some inperfection 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 unjustifable 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 net
 Indeed. 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 natter9 The Gospel is all right, and it has been good time for catching souls for thousands of years Why then. the failures2 The trouble is with the nets and most of them need to be lnended Ipropose to show you what is the matter with most of tile 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 MISSILES TOO LARGE.
 The trouble with many of our nets Is that the meshes are too large. If a flsh 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 squirlned tangle of broken threads The Bible weaves faith and works tight together. the law and the Gospel, right eousness and forgiveness. Some of our nets have meshes so wide that the sin 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 let men after they are once in the gospel net escape into the world and go into indulgences. and swim all around dalilee from north side to south side and from east side to west side, expect ing 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 we can, make it impossible fol them to get out.
 The poor advice nowadays to many
 Is ''Go and do just as you did before you were captured for God and heaven l The net was not intended to be any re- ! straint or any hindrance. What you
 did before you were Christian. dc
 now Go to all styles of amusement
 read all the styles of books rilyage 1T
 all the styles of behavior as before you
 were converted" And so througl
 these meshes ot permission and laxitJ
 they wriggle out, through this opening | and that ry,ap,p,, taori,,, tha put as