The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-05-28
HOW TO CATCH FISH
The Fish in This Case Are the Souls of
Sinners That Need to Be
Saved.
DR.. Talmage Says That Hook and
Line as Well as a Not Should
Be Used.

BROOKLYN, N. Y, special-Dr. Tai
IMAGES text was Matt. w., 81:
"James the son OF Zebedee, and John
his brother, in q ship with Zebedee
their father, mending their nets
81 60 a-fshing," 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 S47O,OOO received
from the fisheries OF Lake Moore.
And if the time should ever come
when the immensely OF the world S
population could not be fed by the
vegetables and meats of the land, the
sea has an amount OF ami NAL life that
would feed all the population OF the
the earth and fatten them with 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, "Waverly," which he
had put away there as OF no worth,
and who knows but that to-day we
may find some known wealth of
thought while looking at the fishing
tacklein the text.
1t is not a good day for fishing, and
three men are in the boat repairing
the broken fishing nets. Ii you
are fishing with a hook and line
and the fish will not bite, it is
a good time to put the anglers ap-
paratus into better condition. Per
haps the last fish you hauled
in was so large that something
snapped. Or if you were fishing with
q net, there was mighty foundering
OF the scales Or an exposed nail on the
side OF the boat which broke some of
THE CAPTIVES OF THE DEEP
escape into their natural element.
And hardly anything is more provok-
ing than to nearly land a score or a
hundred of trophies from the deep,
and when you are in the full glee Of
hauling 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
man ordinarily correct of speech in
such circumstances comes to an in
tenslty OF utterance unjustifable.
Therefore no good fisherman considers
the time wasted that is spent in mend
ing his net Now the Bible again and
again represents Christian workers as
fishers OF men, and we are ali sweep
ing through the sea OF humanity some
kind OF a net. Indeed, there have been
enough nets out and enough fishermen
busy to have landed the whole human
race IN the kingdom ofGod long before
TINS: Whatls the matter? The Gospel is
all right, andit has been a good time for
catching souls for thousands of years.
Why, then, the failures? The trouble
is with the nets and most Of them
need to be mended. Ipropose to show
you what is the matter with the 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
mending their nets.
The trouble with many of our nets
is that the meshes are too large. II a
fsh 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
squlrmed tange OF broken threads.
The Bible weaves faith and works
tight together, the law and the Gospel,
righteousness and forgiveness. Some
OF our nets have meshes so wide that
the sinner floats in and out and is not
at any moment caught for the heavenly
Landing In our desire to make every
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 90 into in
dulgences and swim all around 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 we
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 we're captured for God
and heaven. The net was not intend
ed to be any restraint or any hind
rance: What you did before you were
a Christian, do now. Go to all styles
OF amusement, read all the styles of
books, engage in all the styles of
behavior as before you were convert
ed" And so through these meshes of
permission and laxity they wriggle
out, through this opening and that
opening, tearing the net as they 20,
and soon all the souls that we ex-
pected to land in heaven, before we
know it are backin the deep sea of the
world. Oh, when we 90 a. gospel-fish-
ing let us make it as easy as possible
for souls to get in and as hard as DOS
sible to get out. .-s.
Is the Bible language an unmeaning
verbage when it talks about self
denial and keeping the body under
and above walking the narrow way