The Brookhaven leader., 1891-05-28

1eNer ana MS DOy al COlleSe mas kOt lnto
disgrace, and he has had business
troubles, and Is SO homesick he can
hardly keep from crying. Just one
word of brotherly kindness from you
would lift him into a small heaven. /
have in other days entered pew in
church and the woman at the
other end of the pew looked at
me as much as to say: How dare you?
This is my pew and pay the rent for
itr Well, crouched in the other cor
ner and made myself as small as possi-
bic, and felt as though I had been
stealing something. So there are pco-
pie who have sharp edge TO their re-
ligion, and they act rs though they
thought most people had been elected
to be damned and they were glad of it.
Oh, let us brighten up our manner and
appear in utmost gentlemanliness or
iadyhood.
The object in fy-fishing is to throw
the fly far out, and then let it drop
gently down and keep it gently rising
and falling with the waters, and not
plunge it like a man-of-war's anchor,
and abruptness and harshness of man
ner must be avoided in our attempt at
usefulness I know a man in New
York who is more sunshiny and genial
when he has dyspepsia than when he
is not suffering from that depressing
trouble. ] have found out his secret.
When he starts out in the morning with
such depression he asks for special
grace to keep from swapping up any
body that day, and puts forth additional
determination to be kindly and genial.
it. Many of our nets need to be mended
in these respects, the black threads and
the rough threads taken out and the
bright threads and the golden threads
of Christian geniality woven in.
In addition to this, we need to mend
our nets with more threads of patience
1t is no rare thing for a fisherman to
spend one whole day before he can take
a st. Lawrence pike, or an Ohio salmon,
or Long Island picl<erel, or Cayuga
black bass, or Delaware catfish, and he
does that day after day without partic-
ular discouragement But what a lack
of patience if we do not Immediately
succeed in soul-catching. We are apt to
give it up and say: Il will never try
again" Into all our nets we need to
weave all along the edge, and
all through the center, great,
long, stout threads of Christian.
patience. How patient God has
been with us! Can we not be patient
with our fellows? | had presented ne
from Scotland few days ago, an orna
iy,1y- fhn NrnnAa1 aY.fS Of
which were made from piece of a tree
cut down by Mr.. Gladstone, at Hawar-
den, and sent by him to Scotland by re-
quest. The incident reminded me of the
fact that woman who had long been
on Mr.. Gladstone's estate had a way
ward boy, and in her despair she asked
Mr. Gladstone to take the boy in hand.
While prime minister of England, with
all the mighty affairs of the kingdom in
his hands, he took that boy in his study
and counseled him, and then knelt
down and prayed with him, and the
boy was saved. If we all had hearts of
sympathy like that, what would
be to us impossible? us it not
delightful that can sing so well?" said
Jenny Lind, in burst of joy that she
could help others. as it not delightful
that | can sing so well?" And might
we not all say in thankfulness to God!
rs it not delightful that we can sym
pathize with others, and encourage
9th ers, and save others?'
These dear brethren of all denomina
tions, afflicted with theological fidgets
had better go to mcnding nets instead
of breaking them. Before they break
up the old religion and try to foist on
us new religion, let them
go through some great sacrifice
for God that will prove them
worthy for such work, taking
the advice of Talleyrand to a man who
wanted to upset the religion of Jesus
Christ and start new one, when he
said: ''Go and be crucified and then
raise yourself from the grave the third
day" Those who propose to mend
their nets by secular and skep-
teal books are like man
who has just one week for fishing,
and six of the days he spends in reading
"Isaak Walton's Complete Angler" and
"Wheatley's Rod and Line" and
SCOTS Fishing in Northern Waters" ="
and "Pullman's Wade Mccum of Fly
Fishing for Trout" and then on Satur-
day morning, his last day out, goes to
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 all his life has that week
caught with an old fishing-tackle
enough to supply his own table and
the tables of all his neighbors, and
enough to salt down in barrels for
the long winter that will soon
come in. Alas. alas! If when the
Saturday night of our life drops on u.s.
it shall be found that we have spent our
time in the libraries of worldly philoso-
ply, trying to mend our nets, and we
have only a few souls to report as
brought to God through our instru,
mentality, while some humble Gospel
fisherman, his library made up of a
Bible and an almanac, shall come home
laden with the results, his trophies the
souls within fifteen miles of his log
cabin Westinghouse.
But do not spend your time fishing
with hook and line. Why did not James,
the son of Zebedee, sit on the wharf at
Cana, his feet hanging over the lake,
and with long pole and worm on the
hook dipped into the wave wait for
some mullet to swim up and be
caught? Why did not Zebedee spend