The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-06-03
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Mend the Nets.n

, u %
lands hard from fishing tackle. The fish
cries Of the world have always attracted
attention. In the Third century the queen
of Egypt had for pin money four hundred
/ and seventy thousand dollars, received from
the fisheries Of Lake Moeris. And if the
| time should ever come when the immensity
of the wor h's 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 populations OF the earth, and
| fatten them with a food that by its phos-
phorus would make 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 "Waver-
ley" which he had put away there as Of no
worth, and who knows but that to-day we
| may find some unknown wealth Of thought
! while looking at the fishing tackle in the
text?
1t is not q good day for fishing, and three
men are in the boat repairing the broken
fishing nets. If you ara fishing with hook
and line and the fish will not bite it is good
time to put the anglers apparatus into better
condition. Perhaps tue last fish you bauled
in was so large that something snapped. Or
If you were fishing Iith q net there was
mighty 1oundering Of the scales, or an ex-
posed 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
element. And hardly anything is more pro-
voking than to nearly land score or hum
dred 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.
This is too much of trial Of patience fer
most fishermen to endure, and many man
! ordinarily correct Of spesch in such circlm-
F! stances comes to an intensity OF utterance
unjustifiable. Therefore no good fisherman
considers the time wasted that is spent III
mending his net. Now the Bible again and
again represents Christian workers as fish
ers of men, and we are all sweeping through
the sea Of humanity some kind OF a net. In
deed, 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 matter? The
Gospel is all right, and it has been good
time for catching souls for thouss1ds of
years. Why, then, the failures? Tue trou,
Bile is with the nets and most OF them need
to be mended. propose to show you what
is the matter with most of the nets and how
to mend them. In the text cd Zabedee and
his two boys, James and John, were doing a
good thing when they sat in the boat mend
ing their nets.
The trouble with many of our nets is that
the meshes are toe large. IT fish can get
his gills and half Lis body through the net
work, he tears and rendS and works his way
out and leaves the place through which he
squirmed tangle Of broken threads. The
Bible weaves faith and works right together,
the law and the Gospel, Righteousness and
forgiveness Some OF our nets have mesheS
so wide that the sinner floats in and olt and
is not at any moment caught for the heavenly
landing. 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 induigences
aud swim all arouni 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, anl as far as we
can, make it impossible for them to get out.
The poor advice nowadays to many is:
$50 and do just as you did bsfore you were
captured for God an heaven. The net was
not intended to be any restraint or any
hindrance. What you did before you were
O Christian, do now. Go to all styles OF
amusement. read all the styles of books. EN-
gage in all the styles Of behavior as before
you were converted" And SO through these
meshes of permission and laxity they wrlgSle
out through this opening and that opening.
tearing the net as they go, and soon all the
souls that we expected to land in heaven be-
fore we know it ara back in the deep sea OF
the world. Oh when we go a-Gospel fishing
let us make it as easy as possible for souls to
get in. and as harl as possible to get out.
There should be- no rivalry between
churches. Each one does work peculiar to
itself. There should be no rivalry between
ministers. God never repeats Himself. and
L. los tyrn
one has work that no other man in the
universe can accomplish. If fishermen are
wise, they will not allow their nets to en-
tangle, or if they accidentally get inter
twisted. the work Of extrication should've
kindly and gently conducted. What agiad
spectacle for men and angels when Oh our
recent dedication day ministers OF all de,
nominations stood on this platform ana
wished sor eacu other widest prosperity ana
usefulness, but tlere are cities Ill this coun,
try where there is now going on an awtui
ripping and rending and tearing Of fishing
nets. Indeed, all over Christendom at this
time there is a great war going on between
fishermen, ministers against ministers.
Now have noticed 4 man cannot hsh and
night at the same time. He either rieglects
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
I can do to take care Of my own net. You
see the wind is just right, and it is such q
good time for fishing. and the fish are com.
ing in so rapidly that I have to keep my eye
and hand busy. There are about two hun
dred million souls wanting to get into the
kingdom of Col, and it will require all the
nets and all the boats and all the fishermen
of Christendom to safely land them.
Oh, brethren Of ministry! Let us spend
our time in fishing instead Of fighting. But
if angrily jerk my net across Jour net, and
you jerk your net angrily across mine, we
The French revolution nearly destroyed the
French fisheries, and ecclesiastical war is
the worst thing possible while hauling souls
into the kingdom. I had hoped that the
millennium was about to dawn, but the lion
is yet too fond Of the lamb. My friends
notice in the text that James, the son OF
ZeGedee, AMI John, his brother, were busy
not mending somebody e!se's nets but mend
ing their own Eets and rather think that
this latter part OF the nineteenth century
will require all our spare time to niend 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
cracticality we will catch hundred souls
where now we catch one. Present religion
as an intellectually and we will fail. Out
in the fisheries there are set across the
waters what are called gill nets, and the hsa
put their heads through the meshes and then
cannot withdraw them because they are
caught by the gills. But gill nets cannot oe
of any service in religious work. Men are
never caught for the truth by their heads: 1t
is by the heart or not at all. No argument
ever saved 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, helpfu!ness, con-
ISOLATION, love- are the names Of some OF the
ia lIlSQal