The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-10-03
DEEP SEA FISHING. y
LARGE AUDIENCES GaEET DR.
TALMAGE SINCE HIS RETURN.

He Chose Fishermen for His Discourse
Because They Are Used To Hard
Knocks The Text Appropriate to
All Who Are Engaged in Christian
" ork.
BROOKLYN, n. Y. Oct. 2.-Slncs his re.
turn from Europe DIR. Talmage has faced
audiences unusually large and enthusiastic,
who are attracted to the Tabernacle no less
by the potent eloquence Of the preacher
than through desire to hear from his own
lips the message of thanks lntrusted to hitu
by the czar to the contributors Of the Chris
tidn Herald famine cargo, which Mr..
kiopsch conveyed to Russia in the steamers
Leo. 1t is understood thar DIR. Talmags
has in preparation a full account of the
mission to Russia, as well OF his own preach,
ing tour to Germany, England, Scotland
and Ireland. The text this morning was
taken from Luke ", 4: Launch out into
the deep.
Christ. starting on the campaign of the
worlds conquest, was selecting his staff
officers. There were plenty OF students with
high foreheads, and white hands, and i'm
tellectual faces, aud refined tastes In Roma
and in Jerusalem. Christ might have
called into the apostleship twelve books
worms, or twelve rhetoriciaus or twelve
artists. Instead. he takes a group of men
who had never made speech, never taken
IA lesEon in belles-lettres, never been sick
enough to make them look de1cate-thein
hands b oad, clumsy and hard-knuckled.
He chose fishermen. among other
reasons. think, because they were
physically hardy Rowing makes
strong arms and stout chests.
Much climbing Of ratlines makes
ones head steady. A Gahlee tempest
wrestled men into Rymnasts. The opening
work Of the church was rough work. Chrisu
did noe want twelve invalids hanging about
him. complaining all the time how badly
they felt. He leaves the delicate students
at Jerusalem and Rome for their mothers
and aunts TO take care bf, and goes down to
the seashore, and out Of the toughest ma-
teriai makes an apoatleship. The ministry
need more corporeal vig0r than any othea
class. Fine minds and good intentions arg
! important, but there must be physical
| force to back them. he intellectual miil~
wheel may be we'll built aud the grist good.
buJ there must be enough blood in the mill
race TO turn the one and to grind the other.
He chose fishermen, also, because they
were used to hard knocks. The man who
cannot stand assault is not flt for the min~
istry. Ii always has been and always will
be rough work; and the man who, at every
csnsurs or oaricature, sits down to cry had
better be at some other work. It s no place
for ecclesiastical doll babies. A man who,
cannot preach because no has forgotten hia
manuscript or lost his spectacles, ought NOT
to preach at all. Heaven deliver
the church from ministry thar
preach in kid gloves, and from
sermons in black morocco coversl Thess
| fishermen were rough and ready. They had
been in the seyerest Of all colleges. When
| they wefe knocked over by the main boom
or the ship they entered the 'sophomoreD
when washed Off by a great wave they ems
tered the "junior;n when floating for two
days without food or drink, on plank, they
came to the ''senior," aud when at last their
ship dashed on the beach in a midnight hur~
ricane they graduated with the first honor.
My text finds Jesus on shipboard with
one of these bronzed men-Simon by name
This fisherman bad been sweeping his net
in shoal water. Push cutn saws Christ.
what is the use of hugging the shore In
this boats Here is a lake twelve miles long
and six wide, and it is all populated-iust
waiting for the sweep Of your net. Launch
out into the deep"
The advice that my Lord gave Co Simon
Is as appropriate for Us all in a spiritual
sense. The fact Is that most of US are iush
padding along the shore. We are afraid td
venture out into the great deeps Of God and
Christian experience We think that tha
boat will be upset, or that we cannot ''olew
down the mizzen top-sail," and our coward.
ice makes us poor fishermen. / think hear
the voice of Christ commanding us as he
did Simon. on thRtdaY whom bright Galiles
set In among the green hills of Palestine,
like water flashing In emerald cups
"Lauuch out into the deep.n
This divine counsel comes, first, to alI
those who are padding ia the margin OF
Bible research. My father read the Bible
through three times after he was 80 years
OF age, and without spectacles; not for tha
mere purpose Of saying be bad been through
it 80 often, but for his eternal profit. John
Colby, the brother-in-law Of Daniel Webster.
learned to read after he was 81 years OF age.
in order that he might become acquainted
With the scriptures. There is ne book
in the world that demands 80 much OF
our attention as the Bible. Yet aine4
tenths Of Christian men got no more than
ankle-deep. They think il IS a good sign
not to venture too far. They never asIc
how or why; and il they see some Christian
becoming inquisitive about the deep things
Of God, they say: "Be careful; You had
better not 90 out so far from shore.D MY
answer is: The farther you go from shore
the better, II you have the right kind oe
ship. If you have mere worldly philosophy
for the hulk. and pride for a sail,
and self-conceit for the helm, the
first squaA will destroy you But ie
you take the Bible for your craft, the farther
you go the better; and after you have gone
ten Thousand furlongs, Christ will still cons
some such question as Who is GodP' and
go on for ten years asking it. Ask it at the
gate of every parable; amidst the excite
ment of every miracle; by the solitariness
Of every patriarchal threshing-door; amidst
the white faces Of Sennaeheribs slain turned
up into the moonlight; amidst the flying
chariots of the Golden Cisy. Ask who Jesus
is, and keep on asking it OF every Bible
lily, OF every raven, of every star, of every
crazed brain cured. of every blind man
come to sunlight, of every coin in ffsh's
mouth, of every loaf that got TO be five
loaves, Of every wrathful sea pacified, or
every pulseless arm stretched forth in graft
ulation; ask it OF his mother, of Augustus,
of Herod. Of the Syro- PhDnician woman,
OF the damsel that woke up from the deaths
sleep, OF Joseph, who had him buried; OF
the angel posted as sentinel at his tomb, OF
the dumb earth that shook and groaned
and thundered when be died.
A missionary in France offered a Bible in
an humble dwelling. The man took It, tore
out dozen pages and with them began to
light mis- pipe. Some years after the mis-
sionary happened in the same house. The
family had just lost their son ia tn Grimeau
war and his Bible had been sent bao home.
The missionary took ii up and saw chat ID