Democratic messenger., 1894-12-08
AND THE NET BROKE,
REV. Or. TALMA6E MAKES a STRONG
PLEA FOR REVEALS.

lie Does Not Mind Much Even &c the NJ,
Breaks with the Pressure OF Souls i.;-
tai Mistakes Unconverted Ministry.
Training For Heaven.
BROOKLYN, Dec. 2.-Dr Talmaec
chose for the subject Of his sermon
through the press today The Oljcc-
tions to Religious Revivals, from the
text Luke V. 6. They inclosed great
multitude of fishes, and their net brake ="
Simon and his comrades had expert
enced the night before what fishermen
call poor luck. " Christ steps on board
the fishing smack and tells the sailors
to pull away from the beach and directs
them again to sink the net. Sure enough.
very soon the net is full of fishes. and
the sailors begin TO haul in. So large Il
school of fish was taken that tho hardy
men begin To look red i'll the face as
they pull, and hardly have they begun
to rejoice at their success when snap
goes u thread of the net, and snap goes
another thread, so there is dang, rot
only of losing tho fish, but of losing the
net.
Without much caro- as to how much
the boat tits or how much water is
splashed on deck, the fishermen rush
about gathering up the broken meSh,;
of the net Out yonder there is snip
dancing on the wave, and they hail it.
''Ship ahoy, bear down this way" The
ship comes. and both boats, both fishing
l..
treasures.
"Ah." says some one, chow much
better il would have been if they had
staid on shore, and fishcd with hook
and line. and taken one at time, in
stead of having this great excitement,
and the boat almost upset. and the net
broken, and having TO call Cor help, and
getting sopping wet with the sea" The
church is the boat, the gospel Is the
net, society is the sea, and a great rcviv-
al is whole school brought in at one
sweep of the net / have admiration for
that man who goes out with Il hook and
line to fish. / admire the way he IN
winds tho reef and adjusts the bait and
drops the hook in quiet place on 4
Stlll iitT Viz tA4'a
there one, but like also big boat, and
n large crew, and Il net a mile long, and
swift oars. and stout sails, and stiff
breeze, and n great multitude of souls
brought-so great n multitude that You
have to get help to draw it ashore
straining the net to the utmost until it
breaks here and there, letting a few cs-
cape, but bringing the great multitude
into eternal safety.
The First Revival.
In other words, believe III revivals.
The great work of saving men began
with 5000 people joining the church in
one day, and il will close with 40. Geo,
600 or 100 900, 600 people saved i'll 81
hours, when nations shall be born il Il
day. But there are objections To rcviv
ais. People are opposed to them be-
cause the net might get broken, and If
by the pressure of souls it docs not get
broken then they take their own pen
knives and slit the net. They incloScd
great multitude of fishes, and the net
brake.
IL is sometimes opposed to rcvivals Of
religion that those who come into the
church at such times do not hold cut; :;
as long rs there is u gale of blessing
they have their sails up, but as soon
as strong winds stop blowing then they
drop into dead calm. But what are
the facts III the case? In all our church
es the vast majority of the useful pco-
pie are those who are brought III under
great awakenings, and they hold ont.
Who are the prominent men III the
United States in churches. i'll prayer
meetings. in Sabbath schools? For the
most part they are the prodUc: of great
awakenings.
/ have noticed that those who arc
brought into the kingdom of Gnd
through revivals have more persistence
and more determination in the Christian
life than those who come III under u
low state of religion People born III M
icehouse may live. but they will never
get over the cold they caught III the ice
house. a cannon ball depends upon The
impulse with which it starts for how
far il shall go and how swiftly, and the
greater tho revival forcc with which 4
soul is started tho more farreaching
and far resounding will bo he exccu-
tion.
But it is sometimes objected to rcviv-
ais that there is so much excitement
that people mistake hysteria FOR rcli-
gion.
Excitement.
We must admit that in every revival
of religion there is either a sUppr,
or demonstrated excitement. Indeed II
a man can go ont of q state of condcm-
nation into state of acceptance with
God, or see others go. without any asi-
tation of soul, he is i'll an unhealthy,
morbid state, and is rs rcpulSivc and
absurd as man who should boast he
saw child snatched out from under a
horses hoofs and felt no agitation. or
saw man rescued from the fourth sto-
~ of a house on fire and felt no acccl-
Grafton of the pulses.
Salvation from sin and death and
hell into life and peace and heaven for
ever is such tremendous thing that
| if n man tells me he can look on il with
out any agitation doubt his Christian
ity. The fact is that sometimes excite
mcnt is the most important possible
thing In case of rcsuscitatiun from
drowning or freezing. the one idea is to
excite animation. Before conversion we
are dead. II is the business of the church
to revive, arouse, awaken. resucitatc,
startle into life Excitement is bad or
good according to what it makes Us do.
! If it makes us do that which Is bad, II
| is bad excitement, but if it make Us ~.
itatcd about our eternal welfare, if il
make us pray. ii it make us attend upon
Christian service. if il make us cry unto
God for mercy, then it is Il good CX-
! citement.
IL is sometimes said that during re-
vivals of religion great multitudes of
aIEkn