Connecticut western news., 1894-12-06
AND THE NET BROKE.
REV. DR. TALMAGE MAKES A STRONG
 PLEA FOR RENTALS.


 He Does Not Mind Much Even if the Net
 Breaks With the Pressure of Souls-Ea-
 tal Mistakes-An Unconverted Ministry.
 Training For Heaven.
 BROOKLYN, Dec. 2.-Dr Talmage chose for the subject of his sermbn through the press today "The Objec- ions to Religious Revivals," from the text Luke V, 6, "They inolosed a great
 Simon and his comrades had experf- enoed tho 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 a school of fish was taken that the hardy men begin to look red in the face as they pull, and hardly have they begun to rejoiCe at their success when snap goes a thread of the net, and snap goes another thread, so there is danger not only of losing the fish, but of losing the net
 Without much care as to how much the boat tilts or how much water is splashed on deck, the fishermen rush about gathering up the broken meshes of the net. Out yonder there is ship dancing on the wave, and they hail it, "Ship ahoy, bear down this wayp The k1A h0fh Roh. .,,n, smacks. are filled with the foundering treasures,
 "Ah," says some one, ''how much better it would have been if they had staid on shore, and fished with hook and line, and taken one, at a time, in- stead of having this great excitement, and the boat almost upset, and the net broken, and having to call for help and getting sopping wet with the seal" The church Is the boat, the gospel is the net, society is the sea, and great reviv- al is Q whole school brought in at one sweep of the net. have admiration for that man who goes out with a hook and line to fish. admire the way he un- winds the reel and adjusts the bait and drops the hook in quiet place on a still afternoon, and here catches one and there one, but like also big boat, and . large crew, and net mile long, and. swift oars, and stout sails, and a stiff breeze, and a great multitude of souls brought-so great a multitude that you have to get help to draw 1t ashore straining the net to the utmost until it breaks here and there, letting few es- cape, but bringing the great multitude into eternal safety.
 Tho First Revival.
 In other words, beli eve in revivals The great work of saving men began with 5000 people joining the church in one day, and it will close with 40, 900, 900 or 100, 900, 900 people saved in 24 hours, when nations shall be born in day. But there are objections to reviv- ala People are opposed to them be- cause the net might get broken, and if by the pressure of souls it does not get broken then they take their own pen knives and slit the net. "They incloeed . great multitude of fishes, and the net brake."
 It is sometimes opposed to revivals of religion that those who come into the church at such times do not hold out; they have their sails up, but as soon as strong winds stop blowing then they drop into dead calm. But what are the facts in the case? In all our church es the vast majority of the useful peo- pie are those who are brought in under great awakenings, and they hold out. Who arc the prominent men in the United States in churches, in prayer meetings, in Sabbath schools? For the most part they are the product of great awakenings.
 have noticed that those who are brought into the kingdom of God through revivals have more persistence and moro determination in the Christian life than those who come in under a low state of religion. People born in an ieehouse may live. but they will never get over the cold they caught in the ice housel A cannon ball depends upon the impulse with which it starts for how far it shall go and how swiftly, and the greater the revival force with which a soul is started the more farreaching and far resounding will be the execu- tion
 But it is sometimes objected to reviv- als that there is so much excitement that people mistake hysteria for reli- zion.
 Excitement.
 We must admit that in every revival of religion there is either a, suppressed or Q demonstrated excitement. Indeed if . man can go out of state of contlem- nation into state of acceptance with God, or see others go, without any agi- tation of soul, he is in an unhealthy, morbid state, and is as repulsive and absurd as man who should boast he saw a child snatched out from under Q horse's hoofs and felt no agitation, or saw man rescued from the fourth sto- ryof a house on fire and felt no accel- eration of the pulses.
 Salvation from sin and death and he'll into life and peace and heaven for ever is such a tremendous thing that If @ man tells me he can look on it with out any agitation doubt his Christian ity. The fact is that sometimes excite menC is the most important possible thing. In case Of reSuscitatlon from drowning or freezing, the one idea is to excite animation. Before conversion we are dead. It is the business of the church to revive, arouse, awaken. resuscitate, startle into life Excitement is bad or good according to what it makes us do If it makes us do that which is bad, it Is bad excitement, but if it make us az. ftated about our eternal welfare, if it make us pray, if it make us attend upon Christian service, if it make us cry unto God for mercy, then it is good ex- citement
 It Is sometimes said that during re- vivals of religion great multitudes of children and young people are brought into the church, and they do not know what they are about. It has been my observation that the earlier people come n<>1 tba