The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-12-05
POWER OF REVEALS.
DR.. Talmage Says Upon Them De-
pends the Worlds Redemption.
A Lesson Drawn from the Story OF the
Miraculous Draught of Fishes-some
Objections TO Kevivals Refuted
Without Them the World
VIII Never be Converted.


his sermon for the press last Sunday
the miraculous draught of fishes, taking
his text from the words Of Luke: ''They
inclosed a 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 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 sue
cess when snap goes 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 way" The
ship comes, and both boats, both fish
ing smacks are filed with the founder
ing treasures.
"Ah!' says some one, show much bet
ter II would have been If they had
stayed on shore and fished 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 for help,
and getting sopping wet with the seal"
The church is the boat, the Gospel the
net, society is the sea, and great re-
vival is whole school brought in at
one sweep of the net. l have admira-
tion for that man who goes out with a
hook and lineto fish. admire the way
he unwinds the reel, and adjusts the
bait, and drops the hook in a quiet
place on a still afternoon, and here
catches one and there one; but l like
also big boat, and a large crew, and
a net mile long, and swift oars, and
stout sails and stiff breeze, and
great multitude of souls brought-so
great multitude that you have to get
help to draw it ashore, straining the
net to the utmost until it breaks here
and there, letting few escape, but
bringing the great multitude into
eternal safety.
In other words, believe in revivals.
The great work of saving men began
with three thousand people joining the
church in one day, and it will close
with forty or hundred million people
saved in twenty-four hours, when ma
tions shall be born in day. But
there are objections to revivals. Peo-
pie are opposed to them because the
net might get broken, and if by the
pressure of souls it does not get broken,
then they take their own penknives
and slit the net. "They inclosed a
great multitude of fishes and the net
brake"
1t is sometimes opposed to revivals Of
religion that those who come into the
church at such times do not hold out;
as long as there is a gale of blessing
they have their sails up; but as soon as
strong winds stop blowing they drop
into dead calm. But what are the
facts in the case? In all our churches
the vast majority of the useful people
are those who are brought in under
great awakenings, aud they hold out.
Who are the prominent men in the
United States in churches, in prayer
meetings, in Sabbath schools? For the
most part they are the product ofgreat
awakenings.
have noticed that those who are
brought into the kingdom of God
through revivals have more persistence
and more determination in the Chris
tian life than those who come. in under
low state of religion. People born in
an icehouse may live, but they will
never get over the cold they caught in
the icehouse. A cannon ball depends
upon the impulse with which 1t starts,
for how far it shall go and how swiftly;
and the greater the revival force with
which soul is started, the more far
reaching and far-resounding will be
the execution.
But it is sometimes objected to reviv-
ais that there is so much excitement
that people mistake hysteria for relig-
ion.
We must admit that in every revival
of religion there is either suppressed
or demonstrated excitement. Indeed,
II a man can go out Of state of con-
demnation into state of acceptance
with God, or see Others 60, without any
agitation of soul, he is in an unhealthy,
morbid state, and is as repulsive and
absurd as a man who should boast he
saw child snatched out from under a
horses hoofs and felt no agitation, OF
saw q man rescued from the fourth
story of house on fire and felt no &C
eeleration Of the pulses.
Salvation from sin and death and hell
into life and peace and heaven forever
Is such Q tremendous thing that If q
man tells me he can look on 1t without
any agitation, / doubt his Christianity
The fact ID, that sometimes excitement
Is the most important possible thing
In case Of resuscitation from drowning
or freezing the ono idea is to excite an
imation. Before conversion we are
dead.
1t is the business of the church to re
vive, arouse, awaken, resuscitate, star
tie into life. Excitement is bad or goot
according to what 1t makes us do. Il
it makes us do that which is bad, it II
bad excitement; but II it makes US agi
tate about our eternal welfare II Il
make us pray, II 1t make us attend upor
Christian service, If it make us cry unto
God for mercy, than it is good excite