The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-02-01

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and pulling in opposite directions, each
to get his net, both nets damaged by
the struggle and losing all the fish.
In this land, where there are more
| than 100000 people, there are at
| least 10000, 900 not in the Sunday
| schools and churches. In such an At
lantic ocean of opportunity there is
room for all the nets and all the boats
and all the fishermen and for millions
more. There should be no rivalry be-
tween churches. Each one does a
work peculiar to itself. But there are
cities in this country where there is
now going on an awful ripping and
rending and tearing of fishing nets.
Indeed all over Christendom at this
time there is n gerat war going on
between fishermen, ministers against
ministers.
Now, 1 have noticed a man cannot
fish and fight at the same time. He
either neglects 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 l can do
to take care of my own net. You see
the wind is just right, and it is such a
good time for fishing, and the fish are
coming in so rapidly that I have to
keep my eyes and hand busy. There
are about 200, 900, 900 souls wanting to
get into the kingdom of God, and it will
require all the nets and all the fisher
men of Christendom to safely land
them. Oh, brethren of the ministry,
let us spend our time in fishing in
stead of fighting. But if 1 angrily jerk
81 L
your net angrily across mine, we will
soon have two broken nets and no fish.
The French revolution nearly destroyed
the French fisheries, and ecclesiastical
war is the worst thing possible while
hauling souls into the kingdom. My
friends, 1 notice in the text that James,
the son of Zebedee, and John, his
brother, were busy at mending some
! body else's nets, and l rather think that
we who are engaged in Christian work
in this opening century will require
all our spare time to mend our own
nets. God help us in the important
duty!
In this work of repair we need to
put into the nets more threads of COM
mon sense. When we can present reli-
| gion as a great practically we will
catch a hundred souls where now we
catch one. Present religion as an in
tellectuality and we will fail. Out in the
! fisheries there are set across the wa
ters what are called gill nets, and the
| fish put their heads through the meshes
| and then cannot withdraw them be-
cause they are caught by the gills
But gill nets cannot be of any service in
hf
| for the truth by their heads; it is by
! the heart or not at all. No argument
ever saved a man and no keen analysis
ever brought man into the kingdom
| of God. Heart work, not head work.
Away with your gill nets! Sympathy.
helpfulness, consolation, love, are the
names of some of the threads that we
need to weave in our gospel nets when
we are mending them.
When you are mending your net for
this wide, deep sea of humanity, take
out that wire thread of criticism and
that horsehair thread of harshness
and put in soft silken thread of Chris
tian sympathy. Yea, when you are
mending your nets tear out those old
threads of gruffness and weave in
few threads of politeness and geniality.
In the house of God let all Christian
faces beam with look that means
welcome. Say good morning" to the
stranger as he enters your pew and at
the close shake hands with him and
say: "How did you like the music?'
Why, you would be to that man panel
of the door of Heaven; you would be to
him note of the doxology that SER
III
en-. 1 have in other days entered
a pew in church. and the woman
at the other end of the pew looked at
me as much as to say: How dare you?
This is my pew, and pay the rent for
it," Well. crouched in the other cor
ner and made myself as small as pos
sible and felt as though 1 had been
stealing something. So there are peo-
pie who have a sharp edge to their re-
ligion, and they act as though they
thought most people had been elected
to be damned and they were glad of it.
Oh, let us brighten up our manner and
appear in gentlemanliness or lady
hood.
Again, in mending our nets we need
also to put in the threads of faith and
tear out all the tangled meshes of un-
belief. Our work is successful accord
ing TO our faith. The man who be-
lieves in only half a Bible or the Bible
in spots, the man who thinks he can
not persuade others, the man who
halts, doubling about this and doubt
ing about that, will be failure in
Christian work. Show me the man who
rather thinks that the garden of Eden
may have had an allegory and is not
quite certain but that there may be
another chance after death and does
not know whether or not the Bible is
inspired, and 1 tell you that man for
soul saving is a poor stick. Faith =
God and in Jesus Christ and the Holy
Ghost and the absolute necessity of
regenerated heart in order to see God
in peace is one thread you must have
be a successful fisher for men. Why,
how can you doubt? The rottenest
thread to tear out of your net is unbe-
lief, and the most important thread
that you are to put in it is faith--faith
in God, triumphant faith, everlasting
faith.
Oh, this important work of mending
our nets! If we could get our nets
right, we would accomplish more in
soul saving in the next year than we
have in the last 20. Blu where shall we
get them mended? Just where old Zeb-
edee and his two boys mended their
nets-where you are. James and John
had no time to go ashore. They were