The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1901-02-02

when He said: "Whosoever doth not
bear his cross and come after me can
not be my disciple" The church is
fast becoming as bad as the world,
and when it gets as bad as the world l
it will be worse than the world by so
much, as it will aud hypocrisy of
most appalling kind to its other de-
fects.
Furthermore. many of our nets are
torn to pieces by being entangled with
other nets. 1t is a sad sight to see
fishermen fighting about sea room
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 70000,000 people, there are at
least 30,0O0,000 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 a gerat war going on
between fishermen, ministers against
ministers.
Now, | 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
,Lo al I,,- 70 l,Cl. A flor n hnr
fishermen. 1t is more than ! can 90
to take care of my own net. You see
the wind is just right, and il is such a
good time for fishing, and the fish are
coming in so rapidly that have to
, keep my eyes and hand busy. There
are about 20O,C00,O 600 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 Ianc
them. Oh, brethren of the ministry,
:, let us spend our time in fishing in
stead of fighting. But if angrily jerk
: my net across your net, and you jerk
= your net angrily across mine. we will
, soon have two broken nets and no fish
r The French revolution nearly destroyed
- the French fisheries, and ecclesiastical
= war is the worst thing possible whiit
= hauling souls into the Kingdom. My
friends, notice in the text that James
, the son of Zebedee, and john his
brother, were busy at mending some
body eise's nets, and rather think that
- we who are engaged in Christian worn
= in this opening century will require
s all our spare time TO mend our own
- nets. God help us in the important
:. duty!
- In this work of repair we need tc
put into the nets more threads OF com
> mon sense. When we can present reli
IN gion as great practically we VII
- catch a hundred souls where now we
= catch one. Present religion as an in
\, tellectuality and we will fail. Out in thu
-. fisheries there are set across the wa
- ters what are called gill nets, and I'M
!, fish put their heads through the meshe'
:. and then cannot withdraw them be
"A cause they are caught by the gills
But gill nets cannot be of any service II
- religious work. Men are never caugh
=, for the truth by their heads; 1t is b.
u the heart or not at all. No argumen
- ever saved a man and no keen analyst
= ever brought man into the kingdom
of God. Heart work. not head work
" Away with your gill nets! sympathy
" helpfulness, consolation, love, are tn
names of some of the threads that W
-, need to weave in our gospel nets whel
we are mending them.
30 When you are mendirg your net 10
re this wide. deep sea of humanity. TAX
Il, Of criticism
re that horsehair thread Of harshnes
nd and put in a soft silken thread of Chris
he tian sympathy. Yea, when you ar
Is mending your nets tear out those oil
co threads of gruffness and weave in
N few threads of politeness and geniaity
in In the house of God let all Christia
IA faces beam with a look that mean
al, welcome. Say good morning" to th
70 stranger as he enters your pew and a
.st the close shake hands with him an
me- say: "How did you like the music
sv Why, you would be to that man pan'
~ OF the door of Heaven; you would be
II him a note of the doxology that SCI
he apis sing when a new soul enters Hea'
;s. en-. l have in other days entere
on u pew in church. and the woma
an at the other end of the pew looked {
NV me as much as to say: How dare you
on This is my pew, and pay the rent fC
do it'll" Well, crouched in the other co
M ner and made myself as small as po
,ra sible and felt as though | had bee
on stealing something. So there are pc
gb pie who have a sharp edge to their T
tv ligion, and they act as though thu
en-. thought most people had been elect
net to be damned and they were glad of
nat oh, let us brighten up our manner al
be- appear in gentlemanliness or lad
zen hood.
90 Again, in mending our nets we ne
asy alsc to put in the threads of faith al
as tear out all the tangled meshes of u
belief. Our work is successful accol
ing ing TO our faith. The man who
de- lieves in only half Bible or the Bill
and in spots, the nan who thinks he CO
and not persuade others, the man W
out halts, doubling apout this and dou'