The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1901-03-15


evolution and about the survival Of the
fttest,' and ! will read up what the
theologians say about advanced
thought | will leave the snip awhile,
and + will go ashore and stay there
till my net is mended." Do that, my
brother, and youwil have no net left. In.
1tead Of their helping you mend your
net, they will steal the pieces that re-
main. Better stay IN the Gospel boat,
where you have all the means for mend
ing your net. What are they? DO you
ask. l answer, all you need you have
where you sre-namely. a Bible and a
place to pray. The more you study
evolution and adopt what is called ad.
vanced thought. the more useless YOU
will be. Stay In the ship and mend
your net. That is where James. the
son Of Zebedee. and John. his brother.
staid. That is where all who get their
nets mended stay.
l notice that all who leave the Cos
pei boat and go ashore to mend their
nets stay there. Or il they try again
10 fish they do not catch anything.
Get out Of the Gospel boat and 90 up
into the world to get your net mend.
ed, and you will live TO see the day
when you will feel like the man who
ing forsaken Christianity, sighed: II
would give a thousand pounds to feel
as did in 1920" The time will come /
when you would be willing TO give a
thousand pounds to feel as you did in |
1901. These men who have given up
their religion cannot help you a bit.
These dear brethren Of all denomi.
nations, afflicted with theological fdg-
cts, had better go to mendine nets In
stead Of breaking them. Before they
break up the old religion and try 10
foist on us new religion let them 20
through some great sacrifice for God
that will prove them worthy for such
a work. taking the advice Of Tallyrand
10 a man who wanted TO upset the re-
ligion of Jesus Christ and start a new
one when he said: Go and be cruci-
fed and then raise yourself from the
grave the. third dayl" Those who
propose 70 mend their nets by secu.
lar and skeptical books are like the
man who has just one week for fish
ing, and six Of the days he spends in
reading Izaak Walton's Complete
Angler" and Wheatley's Rod and
Line" and scott's Fishing IN Northern
Waters" and Pullman's "Vade Mecum
OF Fly Fishing for Trout" and then
on Saturday morning his last day out,
goes to the river 10 ply his art. But
that day the fsh will not bite, and
late on Saturday night he goes to his
home with empty basket Alas, alasl
II when the Saturday night Of our
life drops on us II shall be found that
we have spent our time In the libraries
Of worldly philosophy, trying TO mend
our nets, and we have only few souls
TO report as brought TO God through
our instrumentslity, while some hum
bic fisherman, his library made up Of
home laden with the results. his
trophies all the souls within IS miles
q be log cabin meeting house.
In the time Of great disturbance IN
Naples in l649 Massaniello. a barefoot
ed fishing boy. dropped his fishing rod
and by strange magnetism took COM
mand Of that city Of 100000 souls. BE
took of his fishing Jacket and put on
robe Of gold in the presence Of bowling
mobs. He put his hand on his lip as
a signal, and they were silent. He
waved his hand away from him, and
they retired TO their homes. Armies
passed in review before him. He be.
came the nations idol. The rapid rise
and complete supremacy Of that young
fisherman, Masssniello, has no parallel
in all history. But something equal to
that and better than that is an every.
day occurrence in Heaven God takes
some Of those who in this world wers
fishers OF men and who toiled very
humbly. but because Of the way they
mended their nets and employed their
nets after they were mended lie sud
denly hoists them and robes them and
scepters them and crowns them and
makes them rulers over many cities,
and He marches armies Of saved ones
before them in review.
But do not spend your time fishing
with hook and line. Why did not ]
James. the son of Zebedee, sit on the
wharf at Cana. his feet hanging over
he lake. and with long pole and ,,
worm on the hook dipped into the wave
wait for some mullet to swim up and
be caught2 Why did not Zebedee
spend his afternoon trying to catch one :
eel? No. that work was too slow.
These men were not mending a hook {,
md line; they were mending their .,
nets. So let the church Of God not be
content with having here one soul and
iext month another soul brought into
he Kingdom. Sweep all the seas with
nets. seine nets. dragnets,
M encompassing nets, and take the 7
reasures in by hundreds and thou ,
.ands and millions. and nations will be ,
,orn in a day and the hemispheres
iuake with the tread Of a ransoming ,
iod. Do you know what will be the ,
wo most tremendous hours in our I
Ieayenly existence? Among the quad 8
illions Of ages which shall roll on
What two occasions will be 20 ms the 4,
,reatest? The day Of our arrival there -,
yill be 10 US one of the two greatest. :
The second greatest, I think will be q,
be day when We shall have put IN q,
parallel lines before Us what Christ did
or us and what we did for Christ. the .
ne so great. the other so little. That !.
.ifl he the onIv embarrassment in