The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1901-02-01

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 gay. 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 seraphs
sing when new soul enters heaven.
have in other days entered 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 corner
and made myself as small as possible
and felt as though had beeA stealing
something. So there are people who
have sharp edge to their religion, 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
gentIemanliness or ladyhood
Mending tho Nets
Oh, this important work of mending
our NETS. 1t we could get our nets
right we would accomplish more In
soul saving in the next yea than we
have In the last twenty years. But
where shall we get them mended? Just
where old Zebedee and his two boys
mended their nets-where you are.
| To- nj TAhn TINA
ashore. They were not fishing for fun,
as you and | do in the summer time.
1t was their livelihood and that OF
their families. They mended their nets
where they were-in the ship. Oh
says some one, st mean to get my net
mended. and I will go down to the
public library and | will see what the
scientists say about evolution and
about the survival of the fittest,' and
| will read UP what the theologians
say about advanced thought l will
leave the ship awhile, and I will go
ashore and stay there till my net is
mended." Do that, my brother, and
you will have no net left. Instead Of
their helping you mend your net, they
will steal the pieces that remain. Bet
ter stay i'm the gospel boat, where you
have all the means for mending your
net What are they? do you ask. I
answer, all you need you have where
you are-namely, Bible and place
to pray. The more you study evolu-
ton and adopt what is called advanced
thought, the more useless you will be.
Stay in the ship and mend your net.
That Is where James, the son of Zebe-
dee, and John, his brother, staid. That
is where all who get their nets mended
stay.
| notice that all who leave the gospel
boat and go ashore to mend their nets
stay there. Or If they try again to
fish they do not catch anything. Get
out of the gospel boat and go up into
the world to get your net mended, and
you will live to see the day when you
will feel like the man who, having for
saken Christianity, sighed. Il would
give thousand pounds to feel as did
in 1920" The time will come when
you would be willing to give thou
sand pounds to feel as you did in 1901
These men who have given up their
religion cannot help you bit.
These dear brethren of all denomi-
nations afflicted with theological fid-
gets, had better go to mending nets
instead Of breaking them. Before they
break up the old religion and try to
4 foist on us a new religion let them
j 20 through some great sacrifice for
7 God that will prove them worthy for
such a work, taking the advice Of Tai
! leyrand to a man who wanted to up
set the religion of Jesus Christ and
start a new one when he said, go and
be crucified and then raise yourself
from the grave the third day" Those
who propose to mend their nets by
secular and skeptical books are like a
man who has Just one week for Ash
ing, and six of the days he spends in
reading Izaak Walton's Complete An
gler" and Wheeley's Rod and Line"
and SCOTS Fishing in Northern
Waters" and Pullman's wade Mecum
of Fly Fishing for Trout" and then
on Saturday morning, his last day out,
goes to the river to ply his art. But
that day the fish will not bite, and late
on Saturday night he goes to his home
with an empty basket Alas, alas! II
when the Saturday night Of our life
drops on us it 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 fundamentally while some humble
.J,,,SsS, fisherman, his library made up
of a Bible and an almanac, shall come
home laden With the results, his
trophies all the souls within fifteen
miles of his log cabin meeting house.
In the time of great disturbance in
Naples in 1649 Massaniello, a bare
footed fishing boy, dropped his fishing
rod and by strange magnetism took
command of that city of 100000 souls.
He took off his fishing jacket and put
on robe of gold in the presence OF
bowling mobs. He put his hand on his
lip as signal, and they were silent
He waved his hand away from him,