The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-02-13

| mendlng them.
| Do YOU know that the worlds heart is
bursting with trouble. and if you could
| make that world believe that the religion
| of Jesus Christ is soothing omnipotence
| the whole world would surrender to-mor.
| day before James A Garfield was inaugu'
| rated as President / was in the cars going
| from Richmond to Washington. A gentle
! man seated near to me in the cars knew
me. and we were soon in familiar conver.
sation. 1t was Just after a bereavement,
and 7 was speaking to him from an over.
| burdened heart about the sorrow | was
suffering. Looking at his cheerful face l
said: "I guess you have escaped all trou'
Bile. I should judge from your counte'
nance that you have come through tree
from all misfortune" Then he looked at
me with a look shall never forget and
whisnered in INV ear: "Sir, YOU know moth.
inc about trouble. NV wife has been in
an insane asylum for fifteen years." And
, then he turned and looked out Of the
window and into the night with a silence
I was too overpowered to break. Ihat
was another illustration of the fact that
no one escapes trouble.
Why. that man seated next to you in
church has on his soul weight compared
with which a mountain Is feather. Ihat
woman seated next to you IN church nag
a grief the recital Of which would make
your body, mind and soul shudder..
When you are mending your net for this
wide, deep sea or humanity, take out that
wire thread of criticism and that horsehair
thread of harshness and put in q soft
silken thread of Christian sympathy. Yea,
when you are mending your nets tear out
those old threads of gruffness and weave
in a few threads of politeness and genial.
ity. In the house of God lot all Christian
faces beam with a look that means well
come. Say GOOD morning" to the stran.
ger 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 a panel of the door OF
heaven; you would be to him note OF
the doxology that seraphs sing when
new soul enters heaven. 1 have IN other
davs entered a pew in church and the
woman at the other end OF the pew looked
at me as much as to say, GLOW dare you!
This is my pew and / pay the rent for
i'll" Well, crouched in the other corner
and made myself as small as possible and
felt as though I had been stealing some.
thing.
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 gentlemanliness or lady
hood.
The object in fly fishing is to throw the
fly far out, and then let 1T drop gently
down and keep it gently rising and falling
with the waters, and not plunge 1t ike
man WARS anchor, and abruptness ana
harshness of manner must be avoided In
our attempt at usefulness.
I know a man in New York who. is
more sunshiny and genial when ne has
dyspepsia than when he is not suffering
from that depressing trouble. l have
found out his secret When he starts out
in the morning with such depression ne
asks for special grace to keep from snap
ping up anybody that day, and puts forth
additional determination to be kindly and
genial, and by the help of God he accom-
plishes it.
Many of our nets need to be mended in
these respects, the black threads and the
rough threads taken out, and the 6r'gt
threads and the golden threads OF Chris
tian geniality woven in.
In addition to this we need to mend our
nets with more threads of patience. 1t ls
no rare thing for fisherman to spend one
whole day before he can take st. Law
Island pickerel, or Cayuga black bass,
or q Delaware catfish, and he does that day
after day without any particular dlscour!
agement. But what a lack of patience II
we do not Immediately succeed In soul
catching. We are apt to give 1T up and
say, II will never try again
Into all our nets we need to weave all
along the edge and all through the centre
great, long stout threads of Christian pa
tieuce. How patient God has been with
us! Can we not be patient with our tel
lows?
Again, in mending our nets we need also
to put in the threads of faith and tear out
all the tangled meshes of unbelief. Our
work is successful according to our faith.
The man who believes in only half Bible,
or the Bible in spots; the man who thinks
he cannot persuade others; the man who
halts, doubling. about this and doubling
about that, will be failure in Christian
work. Show me the man who rather
thinks that the Garden of Eden may have
been an allegory, and is not quite certain
but that there may be another chance at
ter death, and does not know whether or
not the Bible is inspired, and l tell you
that man for soul saving is poor stick.
Faith in God and Jesus Christ and the
Ho,y Ghost and the absolute necessity of
a regenerated heart in order to see God
in peace is one thread you must have IN
your mending net or you will never be
successful fisher for men. Why, how can
you doubt? The rottenest thread to tear
out of your net is unbelief, and the most
important thread that you are to put in it
is faith. Faith in God, triumphant faith
everlasting faith.
The time will come when you would be
willing to give thousand pounds to. feel
as you did in 1901 These men who have
given ID their religion cannot help YOU
These dear brethren Of ali denomina.
tons, afflicted with theological tidgets,
had better 90 to mending nets instead OF
breaking them. Before they break up the
old religions let them go through some
great sacrifice for God that will prove
them worthy Of such work, taking the
advice of Talleyrand to man who wanted
to upset the religion Of Jesus Christ and
start new one, when he said, Go and
be crucifed and then raise yourself from
the grave the third day."
Those who propose to mend their nets
by secular and skeptical book ks are like
man who has just one week for fishing
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 Put
nam's "Vade 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 empty basket!
Alas! alas! If, when the Saturday night
of our life drops on us, it shall be found
that we have spent our time in the libra:
ries of worldly philosophy trying to mend
our nets, and we have only few souls to
report as brought to God through our in:
strumentality, while some humble gospel
fisherman, his library made UP of Bible
and an almanac, shall come home laden