Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-01-28


struggle and losing all the fish. In this
! land. where there are more than TO-
| O00,O0O people, there are at least 3d.
100000 not in the Sunday schools and
| churches. In such an Atlantic 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 between churches.
Each one does a work peculiar to it
self. But there are cities in this coun-
try where there is now going on an
awful ripping and rending and tearing
Of fishing nets. Indeed all over Chris
tendon at this time there is a great
war going on between fishermen, min
listers 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
the fishermen have to look after other
fishermen. 1t is more than I 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 1 have to keep my
eye and hand busy There are about
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 instead
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. The
French revolution nearly destroyed the
French fisheries, and ecclesiastical war
is the worst thing possible while haul
ing souls into the kingdom. My friends,
[ notice in the text that James, the son
of Zebedee, and John, his brother, We're
busy not mending somebody elses nets.
but mending their own nets, and I
rather think that we who are engaged
in Christian work in this opening cen
tury will require all our spare time to
mend our own nets. God help us in
the important duty!
Need of Common Sense
In this work of repair we need to put
into the nets more threads of common
sense. When we can present religion
as a great practically, we will catch a
hundred souls where now we catch
one. Present religion as an intellectu-
atty, and we will fail. Out in the fish
cries there are set across the waters
what are called gill nets, and the fish
put their heads through the meshes and
then cannot withdraw them, because
they are caught by the gills. But gill
nets cannot be of any service in reli-
GiOuS work. Men are never caught 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 a man into the kingdom of
God. Heart work, not head work.
Away with your gill netsI 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.
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 q soothing
0mnipOtence the whole world would |
tOmOrroW-yea, would sur
render this hour. The day before |
James \. Garfield was inaugurated as |
president I 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 famil- |
lar conversation. 1t was just after q |
bereavement, and | was speaking to |
him from an overburdened heart about
the sorrow 1 was suffering. Looking at
his cheerful face, said: 81 guess you
have escaped all trouble. l should
judge from your countenance that you
oil
fortune" Then he looked at me with
a look I shall never forget and whis-
pered in my ear: 'Sir, you know moth
ing about trouble. My wife has been
in an insane asylum for Is years." And
then he turned and looked out of the
window and into the night with a 81
lence l was too overpOwered to break.
That was another Illustration Of the
fact that no one escapes trouble. Why,
that man seated next to you in church
has on his soul a weight compared with
which a mountain is feather. That
woman seated next to you in church
has a grief the recital of which would
make your body, mind and soul shud-
der.
The SiIken Thread.
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 Christian
sympathy. Yea, when you are mend
ing your nets tear out those old
threads Of gruffness and weave in q
few threads of politeness and genial
ity. In the house Of God let all Chris
tian faces beam with a 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 a man a