Virginia gazette. [volume] (Williamsburg, Va.) 1893-192?, 1901-02-09

IN tne snip. On. 10t& some one. Il
mean 10 get my net menjed. and viii
20 down TO the public library ana I
will see what the scientists say about
evolution and about the survival ofthe
fittest.' and / will read up what the
theologians say about advanced
thought i will leave the ship awhile.
and ! will go ashore and stay there
till my net is mended." Do that nv
brother. and youwil have no net left. In
stead Of their helping you mend your
net. they viii 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. | answer. all you need YOU have
where you are-namely. Bible and a
place TO pray. The more you study
evolution and adopt what il called ad-
rauced thought. the more useless you
viii be. Stay in the ship and mend
your net. That is where James. the
son OF Zebedee. and John, his brother.
stai6. That is where all who get their
nets mended stay.
I notice that all who leave the Gos-
pei boat and 20 ashore TO mend their
nets stay there. Or IL they try again
10 Ash they do not catch anything.
Get out Of the Gospel boat and go up
into the world 70 get your net mend
cd, and you viii live 70 see the day
when you will feel like the man who.
ing forsaken Christianity, sighed: IT
would give a thousand pounds 20 feel
as did in 1920" The time will come
when You would be willing 10 give a
thousand pounds 10 feel as you did in
1901. These men who have given up
their religion cannot help you bit.
These dear brethren of al denomi-
nations. afflicted with theological fidp-
cts. had better 90 10 mending nets in
stead Of breaking them Before they
break mp the old religion and try TO
foist on us a new religion let them 60
through some great sacrifice for God
that will prove them worthy for such
work. taking the advice OF Tailyrand
TO man who wanted TO upset the re-
ligion Of Jesus Christ and start new
one when he said: Go and be crnci-
fed and then raise yourself from the
grave the third day" Those who
propose 70 mend their nets by secu-
lar and skeptical books are like the
man who has just one week for fsh-<
ing. and six Of the days he spends in
reading Izaak Walton's Complete
Angler" and Wheatley's Rod and
Line" and SCOTS "Fishingin Northern
Waters" and Pullman's Wade Necum
OF Fly Fishing for Trout" and then,
on Saturday morning his last day out,
goes 10 the river 20 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,
II when the Saturday night OF our
life drops on us Il 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
20 report as brought 20 God through
our fundamentally. while some hum
bic fisherman. his library made up OF
Bible and an almanac. shall come
home laden with the results. his
trophies all the souls within Is miles
| Of his log cabin meeting house.
In the time of great disturbance in
Naples in 16s9 MasSaniello. barefoot
ed fishing boy. dropped his fishing rod
and by strange magnetism took COM
mand of that city of 100000 souls. He
took CT his fishing jacket and put on
robe of gold in the presence OF bowling
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. Massaniello. has no parallel
in all history. But something equal O
that and better than that is -. every
l I
some Of those who In this world were
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 He 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 90 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
| the lake. and with long pole and a
worm on the hook dipped into the wave
wait for some muilet TO swim up and
| be caught? Why did not Zebsdee
spend his afternoon trying 10 cal Itch one
eel? No. that work was too slow.
| These men were not mending a hook
and line; they were mending their
nets. So let the church Of God not be
content with having here one soul and
next month another soul brought into
the Kingdom. Sweep all the seas with
nets-seoop nets. seine nets. dragnets.
all encompassing nets and take the
4 treasures in nv hundreds and fhoo-
sands snd millions. and nations will be
Il IL l. - u