Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-02-01
WITH S1LKEN CORDS.
so SHOULD THE FISHERS OF MEN
MEND THEIR NETS.


Against Harsh Criticism lie De-
Gospel Work.
WASHINGTON. Jan. Pin this dis
course DIR. Talmage describes the Cos
pei net and how il Is TO be repaired aft
CT being damaged; text, Matthew iv,
II, James, the son of Zebedee. and
John, his brother, in ship with Zebe-
dee, their father, mending their nets"
Il go a-fishingw cried Simon Peter to
his comrades. and the most of the apos-
ties had hands hard from fishing tackle.
The fisheries OF the world have always
attracted attention. In the third cen
tury the queen of Egypt had for pin
money $4,000 received from the fish
cries OF Lake Moeris. And. IL the time
should ever come when the immensity
OF the worlds population could not be
fed by the vegetables and meats of the
land, the sea has an amount of animal
life that would feed all the populations
OF the earth and fatten them with
food that by its phosphorus would
make a generation brainy and intellec-
tual beyond anything that the world
has ever imagined. My text takes us
among the Galilean fishermen. One
day Walter Scott, while hunting in an
old drawer, found among some old fish
ing tackle the manuscript of his i'm
mortal book, "Waverley," which he
had put away there as OF no worth,
and who knows but that today we may
find some unknown wealth of thought
while looking at the fishing tackle in
the text.
1t is not a good day for fishing, AMI
three men are in the boat repairing the
broken fishing nets. If you are fishing
with hook and line, and the fish will
not bite, ii is a good time to put the
anglers apparatus into better condi-
ton. Perhaps the last fish you hauled
in was SO large that something snap
ped. Or, If you were fishing with
net, there was a mighty fioundering OF
the scales or an exposed nail on the
side of the boat which broke some of
the threads and let part or all of the
captives of the deep escape into their
natural element. And hardly anything
is more provoking than to nearly land
a score or hundred of trophies from
the deep, and when you are in the full
glee of hauling i'm the spotted treasures.
they splash back into the wave That
is too much OF a trial of patience FOR
most fishermen to endure. and many
man ordinarily correct of speech In
such circumstances comes to an in
tensity Of utterance unjustifable.
Therefore no good fisherman considers
the time wasted that is spent in mend
ing his net. Now, the Bible again and
again represents Christian workers as
fishers of men, and we are all sweep
ing through the sea of humanity some
kind of net. Indeed there have been
enough nets out and enough fishermen
busy TO have landed the whole human
race in the Kingdom of God long be-
fore this. What is the matter? The
gospel is all right, and Ii has been 4
good time for catching souls for thou
sands OF years. Why then the failures?
The trouble is with the nets. and most
of them need to be mended. propose
TO show you what is the matter with
most Of the nets and how 20 mead
them. In the text old Zebedee and his
two boys, James and John. were doing
good thing when they sat in the boat
mending their nets.
Fault OF tho Nets.
The trouble with many of our nets is
that the meshes are too large IL fish
can get his gills and half his body
through the network. he tears and
rends and works his way out. and
leaves the place through which he
squirmed a tangle OF broken threads.
In our desire to make everything so
easy we relax. we loosen. we widen
lot
gospel net escape into the world. and
go into indulgences and swim all
around Galilee, from north side to
south side. and from cast side TO west
side, expecting that they will come
back again. We ought to make Il easy
for them TO get into the kingdom OF
God, and, as far as we can, make II
impossible for them TO get out. The
poor advice nowadays 10 many is: "Go
and do just as you did before you were
captured for God and heaven. The
net was not intended TO be any re-
straint or any hindrance. What you
did before you were Christian do
now. Go TO all styles or amusement,
read all the styles OF books engage In
ali the styles OF behavior as before you
were converted" And So through
these meshes OF permission and laxity
they wriggle out. through this opening
and that opening. tearing the net as
they go. and soon all the souls that we
expected 10 land in hea ven before we
know IL are back In the deep sea OF the
world. Oh. when we go a-gospel fish
Ing, let us make 1t rs easy MS possible
for souls to get In and as hard as pos
sible TO get out.
Is the Bible language an unmeaning
verbiage when 1t talks about self de
NAL. and keeping the body under. and
about walking the narrcw way. and
entering the strait gate and about car
rying the cross? Is there to be no way
OF telling whether man Is a Chris.
tian except by his taking the com
munion chalice on sacramental day?
May a man be as reckless about his |
thoughts. about his words. about his |
temper. about his amuscments. after
conversion as before? Alas, the words |
or Christ are so little needed when he |
said, whatsoever doth not bear his |
cross and come after me cannot be nv |
disciple" The church is fast becoming |
as bad as the world, and when II gets |
as bad as the world 1t will be worse |
than the world by so much as II will |
add hypocrisy Of most appalling kind |
to It's other defects.
Room For Ala
furthermore. many of our nets are
torn to pieces by being entangled with
other nets. 1t is a sad sight to see fish
ermen fighting about sea room. and pull.
ing IN opposite directions each to get
MS net, both nets damaged by the |
struggle and losing all the fish. In this
land, where there are more than 90
100000 people, there are at least So
100000 not in the Sunday schools ana
churches. In such an Atlantic ocean
OF opportunity there is room for nj!
the nets and all the boats and all the
1lGhQI.rlnTl saIa6 Ca. i