Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1901-01-30

W" " PicS0s W oeihS WIN
other nets. 1t is sad sight to see
fishermen fighting about sea room
and pulling in opposite directions, each
TO get his net, both nets damaged by
J the struggle and losing all the fish.
In this land, where there are more
than 70,o0o,O00 people, there are at
| least 30,000,0 900 not in the Sunday
schools and churches. In such an At
Iantic ocean of opportunity there In
| room for all the nets and all the boats
and all the fishermen and for millions
| more. There should be no rivalry be-
tween churches. Each one does a
Work peculiar to itself. But there are
cities in this country where there is
now going on an awful ripping and
rending and tearing of fishing nets
Indeed all over Christendom at this
time there is gerat war going on
between fishermen, ministers 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 l can do
TO take care OF my own net. You see
the wind is just right, and il is such a
| gooG time for fishing, and the fish are
coming in so rapidly that l have to
keep my eyes and hand busy. There
are about 200,000,000 souls wanting to
get into the kingdom of God, and il will
| require all the nets and all the fisher
| men of ChristenGom to safely land
them. Oh, brethren of the ministry,
| let us spend our time in fishing in
stead OF fighting. But if l angri,y 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
hauling souls into the kingdom. My
| friends, | notice In the text that James,
| the son Of Iebedee, and John, his
| brother. were busy at mcnding some
body eise's nets, and | rather think that
we who are engaged in Christian work
in this opening century will require
all our spare time to mend our own
nets. God help us in the important
| Gutyl
In this work of repair we need to
put into the nets more threads of COM
mon sense. When we can present reli-
! gion rs great practically we will
catch Il hundred souls where now we
catch one. Present religion as an in
telIectuality and we will fai. Out in the
! fisheries there are set across the wa
tiers what are called gill nets. and the
fish put their heads through the meshes
| and then cannot withdraw them be-
cause they are caught by the gills.
But gill nets cannot be of any service in
religious work. Men are never caught
| Tor the truth by their heads; it is by
the heart or not at all. No argument
, ever saved Il man and no keen analysis
| ever brought man into the kingdom
of God. Heart work. not head work
A"'ay with your gill nets! 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.
When you are mending YOUR net for
| this wide. deep sea of humanity. take
| out that wire thread of criticism and
that horselar thread Of harshness
and put in Il soft silllen thread Of Chris
| tian sympathy. Yea. when YOU are
mendin@ your nets tear out those old
| threads of gruffness and weave in a
| few threads of politeness and geniality.
In the house of God let all Christian
| faces 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
say: How did you like the music ~
why, you would he TO that man a panel
OF the door of Heaven; you would be to
him note of the doXology that SER
apis sing when new soul enters HeaV-
en-. | 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 tLe rent for
ill., Well. | crouchcd in the other cor
ner and made myself al small as pos
siole and felt as though | had been
stealing something. So there are ueo-
pie who have n sharp edge TO their re-
!igion. 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 lady
hood.
Again. in mending our nets we need
also TO put in the threads Of faith and
tear out all the tangled meshes Of nm.
belief Our work is succcs ,ful accord
ing 10 our faith. The man who be-
lieves in only half Bible or the Bible
in spots, the man who thinks he can
not persuade others the man who
IaT