The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-02-01
4. Heart work. not head worS. Ava,


Do YOU know that the worlds heart "a
bursting with trouble. and II YOU could
make that world believe that the religion
of Jesus Christ i soothing ompiNo,ence
the who'e word would surrender to.mo-.
row--yea. would surrender this hour. The
dav before james \ Garfield was inaugu.
rated as President 7 WAS IN the cars gcins
from Richmond 90 WashNgtnn. 4 gentle
man seated near 10 nh in tho ears knew
me. and we were soon m familiar conver
Sat'on. II was INST after bereavement,
and | was speaking to HIM from an Owe:
bu~dened heart about the sorrow ] was
suffering. Looking al his chCeviul face
SAID. II guess You have escaped all trou'
hlc | should Judge from your coupte'
nance that YOU have come through free
from all misfortune. Thea he looked at
me with look shall never forget and
whisperci IN nv ear, Sir. YOU know moth
ing about trouble Nv wife has been IN
an insane asylum for fifteen years And
/ then he turned and looked out ~ the
window and into the night with a silence
| was too overpowcred to break. That
was another illustration Of the fact that
no one escapes trouble,
Why, that man seated next 60 YOU IN
church has on his soul a weight compared
with which a mountain H. feather. That
woman seated next 10 Nou IN church has
A grief the recital Of which would make
Your body, mind and soul shudder
When YOU are mcndinG your net Tor TINS
wide deep sea ot humanity, take out that
wire thread OF criticism aud that horschait
thread of harshncss and put IN soft
silkcn thread OF Christian sympathy, Yea,
when YOU are mendiug your nets tear out
those old threads Of grunness and weave
in few threads OF poltencss aud genial.
itv. In the house of God let all Christian
faces beam with look that means wci'
come Say Good morning 10 the stran'
ger as he enters your new, and AZ the
close shake hands with him and saw. How
did Won like the musicF Why YOU would
be TO that man \ panel of the door ot
heaven; YOU would bc To HIM note oi
the doNoogv that seraphs sing when a
new soul enters heaven. | 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 the rent for
IT," Wen. I crouched in the other corner
and made myself as small as possible and
felt as though | had been stealing some
thing.
So there are people who have a sharp
| edge TO their rchGlon, and they act as
| though they thought most people had been
elected 10 be damned and they were glad
of IT. On. let W. brighten up our manner
| and appear IN gentlcmanlness or lady
hood.
The object in hy fishing is to throw the
| ny Ear out, and then let II drop gently
down and keep It gently rising and falling
with the waters, and not plunge 1t like 4
man -of.war's anchor. and ahruptness ana
| harshness Of manner must be avoided IN
our attempt a. usefulness
] know a man IN New York who ~
| more sunshny and genial when he has
! dyspepsia than when he Is not suffering
| from that depressing trouble. | have
| found out his secret When he starts out
| IN the morning with such depression he
asks for special grace 20 keep from snap
| ping NJ anybody that day, and puts forth
additional determination to be kindly and
| genial. and by the help oi God hc accom-
| plishcs lt
Many of our nets need TO he mcnded IN
| these respects the black threads and the
rough threads taken out, and the bright
| threads and the golden threads OF CHRIS
| tian gpnality woven IN.
| In addition TO this we need TO mend our
| nets with more threads oi patience. VI ~
! no rare thng for a fisherman 90 spend one
! whole day before he can take a 81. Law
! renee pike. or an Ohio salmon, or Lonu
| Island pickcrel, or a Cayuga black bass
! or a Delaware catfish and he does that day
| after day without any particular dlscour
agemeut But what lack OF patience n
We do not immediately succeed IN sou
| catching, We are apt To give 1T up and
saw. q" / will never try again.
Into all our nets we need 10 weave al
along the edge and all through the ccntr,
great, long stout threads of Christian pa
tlence How patient God has been wltl
us Can we not be patient with our iel
! lows,
Again. IN mending our ncts We need also
| a Il l.,t MI i.saV ,.tti
! all the tangled meshcs OF unbchef Our
work ~ successful according TO our faith
| The man who believes IN only half Bible
| or the Bible m spots; the man VINO thinks
| hr cannot persuade others; the man who
! halts, doubling about this and doubling
| about that, will be failure IA Christian
work Show me the man who rather
! thinks that the Garden Of Eden may have
! been an alcgory and ~ not quite certain
! but tnat there may be another chance at
! ter death. and does not know whether OF
! not the Bible ~ inspired, and ] tell you
! nat man for soul saving ~ a poor stick
! Faith m God and Jesus Christ and the
! iDiy Ghost and the absolute necessity oil
! a rrgcncratcd heart IN order TO see God
! in peace n one thread you must have m
! your mending net on you Will never he q
! successful fisher for men. Why, how can
YOU doubt The rottencst thread 90 tear
I
! important thread that you are 10 put ~ II
10 faith Faith IN God. triumphant faith
! everlasting faith
The time viii come when YOU would be
willing 20 give q thousand pounds 10 feel
! a "0u did IN 1901 These men who hayo
| given - tneIr religion cannO' help YOU ?
These dear brethren Of all dcnomina
tons, afflicted with theological iid2et
! had be,tcr - 90 mendIDg nets instead Of
! breaking them Before they break up the
Old religions let them 60 through some
/ gtaL FaeIihcc for God that will prove
/ them worthy Of such a work, taking the
! advice II Tallcyrand ~ q man who wanted
/ 70 upset the religion Of Jesus Christ and
| start . new one, when he said, Go and
! b" cruchcd and then RAISE yourself from
| the grave the third day.
! Those who propose 90 mend their nets
! By secular and skeptical books are like a
! man who has Just one week for hshing
| and six Of the days he spends IN reading
| Izask Walton's Complete Angler" and
| Whcatley's Pod and Line" and Scots
| Fishing m Northern Waters,' and Put
! mans "Vadc Mccum Of Fly Fishing iOr
! Trout and then on Saturday morning
! his last day out, gocs 10 the river 90 ply
! hls art but that day the FISH will not bite
/ and late on Saturday night he goes 10 ms
! home with empty basket
Alas aldsl IT, when the Saturday night
! of our life drops on ~, u shall be found
/ that we have spent our time in The libra
I RES of worldly philosophy trying 10 mend
our nets, and We have only few souls "a
report ~ brought 20 God through our in
I strumontahty, wnilc some humble gospel
/ GsI,fnan. hs library made up Of a Bible
/ and au almanac, shall come home laden
7 ....tt tLo reattfa bfH tfoth ca All fhp epul.