The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-02-01
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY The NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject; with sl;ken Cords-so should
the Fishers OF Men Mend Their Nets
- Christians Warned Against Harsh
Critieism-Gospei strife peplored.
tCoryrish,Isal

L 30 a-hShlng'' cried Simon Peter 20
his comrades. and the most of the amos.
ties had hands hard from fishing tackle.
The fisheries ot the world have always AZ.
tracted attention. In the third century
the Queen Of Egypt had for pin money
100000 received from the fisheries ~ Lake
Moeris And. II the time should ever
come when the immenSltv of the worlds
population could not be fed bv the vcge.
tables and meats of the land. the sea has
an amount Of animal lfe that would feed
all the populations OF the earth and fat
ten them with a food that hy its phospho.
rus would make generation hrainy aud
intellectual beyond anything that the
world has ever imagined. NV text takes
Ms among the Gallilcan fishermen. One
day Walter Scott, while hunting in sn old
drawer. found among sone old fishing
tackle the manuscript Of his immortal
book. "Waverley." which he hal put
away there as Of no worth. and who knows
but that today we may find some un-
known wealth OF thought while looking at
the fishing tackle IN the text
IL Is not n good dav for fishing. and
three men are in the boat repairing the
broken fishing nets. II Won are fishing
with a hook and line. aud the fish will
not bite, II is a good time 10 put the sng.
er's apparatus into better condition. Per
haps the last fish YOU hauled m was 50
large that something snapped Or. II YOU
were fishing with net. there was a
mighty hounderlng of the scales or an eN-
posed 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 any.
thing Is more provokro than Ia nearly
land \ score or a hundred of trophies from
the dcep, and when YOU are IN the fall
glee of hauling in tA' snotted treasures,
through some importation o. the net
they splash hacl; into 'hn waves That s
too much of a trial of patience for most
fishermen 60 endure. and many a man or.
dtnarlly correct of speech IN such circum.
stances comes 10 an intensity OF uttcrauce
uDlustlhahe Therefore no good fisher.
man considers the time wasted that is
suent IN menimg his net. Now. the
Bible again and again represents Christian
workers "a fishers Of men, and We are All
sweeping through the sea of humanity
some kind of net. Indeed there have
been enough nets out and enough fisher.
men busy 10 have landed the whole hu.
man race in the kingdom of God long hc.
fore this What ~ the natter The cos-
pei is all right, and IL has been a good
time for catching souls for thousands of
years. WHY. then, the failures The
trouble is with the nets. and most OF them
need TO be mended | propose 10 show
YOU what is the lr, ter with most OF the
nets and how to mend them In the text
old /ebedee and his two bows, James and
John. were doing good thing when they
sat in their boats mending their nets
The trouble with many OF our nets is
that the mCshes are too large. II a fish
can get his qills and hall his body through
the network he tears and rends aud
works his way out. and leaves the place
through which he squirmed a tanglc Of
broken threads. In our desire 20 make
| everything 50 easy we relax, We loosen, We
widen We let men after they are once
In the gospel net escape into the world
and go into indulgenccs and swim all
around Galllee, from north sid" 10 south
side. and from east side to west side, ex-
| pccting that they will come back again.
! We ought TO make 1T easy for them TO get
! into the kingdom OF God. and. as far as
| we can. make II impossible for them 20
! get out. The poor advice nowadays TO
many Is: "Go and do just rs YOU did be.
| fore YOU were captured for God and heav-
| en-. The net was not intended 30 he any
restraint or any hindrance. What you
! did before you were Christian do now.
/ Go 10 all stvles Of amusement read all
/ the styles of books engage IN all the
styles of behavior as before YOU were con.
verted.' And so, through these meshcs
OF permission and Lastly they wrigglc out,
| through this opening and that opening.
| tearing the net rs they 90, and soon all
| the souls that we expected to land in
| heaven before we know At are back IN the
! deep sea of the world Oh, when we 90
/ a-gOspel fishing, let " make II as easy a.
/ possible for souls 90 get IN and as hard
as possible TO get out.
Is the Bible language an unmeaning yer.
blagc when It talks about self denial and
| keeping the body under, and about walk.
! ing the narrow way, and entering the
straight gate, and about carrying the
! cross; j. there 90 be no way OF telling
whether a man IL o Christian except by
his taking the COmmuu. on chalice on sac
ramental day May a man be as reckless
about his thoughts about his words, abolt
his temper. about his amuscmcnts, after
conversion ~ before Alas. the words Of
. Christ are 20 little needed when He said.
, "WhOsoevcr doth not bear his cross and
come after Ne cannot be Ny disciple" p"
[ The church - fast becoming a. bad as the
world. and wncn a. gets as bad az the
world IT. viii be worse than the world by
30 much, a. II will add hypocrisy Oi a
most appalling kind 10 ~ O1hcr defects.
Furthermore, many oi our nets are torn
TO pieces by being cntauZ.Cd with olhtr
nets. II Is a sad sight 30 see fishermen
hEGtng about sea room, and pulling IN
I opposite directions each 10 yet hs net
/ both nets damaged by the struggle and
1 losing all the hsl. Ia this land, whore
there are more than 1OGJ)OOJ people,
7
sunday and churches. in such an
| Atlantic Ocean of opportunity there Is
room for all the nets aud all The boats and
all the fishermen and Tor millions more
There should be no rivalry between
churches. Each one does a work peculiar
10 itself. But there are cities m this c0un.
try where there ~ now going on an awful
ripping and rending and tearing Of fishing
metz. Indeed all over ChrIstendOm at
/ this time there is a great war going on be.
tween fishermen, ministers against minis
tcrH.
Now, I have noticed man cannot fish
and hght at the same time He either
ucg,ccts MS net or his musEct IL ~
amazing how much time some Of the fish.
crmcn have 20 look after other fishermen
. j. o. more than ] cau do 20 take care Of
, ms own not. You see the wind 10 just
right. and % o. such a good time for fish
irg, and the FISH are coming In EO rapidly.
that / have 20 keep ~ cFr and hand
U ~. There arc about -JDU.pyJ GJ4s
. venting % get into the kingdom ~. God,
co.. t will require al the nets and an the
. fishermen o.. tI"s.rudyW - safely ard
+ iErW. on. brethren Oi the ministry b..
us spend our time no fishing instead oi
I fighting But % ! angiiy jerk my net
. across your net, an you jerk your net an.
EuIy across mine, We VIII soon have two
broken nets and 20 fish, The French
I revolution nearly destroyed the French
\ fisheries. and ecr.rsast.e1l war b. The
worst thing possible whue hauling SOUS
\ into the kingdom Ny friends, ] nptl.
Z IN the text that Jane. The son n IsLr.
I dee. and John, hs brother. were busy rot
meufIng somebody cise's metz. utfD"uj nz
I their own nets, and ] rather think tnat
we Who are engaged in Christian WORK Boo
\ thi. opening century VIII require all Dur
/ snare time - mend our own nets. Cod
/ help us in the important duty