Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-07-31
TALMAGE>
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,,
Pastor of Jefferson Park Presby-
terian Church, Chicago

In Christian work. Tho text is Matthew
". 10, "Follow me, and l will make
you fishers Of men,
Are you a fisherman? ooh, yes" you
answer; II have been n fisherman all
my life AS Izaak Walton, the father
of angling, used to say that true fish
ermen, like poets, were born, not made.
so l was born with n love for the rod
and the reel. AS little boy, many
and many time have been late for
school because / loitcred on the way
under the shadow of the old wooden
bridge to cast q crooked pin used for
a hook. Now that l am grown | love
to go back to the scene where | was
born. / love to wade in the old fn-
miliar brook and catch the specified
trout. ! love to take boat and pull
out into the river which flows through
the valley where my father is buried
md try to coax to my hook the black
bass and the timid perch"
No, my friend, you are not true
| fisherman. 4 true fisherman is one
whose life employment. not his sum
| mcr vacation, Is devoted to catching
| fish. You are no more Il fisherman
than William NJ. Evarts was Il farmer
Mr.. Evarts for recreation used to play
at farming. lie used to take the mon
oy which he made as lawyer in New
| York city and put ii into his Vermont
| farm. But Nh Evarts never made n
living off his Vermont farm. Farming
was such an expensive luxury to him
| that one day while he was entertain
/ ing some fellow senators at his farm
! he offered them in one hand Il glass
of milk and in the other glass Of
champagne as he said. Take your
choice, Eentlemen; they both cost me
the same
There is Just as much difference be-
tween the man who makes his living
by fishing and one who fishes for sport
as there is between the man who farms
to make "A living and the man who
farms for recreation. II is the differ
encc between work ana play. It is the
difference between the man who sets
sail in the fishing smack from Nan
tucket or New Bedford and spends six
long months off the banks of New
foundland, facing the dangers of tenn
pest and collision, and the man who
paddles about in canoe on a quiet
stream. 1t is the difference between
the man who is ready TO defy the dan
gers of Lake GalileC-thc most trcach-
crous inland sea in the world-aud the
man who stands upon Il rock on sun,
shiny afternoon and casts his eXpcn-
sive line into the brook for q few
hours pastime.
Thc FiRhcrmen OF Galiice.
Now, the two brothers. Peter and An
drew, to whom Christ spoke the words
Of my text upon the shores of Lake
G2lilcc, were real iishcrmcn They
were not dilcttanti. They did not 20
ont into tie country for few days
with hundred dollar pole 10 catch a
dollars worth of fish; but they mAdo
fishing their lifc's business. They be-
longed to what is perhaps the bravcst
class Of men on carth-thc fishermen.
Christ, when he saw them mcnding
their nets, turned and said Como,
leave your nets and follow me. Give
up your work Of catching fish ana |
viii teach you how you may use your
energy and bravery and conservation
and will make you fishers of mon.
Come with me and l will make YOU
fishers in the great troubled sea of
humanity and will call you my gospel
fishermen"
The true gospel fisherman is n one
purposc1 man, whose life is dedicated
TO the single object of saving souls
Every sportsman knows that it is an
impOssibility for successful fisher
man TO think of anything else but his
fish at the time of fishing. He cannot
plan about business and attend to his
line. He cannot read book and watch
lis bait. He cannot dream of tho
woods and troll Mt the same time
When a real fisherman fishes. he con
centrates his entire attention upon his
fishing and excludes every other
thought from his brain. because fish
ing is so fascinating and absorbing
some of the greatest men of the worlu
have found their recreation in The
sport Daniel Webster. whom the Mas
sachuSctts fishermen used to call Blacl
Dan because he became so sunburncd
when fishing With SearGent S. Prentis,
off the shoals of Nantucket. used TO for
get his senatorial cares in watching his
line. Christopher North, the intellcc
tual giant of old Scotland, prolonged
his life far into the eighties by his
habit of running away from Edinburgh
with his rod and reel. Chester a. Ar
thur and Grover Cleveland at every
opportunity would exchange the com
, forts of the stately White House fol
the absorbing delight of batting hool
and casting line.
So man cannot become a true Cos
pei fisherman unless he consecrato.
, himself body and mind and soul, to tn,
one purpose Of saving men. He mus
live and eat and breathe and sloeJ
only for the hope of bringing sinfu
men and women to Christ, He mus
, be as deeply absorbed in the work Of
, saving souls as was John Knox. whC
used to arise frequently in the middl,
OF the night to pray. And one night
| while he was pleading with God t.
!, help him in the work of saving souls
his wife chided him and told him I,
| come back to bed. The great reforme
turned and said. Woman, how can
sleep when my country is not saved?
Then he continued his supplication
with this earnest cry: 80 God, Civ