The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-08-03
r. Talrmage's Sermon.
BY THE REV. FRANK DE WITT rALMAcE, D. D.

| path recreation. He demands unceasing
toll, not a summers sport.
The True Gospel Fisherman.
The true gospel fisherman is a brave
man. We have been taught to regard the
soldier as among the bravest of men.
| True, 1t needs a brave heart to stand
unblanched amid the storm of shot and
shell and TO walk up to the cannons
mouth when the bullets are falling
around like hail pattering upon the pave
ments. But the soldier never has to face
great dangers continuously like those the
| fisherman has to meet / suppose that
among all the different classes of men
there is not one among which the de-
struction of life proportionately is SO
great as among the men who make the
harvest of the sea their avocation or life
work.
During a recent journey across the At
| lantc and after we had been out a couple
] of days from New York harbor 1 saw
two men pointing to a dark cloud ahead
heard one of them say: I'VE are going
to have a bad night That is the New
foundand fog bank" Soon the thick
msts began to settle around u.s. All that
night the gloomy fog horn blew. l said
to the commander of the Cunarder: Cap
tain, why do you blow that terrific fog
horn? Surely the danger of collision
with a passing steamer is comparatively
small" 'Ah." answered the captain,
I'VE are blowing the fog horn chiefly TO
warn the fishermen. All about these
waters are hundreds of little fishing
smacks. The fishermen come here and
anchor. They stay month in and month
out until they catch their cargo, and
SORES and scores of these poor fellows
are run down every year. We want to
! warn them If possible, that we are COM
| ing along" Go TO any of the little fishing
towns along the rocky coasts of old Scot
| have lost fathers and brothers and hus-
bands and sons in the awful dangers of
| fisherman's life Every seaman will
tell you that the perils Of a sailors life
comparatively nothing If there are only
sixty fathoms of water under the ships
keel. But the fisherman rGHeiy puts out
to the deep sea. He must fish compare
lively near the shore. Then the storms
come UP and threaten to drive the frail
! craft upon the rocks. Then the fogs set
tie so thickly that the steersman can
hardly see the prov of the boat from the
stern. Yes, the true fsherman's life,
whether 1t Is found on Lake Galilee or of
the coasts of Scotland or in the New
foundland fogs Is a life of overwhelming
danger. Brave must be the man who
would follow so perilous an avocation.
So the gospel fishermen, too. must be
brave menl They must be as courageous
as were Peter and Andrew, who, to be-
come gospel fishermen, laid down their
/ lives for Christ. They must be as brave
| as the heroic Father Damien, who in Or
der to administer to the sick and dying
went to Molokai. the leper island Of the
Pacific. and himself became a leper and
died. They must be as brave as that Sal
walton Army girl who stands and sings
and prays upon the street corner amid
the SCOTS and the ridicule. of the passers-
| by and who penetrates the dark alleys
humanity unprotected, to seek out souls
for Christ They have to be as brave as
| that young Christian clerk who goes
from saloon to saloon giving out gospel
tracts and leading in prayer where the
proprietor will allow him to pray.
To show the kind of heroic stun out
of which the gospel fishermen are made
I would point you to the tragic history
of the greatest missionary of the Fiji
islands as he personally told 1t 20 me.
Many years ago the cannibals of those
islands killed and ate the first mission
airy who had been sent there by the Lon
don Missionary Society. Immediately
after that event this missionary. then a
young man, applied for appointment to
| the post of danger. He went forth with
his young bride to what most of their
friends thought was certain death. When
the ship dropped anchor in the harbor of
| Suva, the native chief sent out word,
| Give us another missionary, and we
will make a meal out of him." In the
| face of that threat and of all these dam
gers the young missionary and his bride
disembarked. For ten long years they
never saw the face of white man, ex-
cept when the missionary supply boat
made its biennial visit The young mis-
sionarys children were born there in the
woods. Two of his children died be-
cause he had no proper medicine He
lived there with his heroic wife until he
transfer ned the whole island. Such is
the career of one heroic gospel fisherman.
Are you and ready to be as brave for
Christ as were that noble missionary
and his devoted wife? Are we ready to
be inspired with that holy fearlessness
and disregard of ourselves mat we may
save souls for Christ where er we can
find them, which all Christ's fishers of
men should show in his servlcef
The true gospel fishermen must be spir-
| itually strong man. Peter and Andrew,
to whom Christ spoke, were net fisher
men. 7 think they rarely, If ever. f1shed
with a line or pole They were in all
| probability the kind of fishermen you per-
| haps have seen off the Massachusetts
| coast. There the fishermen fasten their
net to stakes that have been driven into
the ground and the tops of which can be
seen above the surface of the sea- They
were physically strong men, else they
could not have handled and set the nets,
Il
watched the surface CT the sea, just as
the fishermen used to do along the Long
] Island coast. Then, as soon as the sea
, would be ruffled by the schools of
| swarming fish. tine signal flag would be
| lifted, the fishermen would gather upon
| the beach. and the longboat, filled with
| the piled up net, would be launched
! Then the fishermen on shore would hold
a rope attached to one end of the net
and the boat would be rowed out around
the school Of FISH. Then, when the whole
net had been paid out" the boat would
approach the shore. the other end of the
net attached by a rope to the stern.
Then the mon would begin to pull the
ropes at either end of the net, dragging
| the fish nearer and nearer inshore until
at last they would capture the whole
school. Yes, those fishermen had to be
| physically strong men. Their nerves had
| to be steady, their muscles firm, they
never could have dragged in those. heavy
| nets burdened with many fish
A Strong Spirit Needed.
The true gospel fishermen must be
| spiritually, as well as physically, g strong
man. The gospel net of faith is a wide
net, and unless supernatural power be
given to the gospel fishermen he will
never be able to handle it. How could
Charles G. Finney have been able to
lead thousands and tens of thousands of
immortal souls to Christ unless he had
| been spiritually a strong man. In his
own strength as a gospel fisherman he
could do nothing, but with Christ he
| do oil To cba