Arizona republican., 1909-02-22
GOOD AND BAD ALIKE
 GATHERED IN THE NET
But All Are Collected for a Good Pur- pose.

The morning theme of Rev. A. L. pastor of the NJ. E. church, was the parable of "the net which was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind" In part, the speaker said: "In our study of the parable of the tares, we found them still in the world, growing in every field of mans multitudinous activities. Under another simile we will pursue our quest into national life, that mayhap we may answer caviler by causing him to think. The church is not on earth to make 1t as has as possible for a man to live good life-far from it. Its one end is to make such a life easy because of fellowship and mutual help. Nor is it. for the good alone-for then would there be no church. The sole reason for it's existence is to provide shelter for all who wish to mend their ways and live better than heretofore. To make this possible Jesus lived and died; and we find Him likening the church to a net cast into the sea-it gathers of every kind. Nor is this alone true of the church. The king dom of Patriotism gathers of every hlIlu. we hIlOn Oui lhW elA not men of self sacrificing patriotism; but that often they use their place and power for selfish ends. Nor do we be- lieve that all who ever enlisted under the flag were true patriots. No, we remember Arnold, Burr and many oth- CTS who betrayed. or plundered, their native land. Shall We therefore revile patriotism, run down great national in stitutions and hurl indiscriminating epithets against forms of civilization to which we owe so much because some men are unpatriotic, cowardly and traitorous? Far be such Injustice from us; yet he who denounces the church because selfish and ungoldly men are found in 1t, is guilty of such unreasoning injustice.
 "The kingdom of philanthrophy is like a net-there are men who live on others generosity-men who coin the tears of sympathy into wealth for their own using. Yet We know of the How ards, Peabodys and thousands of oth- ers-men whose hearts beat in un- feigned sympathy with the distressed; and do not revile philanthrophy be- cause some men use it as a cloak to hide their own meanness.
 "The kingdom of general society is like a net. You would not trust all your acquaintances because you know they are not all trustworthy yet you have picked them out to form your own little social kingdom. Then home and family life is also net that gath CTS of every kind. Are all husbands. wives, sons and daughters what they should be? Are all mothers?
 Tt is inevitable that net gather
 ing men should gather good and bad The church has both kinds. No won der! It is an excellent lodging place. It gives entre to respectable society
 Shall we, then, condemn the church
 because it has bad folks within its pale? Then we must condemn mother hood, wifehood. sisterhood, the family. society, philanthrophy and patriotism, and all the institutions of men, by the same reasoning. Does not the argu- ment against the church. because of its bad members, prove too much?
 "Remember, the good fish did not cast out the bad. It is not our busi- ness to find out and publish other folks shortcomings-we can keep our selves fully employed by trying to quit our own meanness."