FISHERS OF MEN. "And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."-MATT., iv., 18, 19. GOD's whole work in this world aims at the development of man. He is not only highest in the scale of earthly creatures, but all other things have their rank and use by their relations to him. Except for man's development and advancement, natural laws, seasons, and all the flow of phenomena would be but as the flowing of the Gulf Stream, or the crashing of Polar ice in the solitary nights of Northern win ters. In the divine economy all influences are laboring together for him. All science and art, all political economy and good government, all growth of refinement and of good morals, all that is involved in civilization, directly or indirectly, promotes the welfare and advancement of man. Not only are certain official persons appointed to affect him by truth, but it is the whole office of human society to teach him. Not only is the Church an appointed instrumentality, but time and the world are instrumentalities. All things work for him; all things work upon him. In a general sense, it may be said that the whole globe is an organized institution designed to educate men. But in this general economy some influences act indirectly and remotely, some very directly. While great influences are taking hold of men in masses, there is a provision also for special action upon individuals; and in this work of producing individual impressions on individual men, there is no instrumentality that can compare with the heart of a Christian man. Seasons do much, directly or indirectly. Natural laws have their ministrations, and should not be overlooked. National economies, customs, occupations, and providential events of joy or of sorrow-these are all working mightily and working always. But there comes that in their midst which is mightier than all of them, namely, the throb of one heart against another. Of all earthly things that influence men, God has made the human heart to be the master influence, that can do what nothing else can do. And when this special human instrumentality acts harmoniously with and within these general influences, man is brought under the highest conceivable degree of human moral influ ence. The Christian religion differs in this one thing, grandly and fundamentally, from all other religious systems. It has, indeed, its system of truth or theology to be believed, and its code of ethics to be obeyed and practiced, the value of which can not be overestimated. But over and above any natural laws, economies, institutions, customs, and ordinances, it is the distinctive peculiarity of the Christian religion that it has introduced the heart-power of a personal being as the grand master influence by which men are to be moved. It is the personal influence of God in Christ upon the hearts of men that makes the Gospel the power of God unto salvation. Its grand and fundamental feature consists in the fact that it introduces into life, and to the experience of men, a living, throbbing, personal God of love and power. And as this personal influence constitutes the characteristic power in Christianity, so, in accordance with this spirit, all Christians are empowered and commanded to exert their own personal influence for the conversion and edification of men-not as an occasional duty; not as an exceptional duty resting only upon professional priests and ministers, but as one of the constituent elements of Christian character, one of the signs of Christian allegiance, and one of the chief of human forces upon which Christ relies in building up and extending his kingdom. Christ himself, our great exemplar and leader, labored with men individually; for while he preached God to men publicly, he also influenced them privately and personally. He not only exerted a professional influence upon them as a prophet and teacher, but he eminently and most beautifully exerted a personal influence upon them as a companion and friend. And he called his disciples to the very same work. "Follow me," he says to these fishermen-(and you might have known, if you waked up in Asia and heard that passage, that it emanated from Christ. It has internal evidence of having been uttered by him; for he had a peculiar habit of drawing instruction and knowledge from the symbolisms of nature and the events of life. Every thing to him taught something. And, seeing these men in the ship, and perceiving that they were fishermen, he said)—"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men"-I will enlarge your business. The more you look at this figure the more important it be comes. To fish well, it is necessary to study the peculiarities of fish. It is necessary to know more than the science of ichthyology. What a book can tell a man about fishes is worth knowing, but it is little that a book can do toward making a man a true fisherman. If a man is going to fish for fish, he must become their scholar before he becomes their master; he must go to school to the brook to learn its ways. And to fish for men, a man must learn their nature, their prejudices, their tendencies, and their courses. A man, to catch fish, must not only know their habits, but their tastes and their resorts; he must humor them according to their dif ferent natures, and adapt his instruments to their peculiarities, providing a spear for some, a hook for others, a net for others, and baits for each one as each one will. To sit on a bank or deck, and say to the fishes, "Here I am, authorized to command you to come to me and to bite what I give you," is just as ridiculous as it can be, even though it does resemble some ways of preaching. The Christian's business is not to stand in an appointed place and say to men, "Here am I; come up and take what I give you as you should." The Christian's business is to find out what men are, and to take them by that which they will bite at. You must go to the fish. you. You must note times formed as to their caprices. down sometimes, sometimes hide, sit patiently in the leafy covert at other times, and work frequently without filling your basket, and await a better time. You must study the sky, and for their food you must search all manner of insects, and every thing that relates to the work in which you are engaged. The one act of catching fish must determine your whole manner. They certainly will not come to and seasons. You must be inYou must creep sometimes, lie Luke adds to the force of this figure very much. Matthew says, "Ye shall be fishers of men;" but Luke says, “Ye shall catch men." It is very well to be a fisher, but it is a great deal better to catch what you fish for. It will be my object, in farther discoursing this morning, first, to enforce the duty of labors for the edification and conversion of men; next, to point out some of the means by which we should attempt to do it; and, finally, to direct the whole to some personal applications. What, then, is the source of this duty of laboring for men's conversion, and their education in the Christian life after their conversion? The duty begins in this: "Freely ye have received, freely give." This applies to every truly Christian man. God has thought of him personally; God has given the Holy Ghost to rest upon him; Christ has loved him and drawn him unto himself. And every man that is truly a Christian is one who has been the object of special personal divine thought, and love, and transforming influence. The same that he has done to us he commands us to do to others. Not that we are clothed with the same attributes, nor |