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Laa diagrammas suivants iliuatrant la m^thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 s 6 A FISHERMAN'S JT V^X.^ J.^ X t^ ^^ t^ «^ ^ ^ t^ BY THE REVEREND A. B. MACKAY, D.D. CRESCENT ST7!E£T CHURCH MONTREAL LATE CHAPLAIN ROYAL SCOTS GREYS **%c6t wc forget/' ■£) Al^XM^et. "Sd^r /4- plK-a hr\ On^ , . . pGU ]r^V'^,. A FISHERMAN'S FOLLY BY The rev. A. B. MAQKAY, D.D. MINISTER OF THE CRESCENT STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH MONTREAL. LATE CHAPLAIN ROYAL SCOTS GREYS ^ 1900 MQl^rON, PHILLIPS & CO., PRINTERS, MONTREAL. The following Sermon Preached on the Sabbath after The Relief of Ladysmith is dedicated to My Young Men's Bible Class at whose request it was printed. 4fi A FISHERMAN'S FOLLY. 4&i HABAKKUK I, i6: "He sacrificeth to his net and burneth incense to his drag." What have we here ? A fisherman's folly. Look at him. What is he doing ? Offering up a sacrifice to his net, as if it were a god, and burning incense to his drag. What leads him to do this ? His great success, a big catch of fishes. So elated is he, so intoxicated with his astound- ing haul, that he loses his senses and actually deifies his net and drag, ascribes all his success to these instruments of his calling. Well, what better could you expect from a poor, ignorant, superstitious fisherman ? But no one is so stupid now. I am not so sure of that. I think this may be A MODERN fisherman's FOLLY. I have known some very pious fishermen who ascribed all their success in their precarious calling to Almighty God. Before they shot their nets I have known such bare their heads while the captain of the boat asked God to give them good success. I have known them resolve to give their first haul, whatever it was, to the service of the Saviour, as the first fruits of their increase. I remember one, a most suc- cessful fisher in Scotland, who has a European reputation for his technical skill, who was consulted by the Swedish Government as to the development of the fisheries in Norway and Sweden, and who for his services was enrolled in one of their orders of nobility. That fisherman is a devout Christian, and again and again as he has pointed to his stake nets in the German ocean has he said to me, " We may do ■'• all that skill and experience can suggest, but without the hand of God we cannot catch a fin, far less reap the harvest of the deep." Such a man would not be guilty of this folly. But I knew others in my native town who laughed at that man's piety, who said it was all rubbish, sheer cant. It is carefulness and skill and knowledge of the weather and how the fish run to which all success is due, /.^., their intelligence and skill in the use of the net and drag are the little gods to whom th(^y burn the in^er r t' eir vanity. Their idolatry is not so gross and palpal 'it of the ancient fisherman, but is just as real. But ' o A MEKCHANi ^ FOLLY. €U He also is a fishermin, goldfish being his spoil, and he also can imitate this ancient mariner in his Folly. When a speculation turns out very profitable and he gets a good haul ; when stocks rise here and fall there as he had foreseen ; when everything works smoothly with that nnsterly com' bination, does he not congratulate himself on his shrewd- ness, his promptness, his ability to get on the inner track? Does he not attribute to these his success ? Or it may be he gives all the credit to his industry, his integrity, his upright- ness. What is he doing? Sacrificing to his net and burn- ing incense to his drag. Who bestowed upon him all these good qualities which have made him so successful? Should not He be thanked and praised and practically acknowledged by the consecration of his substance to His service? Should not great prosperi'^y be the cause of deeper gratitude and humility ? Bui hgw frequently has it the very opposite effect ? This is also A church's folly. When things are very prosperous in a congregation to "Y "^ vvhai do we attribute the prosperity? A splendiJ church buildinjr a rich and fashionable congregation, an eloquent minister, a magnificent organ, an unmatched organist and a peerless choir? In how many congregations is there iin idolatry of wepUh, refinement, learning, eloquence? Should there be none of these things and no reverential and seemly worship of God? By no means, but t u^ see that all our trust is in the Lord and not in such things, otherwise we also sacrifice to our net and burn incense to our drag. 1'l.is is also . '.-. A CHRISTIAN WORKER'S FOLT.Y. A pious and very successful Scottish minister writes : "I see that few can bear to be instruments m conversion ; there is such a tendency to become proud and lifted up." This testimony is true. Salvation is of the Lord. If a man 7 attributes it to himself he is sacrificing to his net and burn- ing incense to his drag. And God is very jealous of His glory as a Saviour. I heard a man say publicly in this city, not very long ago, that he could save souls as easily as he coul i raise wheat. I am not surprised to hear that already that man is spiritually a wreck, that so far as usefulness in saving souls is concerned, he is dashed to pieces like a potter's vessel. God is not mocked. He has sent us to be fishers of men, but if we have any confidence in our own skill or might He will not b!ess our efforts. We may toil all night and catch nothing. Only as we follow and imitate Jesus and put down the nets at His bidding can we have good success. Paul may plant and Apollos may water; God alone can give the increase. The fisherman's folly is bad, the merchant's folly is worse, but worst of all is the folly 8 of those who, engaged in the Lord's work, trust in anything but Himself. His word is phin : " Not oy ni^ght nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Therefore let no Christian worker be so idoLitrous as to sacrifice to his net or burn incense to his drag. However, Habakkuk had more in his eye than fisher- men, ancient or modern, when he wrote these words. He saw here A conqueror's folly. This, indeed, is the great thought he wishes to express, and he only uses the fisherman's folly as a picture of the con- queror's, The people of the earth are like shoals of fish, and conquerors are like fishermen, enclosing them in their nets and thus "making their portion fat and their meat plenteous." General Roberts made a great haul the other day when he so gloriously reversed the disaster of Majuba. Hahakkuk's simile is a very faithful picture of the practices of politicians and conquerors in all ages and places. Herodotus tells us that the Scythians offered a yearly sacri- fice of sheep and horses to the scimitar as the symbol of Mars. Especially did this Hebrew seer have in his eye these Chaldean conquerors who oppressed Israel. Nothing seemed able to stand before them, as we read in verses 6 to II, therefore the conqueror is described as one whose might is his god." " He taketh up all of them with the angle, he vjatcheth them in his net and gathereth them in his drag ; therefore he rejoiceth and is glad ; therefore he sacrificeth to his net and burneth incense to his dra^." These old world conquerors ascribe all to their arms, to their power, to their military skill, to the number of their soldiers s u lo i on h ri "— ^"'^ And they did the same fou hundred years ago. Hear what the greatest exegete of hat age says on this subject. Commenting on this passage he w„,es: "This is after the manner of all conquerors. They may mdeed say that kings rule through God's grace and when they gain the victory they may offer prayers and m vows and sing Te Deums. But all this is scenic theatrical, fitted and intended to show off their own import' ance, and were one to say to this conqueror, 'God had mercy on you,' the answer would be, 'What, ^.s then my preparation nothing? Did I not provide many'things befoTe' hand? Did I not obtam the friendship of many? Did I not form confederacies? Did I not see such and such d^advantages ? Did I not opportunely provide a remedy ? In a word, they sacrifice apparently to God, but afterward IT they have a regard mainly to their drag and net, and make nothing of God." Far too much of this spirit is manifested in our own day, and therefore we require to be constantly on our guard against this great evil, as individuals and as r. nation, if we are not to forfeit the favour of God; for '*God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble." It seems to me that in the events which have taken place in South Africa God has been teaching the British Empire through its length and breadth to put far from them this great sin and not to forget Him who ruleth in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. Great outward prosperity is as apt to destroy an Empire as an individual. In both cases, pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. At the great Jubilee there was much to foster this 12 i sp.nt, and perhaps no better counteractive went forth than he w,nged words of the Recessional-" I.es, we forget- test we forget." The opening events of the can^paig" in' South Afr.ca echoed, every one of the.«, that refrain and made thoughtful Britons everywhere ask themselves, "He we forgot? Have we forgot?" Have we shut out God in great measure from our national life, and is He speaking to us, remmd.ng us of our utter dependence on Him in the present, and His goodness to us as a nation in I p 't VVe needed, as a nation, to learn the lesson which Chur h 1 earned when he escaped from Pretoria. The courage the coolness, the audacity, the vigour, the skill, the read; re! source he displayed were all admirable ; but as he lay hiding .n that clump of trees on the first day of his escape ho vnf no nofon of his whereabouts, he had no confiden'e hi 13 own might or sl'^'ll. He felt that except God heard his cry and helped him his escape was hopeless. He entered into the spirit of what has been called Robinson Crusoe's text, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee." Let us learn the same lesson. I glory with you all in the great deeds that have been done, in the grand deliverance that has been wrought, and it gives exceeding emphasis to our exultation to know that our own Canadians have borne themselves so nobly. The achievements of our troops, Home and Colonial; English, Irish, Scotch; infantry, cavalry, artillery ; both branches of the service, Army and Navy, have equalled the grandest deeds done in our history, and not a man has flinched. Have there ever been struggles more desperate than those of this war? Has there ever been a defence more heroic than that of Ladysmith against n i I f f \ such overwhelming odds and under such sore privations ? Was there ever more brilliant strategy than that of Roberts, or more dogged tenacity than that of Buller, or more lofty heroism than that of White? The mention of such names and their noble followers sends a thrill through every fibre of our being. Yet while we do not forget any of these things, let us ascribe all our success to Him to whom it is due-the Lord of Hosts. " Not unto us, Lord-not unto us, but to Thy name give glory." We believe that the battle IS the Lord's ; for this is a conflict to support the eternal claims of righteousness between man and man, and eve-y cry of the oppressed is a prayer to God on our own behalf 1 herefore as He has vouchsafed such success, let us ascribe all the glory to Him. Our Gracious Queen has set the Eripire a noble example. She commences her telegrams of 15 congratulations botli to General IJuller and to General White with the words, '"I thank God." We know that this is no pious formula, no piece of Ccint on her part, but the tiuest and deepest expression of her heart, a heart that hates war. And it is hopeful to see this feeling echoed in the daily press of England. What could be better than these words of the London Doily Mail : '' Almighty God, whose arm is strength, has blessed the efforts of General Buller's army with complete victory and the cause of freedom has triumphed once more." In this hour of world-wide exulta- tion let us imitate the piety of our Queen, let us not be so foolish, so idolatrous, so brutish, as to sacrifice to our net or burn incense to our drag. i6