- quired more than Eve-like fortitude not to
shake the tree. But after these many years, what I remember most of all is the taste of that one first apple. Precious in itself and very scarce, so it seemed to me, still it told of the good times coming when its luscious, juicy brothers would yield up their secrets, too.—F. F. Shannon.
(1105)
Fishermen Superstitious—See Superstitious.
FISHERS OF MEN
In the Crystal Palace at Munich there is
a little picture called "The Red Fisherman."
Satan is elegantly accoutered in red costumes,
and he is fishing in a pond for men.
For his hook he has a great variety of bait—gold,
money, pearls, crowns, swords and
wines. Apparently he has been fishing with
some success, for the bait is much after the
sort that men are wont to follow. To compete
with the prince of evil, Christians who
would be successful "fishers of men" must
use bait that will really allure them. (Text.)
(1106)
In her "Fishin' Jimmy," Mrs. Slosson tells of a little French-Canadian girl. Her mother was a tramp, and the girl had developed into a wild little heathen. The mother fell suddenly dead near the village one day, and the child was found clinging to her mother's body. The girl's soul was shaken by bitter sobs, and when they tried to take her away she fought like a young tigress. There was in the crowd a small boy who knew "Fishin' Jimmy." With a child's faith in his big friend, he hurried away and brought "Fishin' Jimmy" to the spot. Very tenderly he lifted the child in his arms and took her away. Nobody seems to have known anything about the taming of the little savage, but a short time afterward she and "Fishin' Jimmy" were seen on the margin of Black Brook, each with a fish-pole. He kept the child for weeks, and when she went at last to a good home, she had exchanged her wildness for a tender, affectionate nature. Then people wondered how the change was wrought. They asked Jimmy, but his explanation seemed to breathe an air of mystery. "'Twas fishin' done it," he said, "on'y fishin'; it allers works. The Christian r'liging itself had to begin with fishin', ye know." Yes, the religion of our Master had to begin with fishing; it will continue with fishing, and it will end with fishing, for this is indeed life's divinest task. (Text.)—F. F. Shannon.
(1107)
FITNESS
One of John Wesley's friends was terribly
shocked to hear him preach to a well-groomed
congregation a merciless sermon
from the text, "Ye serpents, ye generation
of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation
of hell?" "Sir," said Wesley's friend
angrily, "such a sermon would have been
suitable in Billingsgate; but it is highly improper
here." Wesley replied, "If I had
been in Billingsgate, my text should have
been, "Behold the lamb of God which taketh
away the sins of the world."
(1108)
See Unfitness.
Fitness, Lack of—See Accommodation.
Flag, Dishonoring the—See Patriotism,
Lack of.
Flag, Rescuing the—See Symbols, the
Value of.
Flaws—See Charity.
Flight and Vision—See Elevation and
Vision.
Flight of the Soul—See Soul Flight.
FLOOD-TIDE, SPIRITUAL
I stood on the coast of England, and
looked out over a stretch of oozy slime and
ill-smelling mud. There were the barges
high and dry, lying on their sides—no matter
what cargo they carried or how skilful
the captain, they were on the mud. It would
have availed them nothing to heave the
anchor or hoist the sail. And I thought,
What is the remedy? Were it any use for
the corporation to pass a by-law that every
citizen should bring kettles filled with water,
and pour it out upon the stretch of mud?
But as I watched I saw the remedy. God turned the tide. In swept the waters of the sea, and buried the mud, and then came the breath of sweetness and life. And it flowed in about the barges, and instantly all was activity. Then heave-ho with the anchor, then hoist the sails, then forth upon some errand of good. So it is that we stand looking out upon many a dreadful evil which fills us with dismay—drunkenness, gambling, impurity. Is there any remedy? And the churches, so very respectable, but, alas, high and dry on the muddy beach—for these, too, what is the remedy? We want the flood-tide—the gracious outpouring of the Spirit; then must come the roused and quickened churches, the Christians transformed into
