p. 3 | Fishing for Men by A. E. PLACE

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Apr 15, 1915

Fishing for Men

By A. E. PLACE

A. E. PLACE

I THINK we shall all agree that it would be wrong for you to believe as I do because I believe as I do, or vice versa. To believe, to vote, or to in any way act from this standpoint would, to the extent that it is done, be the sinking of identity and an attempt to shirk individual responsibility.

Man can never be taken as a safe guide, or standard of truth. But truth can be, and is, a safe standard for every man, and we believe it to be the only safe standard.

But if you or the writer or any one else follows truth, it must be as he sees it for himself. No man can remain honest with himself if he allows any other man to see for him in things eternal. Neither can he depend upon any other man's prayers to save him from his sins. It is, of course, proper for us to see for the blind, to hear for the deaf, and to pray for any who request our prayers, or for any for whom we are impressed to pray. But I must pray for myself. You must pray for yourself. And so must we think and act for ourselves, or our work is vain. This, to me, seems as true as that I cannot breathe for you, or you for me.

I once went to a private house to hold a Bible study. The man of the house made no move to come around the table with us, and so I invited him to come and read with us. His reply was, “No, thank you, I pay the minister to read the Bible for me.” “But,” I said, “you do not pay him to pray for you, do you?” His answer came quickly: “Yes, sir, I do. He has the time, and is paid for it, and I have to make a living for myself and family.”

This was a new experience for me. I was young and inexperienced, and without taking time to think of God’s Word, or to pray for myself that I might know how to help this man, I then and there decided that it would be useless to try to do anything for him. In plain English, I judged and sentenced him at once, and then we went on with our reading.

But what might I have done? What ought I to have done? I might have taken time to say: “My brother, I respect your statement because I believe you are honest, and doubtless your statement is made because of circumstances of which I am ignorant; but it would please me, and in fact all of us, if you could feel free to join the circle and at least hear us read. We have an interesting study, ‘What Is Truth?’” But I did nothing of the kind.

I had been called to be a “fisher of men.” I saw a fish, but decided that it was useless for me to cast my hook. I have sometimes wondered if I had a hook. It is evident that I had no bait. O, how much easier it is to judge men than to fish for them!

But how is it with the real sportsman? If there is a fish in stream or lake that is difficult to catch, he baits his hook or adjusts his fly for that very fish. We never hear a sportsman criticize or condemn either fish or game that is worth catching. No! The true fisherman keeps fishing. Now and then he pulls up his hook to examine the bait or to change or readjust it. He may adjust another fly. He cautiously changes his position, and makes another cast over the same deep hole. He keeps fishing, and leaves the judging to the ignorant and foolish. As a rule, at night his basket is well filled, while the critic claims that he was in a miserable place that was “all fished out.”

What shall we as the professed ministers of Jesus Christ do? Shall we stroll along the bank or the shore and judge the fish, seen and unseen, and come in at the end of the gospel day with an empty basket, or shall we in God’s name, like true fishermen, get right down to business and fish for men, and allow God to do all the judging, of both fish and territory?

Judging is an individual sin. It is a family and a church sin. It is a conference sin. It is well-nigh a universal sin. But, thank God, Jesus came into the world to save men from this sin.

God pities his people. He is very patient. He counsels us to buy the white raiment, and anoint our eyes with eye-salve. He is today calling his people back to “Philadelphia”—“brotherly love.” Do you hear the call? Many are heeding it and are finding rest to their souls.

If when we are tempted to pass judgment, God should suddenly place before us a true picture of ourselves, we might suddenly drop from the seat of the Pharisee to find ourselves with the poor publican, smiting our breasts and crying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

San Jose, Cal.