rs sitting together without
distinction. He could not understand it till by-and-by they came to a
hill, and the coach stopped, and the driver called out, "First-class
passengers keep their seats, second-class passengers get out and walk,
third class passengers get behind and push." Now in the Church we have
no room for first-class passengers--people who think that salvation
means an easy ride all the way to heaven. We have no room for second
class passengers--people who are carried most of the time, and who,
when they must work out their own salvation, go trudging on giving
never a thought to helping their fellows along. All church members
ought to be third class passengers--ready to dismount and push all
together, and push with a will. That was John Wesley's definition of a
church--"All at it, and always at it." Every Christian ought to be a
worker. He need not be a preacher, he need not be an evangelist, to be
useful. He may be useful in business. See what power an employer has,
if he likes! How he could labor with his employees, and in his
business relations! Often a man can be far more useful in a business
sphere than he could in another.

There is one reason, and a great reason, why so many do not succeed. I
have been asked by a great many good men, "Why is it we don't have any
results? We work hard, pray hard, and preach hard, and yet the success
does not come." I will tell you. It is because they spend all their
time mending their nets. No wonder they never catch anything.

The great matter is to hold inquiry meetings, and thus pull the net
in, and see if you have caught anything. If you are always mending and
setting the net, you won't catch many fish. Whoever heard of a man
going out to fish, and setting his net, and then letting it stop
there, and never pulling it in? Everybody would laugh at the man's
folly.

A minister in England came to me one day, and said, "I wish you would
tell me why we ministers don't succeed better than we do."

I brought before him this idea of pulling in the net, and I said, "You
ought to pull in your nets. There are many ministers in Manchester who
can preach much better than I can, but I pull in the net."

Many people have objections to inquiry meetings, but I urged upon him
the importance of them, and the minister said,

"I never did pull in my net, but I will try next Sunday."

He did so, and eight persons, anxious inquirers, went into his study.
The next Sunday he came