The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-09-21

hands, and catches the ball flying through
the air. just so easily will this Gospel
after awhile catch this round world fly
ing np0n its orbit and bring it back to
the heart Of Christ. Give it full swing
and it VIII pardon every sin, heal every
wound, cure every trouble, emancipate
every slave and ransom every nation.
Ye Christian men and women who go
out to do Christian work as ye go into
the Sunday schools and the lay preach.
ing stations and the penitentiaries and
the aSylumS- I want you to see that you
bear in your hand weapon compared
with which the lightning has no speed
and avalancheS have no heft and the
thunderbOlts- of Heaven have no power;
it is the arrow of the 0mnipOtent Cos
pei. Take careful aiml Pull the arrow
clear back until the head strikes the
bow, then let 1t fly, and may the slain
Of the Lord be many.
Again, If you want to be a mighty
before the Lord, you must hunt in un-
frequented and secluded places. Why
does the hunter go three or four days
in the Pennsylvania forests, or over
Raquette Lake, into the wilds of the
AdirOndacks2 1t is the only way to do.
The deer are shy, and one bang Of the
gun clears the forest. From the Cali
fOrnia stage you see as you go over the
along almost within range of the gun
sometimes quite within range of It. 1t
Is worthless. Good game Is hidden and
secluded. Every hunter knows that.
So that many of the souls that would
be of most worth to Christ, and of most
value to the church, are secluded. They
do not come in your way. You will
have to go where they are. Yonder they
are, down in that cellar; yOnder they
are, up in that garret, far away from
the door of any church; the Gospel ar
tract distributor and the city missionary
sometimes just catch glimpse of them
as hunter through the trees gets mo-
mentary sight of a partridge or roe
buck. The trouble is, we are waiting
for the game to come to us. We are not
good hunters. We are standing on
Montague street and SchermeThorn
street, expecting that the timid antel-
0pe will come up and eat cut of hand.
We are expecting that the prairie fowl
Will light on our church steeple. 1t is
not their habit. If the church should
wait ten million years for the world to
come in and be saved, it will wait in
vain. The world will not come. What
the church wants now is to lift its foot
from damask OttOmans and put them in
the stiTrups. The church wants not so
much cushions as it wants saddle-bags
and arrows. We have got to put aside |
the gown and the kid gloves ohd put on |
the hunting shirt. '-. -EEH.--
We wanta pulpit on wheels. We have
been fishing so long in the brooks that |
run under the shadow of the church |
that the fish know US, and they avoid the |
hook and escape as soon as we come to |
the bank, while yOndeF is Upper Sara
nae and Big Tupper's Lake, where the
first swing Of the gospel net would |
break it for the multitude of the fishes.
There is outside work to be done. What
is it | see in the back woods? 1t is a
tent. The hunters have made clear
ing and camped out. What do they care
if they have wet feet or if they have
but pine branch for pillow,
Or for the northeast storm? If moose
in the darkness steps into the lake to
drink they hear it right away. If a
loon cry in the midnight, they hear it.
So in the service of God we have exposed |
work; we have got to camp out and rough |
It; we are putting all our care on the |
10000 people in Brooklyn, who, they
'ay, come to church. What are we do
ng for the five hundred and sixty thOus-
md that do not come? Have they no
ouls? Are they sinless that they need
10 pardon? Are there no dead in their
Iouses that they need no comfort? Are
hey cut off from God to go into eternity
mo wing to bear them, no light to
heeT them, no welcome to greet them?
hear surging up from that lower depth
t Brooklyn gToan that comes through
ur Christian assemblages and through
ur beautiful churches, and it blots out
ii this scene from my eyes tonight as
y the mists Of great Niagara for the
ash and plunge of these great torrents
SV,k, NIn 60 l. |
abyss. | sometimes think
hat just as God blOtted out the churches
f Thyatira and Corinth and LaOdicea
ecause of their slOth and stolidity, He
ill blot out American and English
and raise on the ruins a |
talwart, wide awake missionary Church ,
nat can take the full meaning of that
go ye into all the world and :
reach the Gospel to every creature"
remark further If you want to sue
eed as mighty hunter before the Lord
Ou must have courage. If the hunter
lands with trembling hand, or shoulder
nat hinches with fear, instead of his
iking the catamount, the catamount
axes him. What would become of the
remainder if when out hunting for
ne bear he should stand shivering with
9rror on the icebergp What would have |
ecome of Du Chaillu and Livingstone /
the African thicket with faint heart I
ld faint knee? When a panther
'mes within twenty PAGES of you, and
has its eye on you, and it has squatted
It the fearful spring STEADY, there!1 {
1uTage, oh ye spiritual hunters" y
here are great monsters of iniquity a
'Owling all around about the com Z
unity. Shall we not in the strength +
God go forth and combat them? We
)t only need more heart, but more s
lckbOne. What Is the Church of God 1
at 1t should fear to look in the eye any n n
There is the Ben gal q
ger Of drunkenness that proWIs C
ound; and instead of attacking 1t how s
any of US hide under the church-pew
communion tablet There Is so much
vested in it we are afraid to assault it! =
llltOns OF dollars in barrels, in vats, in >
,igots,. in cOrk-screws, In gin palaces 8
ith marble floors and Italian top tables
Id chased ice-cOoleFs, and in the strych- 81
me and the logwoOd and the tarfaric
I'D and the nux YOmfca that 90 to make
our pure" American drinks. Is
oked with wondering eyes on the :
eidelberg tun. 1t is the great liquor =
It of Germany, which is said to hold .
ght hundred hogsheads of wine, and
lly three times in hundred years it
Is been filled. But as stood and looked