Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-09-11

| gun-sometimes quite within range OF 1t.
| No one cares for that. 1t is harmless. Good
| game is hidden and secluded. Every hun
ter knows that So many of the souls
that would be of most worth for 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 arrow
Has Not Been Pointed AZ Them.
The tract distributor and the city mis-
sionary sometimes just catch q glimpse of
them, as hunter through the trees gets
momentary sight of a partridge or roebuck.
| 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
Schermerhorn street expecting that the
timid antelope will come up and eat out Of
| our hand. We are expecting that the pral.
| rie fowl will light on our church steeple.
| 1t is not their habit IL the Church should
| wait 10, 600 900 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 feet from damask
and ottomans and put them in the stirrups.
The Church wants not 50 much cushions a.
il wants saddle-bags and arrows. We have
got to put aside the gown and the kid gloves
and put on the hunting shirt
We want pulpit on wheels. We have
been fishing 80 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 rs We come to the bank,
while yonder is Upper Saranac aud Big
Supper's Lake. where the first swing OF the
Gospel net would break il for the multitude
of fishes. There is outside work 10 be done
What is it that see in the backwoods? 1t
is q tent. The hunters
Have Made CleaFinEs
and camped out What do they care IL
they have wet feet or if they have nothing
but pine bench for a.pillow, or for the
northeast storm? II a moose in the dark
ness steps into the lake TO drink they hear
it right away. If loon cry in the mid.
night, they hear it. So in the service Of
God We have exposed work; We have got 10
camp out and rough il. We are putting all
our care on the 10000 people in Brooklyn,
who, they say, come to church. What are
we doing for the $50, 900 that do not come?
Have they no souls? Are they sinless that
they need no pardon? Are there no dead
in their houses that they need no comfort
Are they cut oil from God, TO go into eter-
nity-no wing TO bear them, no light to
cheer them. no welcome for them? | hear
surging up IRON that lower depth Of Brook.
lyn groan that comes through our Chris
tian assemblagcs and through our beautiful
churches; and il bOts out all this scene
from my eyes tonight as
by the Mists ora Great Niagara.
for the dash and the plunge of these great
torrents of life dropping into the fathomless
and laundering abyss. sometimes think
that Just as God blottcd out the churches
of Thyatira and Corinth and Laodicea be-
cause Of their sloth and stolidity, he will
blot out American and English Christiani-
| ty and raise on the ruins q stalwart, wide
awake, missionary church that can take
| the full meaning OF that command, go ye
| into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature.
remark further, il you want to succeed
as mighty hunter before the Lord you
| must have courage. II the hunter stands
with trembling hand, or shoulder that
| fincheS with fear, instead of his taking the
| catamount, the catamount takes him.
What would become OF the Greenlander, IL
when out hunting for the bear he should
stand shvering with terror OH an iceberg?
What would have become Of Du Chaillu
and Livingstone in the African hicket,
with
Faint Heart and a Faint Knee?
When panther comes within twenty
PAGES OF you and ii has its eye on you, and
II has squatted for the fearful spring;
STEADY there! Courage, o ye spiritual
hunters" There are great monsters OF in.
iquity prowlng all around about the COM
munity. Shall we not in the strength OF
God 20 forth and combat them2 We not
only need more heart, but more backbone.
What is the church OF God that it should
fear TO look in the eye any transgression?
There is the Bengal tiger OF drunkenness
that prowls around; and instead Of attack
ing il how many Of us hide under the
church pew or the Communion table? There |
As so much invested in IL we are afraid to |
assault il. Millions Of dollars In barrels, |
in watts, in spigots, in corkscrews in gin |
palaces with marble floors and Italian top
tables and chased ice coolers, and inithc |
strychnine, and the logwood and the tar |
taric acid and the nux yomica that 80 to |
make up our
/ looked with wondering eyes OH the |
Heidelberg tun. II is the grcat liquor vat |
OF Germany. which is said to hold 800 |
hegshead of vine and only three times 10 |
a hundred years it has been, hned. Bat as |
/ stood and looked at u ] said 70 pyself |
'"That is notbing-sW hogsheads. why
strong drinks, and we keep 10000 men |
with nothing 10 do but 20 gee that il is
filled" oh. to attack this great monster Of
intemperance and the kindred monsters OF |
fraud and uncleanness, requires you to
rally all your Christian courage: Through
the press, through the pulpit through the
platform, you must assault il. Would 70
God that all our American Christians would
band together, not for crack-brained fanat-
icism, but for holy Christian reform.
] remark again, II youwant to be success
full in spiritual hunting you need not only
10 bring down the game
hut Bring 10 I'm.
think one OF the most beautiful pictures
of Thorn waIdsen is his Autumn" Ii rep 1
resents sportsman coming home and stand. |
ing under grape vine. He has staff over
his shoulder and on the other end OF that
staff are hung a rabbit and brace OF birds.
Every hunter brings home the game. No .
ole would think Of bringing down q rein:
deer or whipping up stream Tor trout and
letting them lie in the woods At even
tide the camp is adorned with the treasures
Of the forest-beak and fin and antler. IL
Won go out TO hunt for immortal souls. not
only bring them down under the arrow OF
the Gospel. but bring them into the Church /
Of God the grand home and encampment /
we have pitched this side OF the skies. I
Fetch them in; do not let them be out In !
the open field. They need our prayers and
sympathetic help. That Is the meaning Of s
the Church Of God-help. o. ye hunters
for the Lord, not only bring down the I
game, bat bring 10 in. If Hifhfidstes liked /
bunting so well that for seven years be |
ueyer went indoors, what enthusiasm ought
We 70 have who are &
Hunting for Immortal seaisi
II Domithan preached archery until he
could stand boy down in the Roman am
phitheatre with hand out and the fingers /
apart, and then the ksg could shoot m ar |
row between the fingers without wounding
them, 10 what drill snd what practice ought |
not we 10 subject ourselves In order 10 be- |
come mighty hunters before the Lord! |
But let me say you will never work any |
better than you pray. The old Grebers /
took the bow. put one end Of IL down be. |
side the foot, elevated che other end, and |
il was the rule that the bow should be Just |
the size Of the archer; IL il sere just his |
size then he would 60 into the battle with |
confidence. Let me say that your poser
TO project good in the world will correspond |
exactly 10 your osn spiritual statue. In |
other words the first thing in preparation |
for Christian work 10 personal consecrar
ton.
aOb, for O closer walk with God, /
a calm and heavenly frame, L
A light 70 shine upsn the road
That leads me 70 the Lamb"