The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-02-08

which Is that En-gedi and En-egIafm stood
on the banks of the Dead sea, in the waters
of which no fish can live, but the prophet
says that the time will come when these
waters will be regenerated and they will be
great places for fish.
Amos reproves idolatries by saying, 'The
day shall come upon you when he will take
you away with hooks and your posterity
with fishhooks." Solomon, in Ecclesiastes,
declares that those captured of temptation
are as fishes taken in an evil net. Indeed
Solomon knew all about the finny tribe and
wrote treatise on ichthyology which has
been lost.
HOW ST. PETER FIsHED.
Furthermore, in order that you may I'M
derstand the ichthyology of the Bible you
must know that there were five ways of
fishing. One was by a fence of reeds and
canes, within which the fish were caught.
But the Herodic government forbade that
on Lake Galilee, lest pleasure boats he
wrecked by the stakes driven. Another
mode was by spearing-the waters Of Gall
lee so clear, good aim could be taken for
the transfxing. Another was by hook and
line, as where Isaiah says, 1.-THE fishers also
shall mourn, and they that cast angle
into the brook shall lament" And Job says,
"Canst thou draw ont leviathan with
NUN. Anu IapuAhAAh say - 1hCg AethN
up all of them with the angle"
Another mode was by "A casting net or
that which was flung from the shore; an
other, by a dragnet or that which was
thrown from O boat and drawn through the
sea as the fishing smack sailed on. HO.'
wonderful all this is inwrought into the
Bible imagery, and it leads me TO ask IN
which mode are you and fishing, for the
church is the boat, and the gospel is the net,
and the sea is the world, and the fish are
the souls, and God addresses US as he did
Simon and Andrew, saying, Follow me,
and 1 will make you fishes of men" But
when is the best time TO fish for souls? In
the night. Peter, why did you say to Christ,
1--WE have toiled all the night and have
taken nothingi" Why did you not fish in
the daytimes He replies, you ought to
know that the night is the best time for
fishing"
At Tobyhanna Mills, among the noun
tains of Pennsylvania, l saw friend with
high boots and fishing tackle starting out
at O'Clock at night, and / said, "Where are
you going?" He answered, Going To fish
"What, in the nighti" He answered, Yes,
IN the night" So the vast majority Of
souls captured for God are taken in times
of revival in the night meetings. They
ullkub just ~ well toliit db - " Nibth OF
noon, but most of them will not. Ask the
eyangelists of Olden times, ask Finney, ask
Nettleton, ask Osborn, ask Daniel Baker,
and then ask all the modern evangeli4ts
which is the best time to gather souls and
they will answer, THE night; by all odds,
the night" Not only the natural night,
but the night Of trouble
Suppose | 20 around in this audience and
ask these Christians when they were COLI
verted TO God. One would answer, 1T was
at the time lost my child by membranous
Group. and it was the night of bereave-
ment" or the answer would be, 1T was
Just after was swindled out of my prop
erty, and it was the night of bankruptcy"
or it would be, 1T was during that time
when was down with that awful sickness,
and it was the night Of physical suffering
or it would be, 1T was that time when
Islander took after me, and l was maligno1
and abused. and it was the night of p,
cution." All my hearers, that is the time
for you to go after souls, when a night Of
trouble is on them. Miss not that oppOr-
tunity TO save a soul, for it is the best of all
opportunities
Go up along the Mohawk, or the Juniata,
OF the Delaware, or the Tombigbee or the
st. Lawrence right after a rain, and you
viii find the fishermen all up and down the
banks. Why' Because good time to
angle is right after the rain, and that is a
good time to catch souls, right after a
shower of misfortune, right after floods Of
disaster. And as a pool overshadowed
with trees is a grand place for making a fire
haul of fish, 50 when the soul is under the
long dark shadows of anxiety and distress
it is good time to make a spiritual haul.
People in the bright sunshine of prosperity
are not so easily taken.
RICHES or THE BIBLE.
But be sure before you start out TO the
gospel fisheries to get the right kind of
bait. But how" you say, "am to get
it," Ny answer Is, dig for it." where
shall ! dig for it?" In the rich Bible
grounds" We boys brought up in the
country hsi todig for bait before we started
for the banks of the Raritan. We put the
sharp edge Of the spade against the ground
and then put our foot on the spade, and
with one tremendous plunge of our strength
Of body and will we drove it in up to the
handle and then turned over the sod.
We had never read Walton's Complete
Angler or Charles Cotton's instructions
How TO Angle For Grayling In Clear
Stream We knew nothing about the
modern red hackle or the fly of orange
colored mohair, but we got the right kind
of bait. No use trying 10 angle for fish OF
angle for souls unless You have the right
kind of bait. and there is plenty of 1t in the
promises, the parallels the miracles, the
crucifiXiOn, the heaven OF the grand old
gospel. Yes not only must you dig for
bait, but use only fresh bait. You cannot
do anything down at the pond with old an
glewOrms. New views OF truth. New
views Of God New views of the soul
There are al the good bOoks IN holm Won
dig
But make up your mind IS to whether
you will take the hint of Habukkuk and
Isaiah and job and use nook and line or
take the hint Of Matthew and Luke and
Christ and T. b with a net. j think many
lose their time by wanting TO FISH with =
net, and they never get n place TO swing rns
net In other words, they want TO do gos-
pei work on a big scale, or they viii not do
it at all
L see feeble minded Christian men going
around with a Bagsters Bible under their
arm, hoping to do the work of an evan
gelist and use the net, while they might be
better content with hook and line and take
one soul at time. They are bad failures
as evangelists; they would be mighty svc-
cesses as private Christians. If YOU catch
only one soul for God, that will be enough
20 fill YOUR eternity with celebration. All
hail the fisherman with hook and line!
/ have seen a man in toughest corduroy
outfit come back from the woods loaded
down with a string Of finny treasures hung
over his shoulder, and his gamebag filed
and "A dog with his teeth carrying basket
filled with the surplus of an afternoons
angling, and It was all the result Of q hook
and line. And in the eternal world there