Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1893-02-15

rdncdus lnerc were monsters ln1t are
now extinct The fools who beck me
infidels because they can not under
stand the engulfment of the recreant
Jonah in n sea monster, might have
saved their souls by studying little
natural history. "Oh," says some one.
that story of Jonah was. only fable"
Says others: 1T was interpolated by
some writer of later times" Others
say: 1T was a reproduction of the story
of Hercules devoured and then restored
from the monster" But my reply is
that history tells us that there were
monitors large enough to whelm ships
The extinct ichthyossurus of other
ages was thirty feet long, and as late
as the sixth century of the Christian
era, up and down the Mediterranean,
shere hoated monsters compared with
which a modern whale was a sardine or
herring The shark has again and
agafe been found to swallow q man en-
tire. 4 fisherman on the coast of Tur.
key fCond a sea-monster which con-
tanned woman and a purse of gold 1
have secn in museums ssa-monsters
large enough TO take down a prophet
But have q better reason for believing
the Old Testament account, and that is
that Christ said il was true, and type
of His own resurrection, and l suppose
He ought 10 know. II Matthew xii,
40, Jesus Christ says, For as JonaS
was three days and three nights in the
whales belly. so shall the Sol of Man
be three days and three nigh is In the
heart of the earth" And that settles
ii for me and for any man who does
not believe Christ n dupe and an inn
poster.
Notice also how the Old Testament
writers drew similitude from the fish
cries. jeremiah uses such imagery TO
prophesy destruction: Behold, / will
send for many fishers, saith the Lord.
and they shall fish them" Ezekiel
uses fish imagery 20 prophesy: cit shall
come TO pass that the fishers shall stand
upon it from En-gedi even to En-
eglaim; they shall be place to
spread forth nets; their iish shall
be according 10 their kinds, as the
fish of the great sea, exceeding many"
The explanation of which is that
En-gedi and En-egiaim 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
they will be great places for fish. Amos
reprovss idolatries by saying: 1.-THE
day shall come upon YOU when he wili
take you away with hooks and your
posterity with fish hooks" Solomon.
in Ecclesiasticus, declares that those
captured of temptation are as fishes
taken in an evil net. Indeed Solomon
knew all about the finny tribe and
wrote a treatise on ichthyology which
has been lost
Furthermore, in order that you may
understand the ichthyology of the Bi.
BILE, you must know that there were
five ways of fishing. One was by o
fence of reeds and canes, within which
the fish were caught. Herodic govern
ment forbade that on Lake Galilee, lest
pleasure boats be wrecked by the stakes
driven.
Another mode was by spearing; thu
waters of Galilee, so clear, good aim
could be taken for the transfxing. An
other was by hook and line, as where
Isaiah says: THE fishers also shall
mourn, and they that cast angle into
the brooks shall lament" And Job
says: "Canst thou draw out leviathan
with hook?" And HabaklSuk saws.
They take up all of them with the
angle" Another mode was by castinS
net or that which was flung from the
shore. Another by drag net or that
which was thrown from boat and
drawn through the sea as the
fishing smack sailed on. How
wonderful all this is inwrought
into the Bible imagery, and il
leads me % ask in which mode are Won
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 will make you fishers of men"
But when is the best time TO fish for
souls? In the night Peter why did
you say 10 Christ, eve have toiled all
night and taken nothing2" Why did
you not fish in the daytime? He re-
plies; You ought to know that the
night is the best time for fshinR?" At
Iobyhanna Mills, among the noun.
tains of pennsylvania, saw
friend with high boots and fishing
tackle, starting out at o'clock at night.
and 1 said, Where are you Roing?"
lie answered. "Going to fish" ''WhaA
In the night?" He answered. eyes.
in the night" So the vast majority of
souls captured for God are taken in
times of revival in the night meetings.
They might just as well come at -
o'clock noon, but most OF them will
not Ask the evangelists of oldep
times ask Finney, ask Nettleton, ask
osborn, ask Daniel Baker, and then
ask all the modem evangelists which in
the best time TO gather souls, and they
will answer. "The night. bv ali
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 converted &c
Tod One would answer ut was the
Time lost my child by membraneous
'roup, and 1t was the night of bereave.
nent," or the answer would be. eft vya,
was just after / was swindled out ofmv
property, and IL was the night Of bank
'uptcy,' or IL would be, ct was during
nat time when / was down with tbas
awful sickness, and II was the night a
physical suffering" or IL would be. "li
vas that time when Islander took after
ne and / was abused, and Il was the
light of persecution" All, my hearers
hat Is the time for you to 20 afte5
.ouls' when a night Of trouble Is on
hem.