The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-02-08


swer would be, ut was just after
/ was swindled out OF my prop
erty, and 1t was the night of bank
ruptcy,' or it would be, cit was during
that time when / was down with that
awful sickness, and II was the night Of
physical suffering" or 1t would be, lit
was that time when slander took after
me and was maligned and abused, and
1t was the night Of persecution" Ah,
my hearers, that is the time for you to
go after souls, when a night Of trouble
is on them. Miss not that opportunity
to save a soul, for 1t Is the best Of all
opportunities. Go up along the Mo
hawk or the Juniata or the Delaware
or the Tombigbee or the st. Lawrence
right after a rain and you will find the
fishermen all up and down tho banks.
Why? Because good time to angle ia
right after the rain, and that is q good
time to catch souls, right after a shower
of misfortune, right after floods OF dis.
aster And as pool oversh allowed
with trees is grand place for making
fine haul of fish, SO when the soul is
under the long dark shadows of an xiety
and distress, IL is good time to make a
spiritual haul People In the bright
sunshine Of prosperity are not SO easily
taken.
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?" My answer is, dig
for it." "Where shall l dig for itP" ''ln
the rich Bible grounds" We boys
brought up in the country had to dig
for the 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-haclxle, or the fly Of orange-colored
mohair, but we got the right kind OF
bait. No use trying to angle for fish or
right kind of bait, and there Is plenty
of it in the promises, the parallels,
the miracles, the crucihxion, the
Heaven of the grand old gospel. Yes,
not only must you dig for bait, but use
only fresh bait You cannot do any
thing down at the pond with old angle
worms New views Of truth. New
views Of God. New views Of the soul.
There are all the good books TO help
you dig. But make up your mind as TO
whether you will take the hint Of
HabaklSuk and Isaiah and Job and use
hook and line, or take the hint OF Mat
thew and Luke and Christ and fish with
a net. think many lose their time by
wanting to fish with net and they
never get place TO swing the net; in
other words they want to do gospel
work on n big scale or they will not do
II at all. l see feeble-minded Christian
men going around with a Bagster's
Bible under their arm, hoping to do the
work of an evangelist and use the net,
while. they might be better content
with hook and line and take one soul
at a time. They are bad failures as
evangelists; they would be mighty sue.
cesses as private Christians. II you
catch only one soul for God that will
be enough to fill your eternity with
celebration. All hail.. the fishermen
with hook and linel have seen q man
In toughest corduroy outfit come
back from the woods loaded down
with string OF finny treasures
hung over his shoulder and his game
bag filed, and a dog with his teeth
carrying basket filled with the surplus
OF an afternoons angling, and 1t was
all the result Of a hook and line; and In
the Eternal World there will be many
o man and many q woman that was
never heard OF outside Of village SIN.
day-school or a prayer meeting buried
in church basement who will come
before the throne of God with multi.
tude Of souls ransomed through his oi
her instrumentality, and yet the work
all done through personal interview,
one by one, one by one. You do moi
know who that one soul may be. Stau
pitt helped one soul into the light, but
II was Martin Luther. Thomas Bilney
brought salvation TO one soul, but II
was Hugh Latimer. An edge-tool maker
was the means Of saving one soul, but
IL was John Summerfeld Our blessed
Lord healed one blind eye at time
one paralyzed arm at time, one drop
sical patient at time, and raised from
the dead one girl at a time, one young
man at time. Admire the net thai
takes In great many at once, but dc
not despise the hook and line.
God help us amid the gospel fisheries
whether we employ hook or net, for the
day cometh when we shall see how
much depended on our fidelity. Christ
himself declared, "The kingdom o.
Heaven is like unto net that was cast
into the sea and gathered of every kind
which, when It was full, they drew to
shore, and sat down and gathered the
good in the vessels, but cast the bad
away; so shall 1t be at the end Of the
world, the angels shall come forth ant
separate the wicked from the just
Yes, the fishermen think II best TO keel
the useful and worthless OF the haul II
the same net until II is drawn upor
the beach, and then the division takei
place, and II It Is on Long IslanC
coast, the moss-bunkers are thrown
out and the bluefsh and shad pre-
served, or II IL is on the shores OF Gall
| lee the fish classified as siluroids ar'
hurled back into the water, or thrown
up the bank as unclean, while the perch
and the carp and the barbel are put in
pals to be carried home for use so in
the church on earth. the saints aud the
hypocrites, the generous and the mean
the chaste and the unclean, are kept In
the same mem bership, but Mt death th,
division will be made and the good will
be gathered into Heaven and the bad
however many holy commissions they
may have celebrated, and however
many rhetorical prayers they may hav,
offered, and however many years theil
| nnmea NAV haYe been ON the church