Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-02-11
yer. in those country districts Of necessity


phorus-phosphorus, that which shines in
sne dark without burning
What made the twelve apostles such stall
| wart men that they could eudure anything
and achieve everything? Next to divine in
splratlon. it was because they were nearly
all fishermen and lived on fish and . few
plain condiments. Paul thou IN not brought
up to swing the net and throw the line, mus
| OF necessity have adopted the diet of the
! population among whom he lived, and you
4 see the phosphorus in his daring plea before
Felix, AMI the phosphorus in his boidest of
all uttsrances before the wisacrss on Mars
Hill, AMI the phosphorus as he went without
fright to his beheading and the phosphorus
/ you see in the lives o: all the apostles who
moved right on undau1ted to certain martyr.
dom. whether to be decapitated or fung of
precipices or hung in crucifxion.
Phosphorus shinin in the dark without
4 burning. No man or woman that ever lived
was independent of gu sstions of diet. Let
| THOSE who by circumstances are compelled
to simplicity OF diet thank God for their res
| cue from the temptation OF killing deiica-
/ cies. The men and women who are to de-
/ eide tae drift of the Twentieth Century,
which is only ssven or eight steps of, are
/ now five miles back from the rail station
| and ha for breakfast this IN orning a similar
! bill of fare to that which Christ provided for
| the fishermen disciples on the banks of Like
Galilee.
In iced thu only articles OF fool tla5
Christ by miracle multiplied vera brsa an
| fish which the boy who acted as sutier to the
1000 persons of thu wi!dsrness handsi ovsr
five barley loaves AMI two fishes. Tbs
boy must have felt ally wien caiei on to
give up tas two fishes waich hs had brought
out after having caught them himself, sit
ting with his bare fest over the bank of the
lake AMI expecting to sell his supply al gooi
profit, but he felt better wneu by the mira
Gle the fish were multiplied aad he b d mora
returned to him than he had surren ierai
Know also in order to understand the
ichthyology ofthe Bible that in the dscpsr
waters. as those of the Mediterranean, thsre
were monsters that are now extinct. TIE
fools who become int lels because they can
not understand the ingulfmsnt OF the recre-
ant Jonah in sea monster might have
saved their souls by studying little natural
history. On says some one s"that story
OF Jonah was only fable" Say othsrs:
lit was interpolatei By some writer of later
times" Others say: 1T was repro iuc-
tion OF the story OF Hercules devourei an1
then resGor ed from the monster" But my
reply is that history tells US that there wers
monsters large enough to whelm saips.
The extinct ichthyosaurus Of other ages
was thirty feet long, and as late as the Sixth
Century of the Christian era up and down
the Mediterranean there foated monsters
compared with which motern whale was
sardine or herring. The shark has again
and again been found to swallow a man en-
tire. A fisherman on the coast OF Turkey
found a sea monster which contained a wo-
man and purse of gold. l have seen in
museums sea monsters large enough to taxa
dowa prophet.
But have a better reason for believing
the Old testament account and that is that
Christ said it was true an a typs OF His
own resurrection, AMI | suppose Hs ought
to know. In Matthew xii, 40, Jesus Christ
says, "For as Jonas was three days and
three nights in the whales bslly, so shalt
tue Son OF Man be three days ani three
nights IN the heart OF the earth" And that
settles it for me AMI for any man who doss
not believe Christ duDe and an imposter.
Notice also how the Old Testam ant writer's
drew similitude fro the fisheries. Jere Mai
uses suca imagery to propaesy destruction,
behold, l will SEMI for many fishers, saith
the Lord, AMI they shall fish them" Ezekiel
uses fish imagery TO prophesy prosperity,
sit shall coma to pass that tbs fishers shall
stand upon it from Eugeli even to Eney-
lain; there shall be place to spread forth
nets; their fish shall be accor ling to their
kinds as the fish of the great sea, exceeding
many" the explanation Of which is that
Eugedi and Eneglaim 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 wnen these waters will
be regenerated, and they will be great places
for fish. Amos reproves idolatries by say
ing. The day shall come upon you when
he will take you away with hooks an your
posterity with fshhooks." Solomon, i'll
EcclesiasteS, declares that those captured of
temptation are as fishes taken III an evil
net. Indeed Solomon knew all about the
inny tribe and wrote r treatise on icathy.
ology which has been lost
Furthermore, in order that you may uu-
aerstand the ichthyology of the Bible, you
must know taat there were five ways OF
fishing. One was by fence OF reeds and
cane, within which the fish were caught
But the Herodic government forbade that Oh
Lake Cables, less pleasure boats be wrecked
by thu stakes driven. Another mode was by
spearing, the waters of Galilee SO clear goo3
aim could be taken for the trans6xing. An
other was by hook and line, as where Isaiah
says, The fishers also shall mourn, and
they that cast angle into the brooks shat
lament" And Job says, "Canst thou draw
cut leviathan with hookw And Habak
kuk says, They take up all OF them wite
the angie"
Another mode was by casting net o.
that which was flung from the shore, an
other. by dragnet or that which wa
thrown from ho1t and drawn throu IN tas
sea as the fishing smack sailed on. How
wonderful ell this is inwrought into the
Bib'e imagery AMI it leads me to ask in which
mole are you ami fishing, for the church
is the boat and the gospel is the net, and
the sea is the world, AMI tho fish are the
souls, and God addresses us as He did Simon
and Andrew, sayiny, "Follow Me. AMI
viii make you fishers Of men" But when is
the best time to fish for sous? In the night.
Peter, why did you say to Christ, Ave
have toiled all the night and have taken
nothing" Why din YOU not fish in the day
timer He replies, "You ought to know that
the night is the best time for fishing"
At Tohyhanna Mills among the noun.
tains OF Pennsylvania, saw friend with
high boots an ifs hing t4c';le starting out
at 9 o'clock at night. and sail. 'Whers ara
you goingp He answered, "Going to fish,
What, in the nightr He answered. "Yes,
in the night So the vast majority OF souls
captured for God are taken in times of re.
vival in the night meetings. They might
Just as we'll come at IL O'Clock at noon, bue
most of them will not Ask the eviugelists
Of olden times, ask Finuey, ask Nettleton,
ask Osborn. ask D lniel Baker. AMI then ask
all the modern evanyslists which ia the bsst
time to gather souls aal they will answer.
"rhe night; BY ~ odds, the night Not
only the natucl' at. but the night OF
trouble.
Suppose | go around in this audience and
ask these Christians when they were convert
ed to God. One would answer, 81 was at the
time lost my child by membranous Group,
and it was the night of bereavement or
the answer would be, at was just after
was swindlsd out of my property, and it was
the night OF bankruptcy or it would ba,
ut was during that tina when | was down
with that awful sickness, and it was the night
OF physical suffering" or it would be, 1T
was that time when SANDER took after me.
and was maligned and abu se1, and it was
the night of persecution" All. nv hearers,
that is the time for YOU to go after souls,
when night of trouble is on them. Miss
not that opportunity to save soul, for it is
the best of all opportunities.
Go up along the Mohawk, or the Juniata,
or the Delaware, or the Tombigbee. or the
st. Lawrence right after a raio, and you
viii find the fisherman all up and down the
lakess Why! Because good time to angle
is right after the rain, AMI that is good
time TO catch souls, right after a shower OF
misfortune right after foods of disaster.
And as pool oyershadowe1 with trees is q
grand place for making fine haul of fish,
so when the soul is IN Ter 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 50
easily taken.
But be sure before you start out to tae
gospel fisheries to get the right kind OF bait
"But how" you say, lam to get it?' Ny
answer is, "Dig for it." Where shall /
dig for ity'' ain the ricl Bible grounds"
We boys brought up in the country bad to
dig for bait before we started for this banss
of the Raritan We put the sharp edge OF
the spade against the ground and then put
fra ID Nd yri+b fra