The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-02-10

The extinct ichthyosaurus of Other
sges was 80 feet long, and as late MS the
sixth century of the Christian era up and
down the Mediterranean there fioated
monsters compared with which mod
eni whale was q sardine or u herring,
The shark has again and again been
found to have swallowed man entire,
A fisherman ON the coast of Turkey
found sea monster which contained
woman and a purse of gold, | have
seen in museums sea monsters large
enough TO take down prophet,
But have better reason for believ-
ing the Old Testament account, and that
is that Christ said it was true and type
Of his own resurrection, and suppose
he ought to know. In Matthew xii, 40,
Jesus Christ says, "For as Jonas was
three days and three nights In the
whales belly, SO shall the Son of Man
be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth" And that settles 1t
for me and for any man who does moi
believe Christ dupe and an impostor
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 TO prophesy prosperity, ut
shall come to pass that the fishers shall
stand upon it from En-gedi even to En-
eglaim; they shall be place to spread
f,,th t,ote, fhait. Hs, @ ,nl1 ha
ing to their kinds, as the fish Of the
great sea, exceeding many" the expla
nation of which is that Engedi and
En-eglaim 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, 1.-THE day shall
come upon you when he will take you
away with hooks and your posterity
with fshhooks.' Solomon, in Ecclesi-
astes, 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.
THE ANCIENT FISHERMEN.
Furthermore, in order that you may
understand 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 govern
ment forbade that ON Lake Galilee, lest
pleasure boats be wrecked by the stakes
driven. Another mode was by spearing,
the waters of Galilee so clear good ain
could be taken for the transfxing. An
other was by hook and line, as where
Isaiah says, 1.-THE fishers also shall
mourn, and they that cast angle into the
brooks shall lament" And job Says,
"Canst thou draw out leviathan with a
hook?" And Habakkuk says, "They take
up all Of them with the angle"
Another mode was by a casting net o.
that which was flung from the shore;
another, by dragnet or that which
was thrown from a boat and drawn
through the sea as the fishing smack
sailed on lew wonderful all this is in
wrought 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 i
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 to Christ,
1--WE have toiled all the night and have
taken nofhins?" Why did you not fish
In the daytime? He replies, you ought
to know that the night is the best time
for fishing"
AT To1yhanna Mills, among the
mountains of Pennsylvania, l saw Il
friend with high boots and fishing tackle
starting out at 0 o'clock at night, and
said, Where are you going?" He
answered. Going to, fish. What, in
tho night" He answered, Eyes, in tie
nigh. So the vast majority of souls
captured for God are taken i'll times Of
revival in the night meetings. They
might just az well come at 10 O'Clock at
noon. but most of them will not. ASK
| the evangelists of olden times, ash
| Finney; ask Nettleton, ask Osborn, asi;
Daniel Baker. and then ask all TIE
modern evangelists which is the best
time to gather souls, and they wil
answer. THE night; by all odds, TIE
| night" .fot only the natural night, but
the night Of trouble.
SuTylsa 80 around in this audience
| and d ( .tt:eae Christians when they Hlrc
| converted to God. One would answer,
1T was at Tic time lost my child Y
| membganous Group, and it was tie
night of bereavement" or the answer
would be, 1T was Just after was swim
died out Of my property, and it was the
night of bankruptcy OF ii would be, ut
was during that time when was down
with that a; ful sickness, and it was Tie
night of physical suffering" OF it would
| be. at was that time when SANDER took
liter NE, and was maligned and abused,
| and it was the night Of persecution
| All, my hearers, that is tie time for you
| to go after souls, when night of troU-
lie Is on them. Miss not that opport,t-
| nifty to save soul, for it is the best of all
opportunities.
Go up along the Mohawk, or the
| Juniata, or the Delaware, OR the Tombig-
bee, or the st. Lawrence right after "a
rain, and You will find the fishermen all
up and down the banks. Why? Be
cause d good time to angle is right after
the rain, and that is good time to catch
souls, right after a shower of misfortune,
right after foods of disaster. And as a
POOL overshadowed with trees is grand
place for making fine haul of fish, So
when the soul is under the long dark
shadows of anxiety and distress it is a
good time to make spiritual hanl.
People in the bright sunshine of pros
perity are not so easily taken.
TIE BEST FISHERS OF MEN.
But be sure before you start ont to the
gospel fisheries to get the right kind OF
bait. but how" you say, cam to get
it.' My answer is, dig for it." Where
shall l dig for it," I'm the rich Bible
grounds" We boys brought up in the
country had to dig for bait before we