The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-02-07


YOU ilshers Of men. But when is the best
time to tish for souls? In the night. Peter,
why did you say TO Christ. we have toiied
AL the night and have taken notnlAa
Why did you not fish i'll the day time! lie
replies: You ought to know that the night
is the best time for fishing AT Toby
hanna Mills. among the mountains OF IcAn-
syivania, 1 saw friend with hlgn boots
and fishing tackle. starting out at O'Clock
at night, and l said. Mere are you go,
ing lie answered.. Going 10 iis1.
What, in the night?" He answered, Yes.
in the night" So the vast majority of
souls captured for God are taken in times
Of revival i'll the night meetings. 1neE
might just as well come at u O'Clock at
nooa, but most Of them will not. Ask the
evangrlists Of o!den times, ask Finney, ask
Ncttleton, ask Osborn, ask Daniel Baker.
ard then ask all the modern evapGelists
which IS the best time to gather souls, and
they will anSWeY, The night; by all odds,
the night. Not only the natural night,
put the night OF trouble. Suppose | go
around in this audience and ask these
Christians when they were converted to
God :. One would answer ut was at the
time / lost my child by me1nbraneous Group.
and it was the night of bereavement, or
the answer would be. 1T was just after |
was swindlod out Of my property. ard 1T
was the night Of bankruptcy or it would
be. at waS during that time wien l 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 abused,
and it was the night of persecution. All,
my hearers. that is the time for you to go
after souls. when q Night of trouble IS on
them. Miss not that opportunity to save
Il soul, for it is the best of all opportun-
ties. Go up along the Mohawk or the Jul
niata or the Delaware OF the Tombigbce or
the st. Lawrence right after rain. ana
Il, oil nd
the banks Why? Because a 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
der the long dark shadows of Anxiety and
distress. it is a good time to make Spit
itual 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 balt'
answer is Dig for it: ~Where shall l
dig for it," TN the rich Bible grounds.
We boys brought up III the country nad TO
dig 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 tre-
mendous plunge OF our strength OF body
and will, we drove it up to the handle and
then turned over the sod. We had never
read Walton's Complete Angler" or
Charles Cot1on's instructions how to An
gle for Grayling in a Clear Stream" We
knew nothing about the modern redhace, or
the fly of Orange-colored mOhair, but we
got the right kind of bait. No use trying
to angle for fish angle for souls unless
you have the right kind of bait, and there
is plenty of it in the promises. the parallels.
the miracles the crucitixion, 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 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 Ela-
bukkuk and Isaiah and Job and Use hook
and line, or take the hint Of Matthew and
Luke and Christ and fish with Il 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 big scale or they
will not do it at all | see fceble-minded
Christian men going around with q Bagsters
Bible under their arm, hoping to do the
work of an evangelist and use the net
while they might he better content with
hook and line and take one soul at time.
They ;ge bad failure rs evangehstS: they
would be mighty successes as private Christ
ians II you catch only one soul for God
that viii be enough TO I'll Your eternity
with celebration All hail, the fishermen
with hook and line. l have seen Il man in
toughest corduroy outfit come back from
the woods loaded down with string of
tinny treasures hung over his shoulder and
his game bag filed. ana dog with his teeth
carrying a basket filled with the surplus Of
an afternoons angling, and it was all the
result of q hook aud line; and in the eternal
world there will be many a man and many
a woman that was never heard of outside
of Il village Sunday school or Il prayer meet
ing buried in Il church basement, who will
come before the throne of God with a multi
tula of souls ransomed through his or her
instrumelhality and yet the work all done
through personal interviews one by one,
one by one You do not know who that
one soul may be. Staupitz helped one soul
into the light, but it WAS Martin Luther.
Thomas Bilney brought salvation TO one
soul but it was Hugh Latimer. An edge
tool maker was the means of saving one soul,
but il wal John Summerfied. Our blessed
Lord healed one blind eye at a time, one
paralyzed arm at a time, one dropscal pa
tient at a time, and raised from the dead
one girl At a time, one young man at time.
Admire the net that takes in Il great many
at once, but do not despise the hook and
line.
God help us amid the gospel fisheries,
whether we employ hook or net, for tle day
comcth when VIC shall see how much de-
clared THE kingdom of heaven IS like unto
n net that was cast into the sea and gathered
of every kind, which, when it was full, they
drew to the shore. and sat down and gather
cd the good in the vessels, but cast the bad
away: so shall it be at the end OF the world,
the angels shall come forth and separate
the wicked from the just. Yes, the fish
crmcn think it best to keep the useful and
worthless Of the haul in the same net I'M
til if is drawn upon the beach. and then the
division takes place. and if it is on Long
Island coast, the m0ssbunkerS are thrown
ont and the blue fish and shad preserved,
NJ, if it is on the shore of Gali!ee. the fish
classified as suroids are hurled back into
the water or thrown upon the bank as I'M
Glenn. while the perch and carp and the
barbe are put in pals to be carried home
for use So in the church on earth. the
saints and hypocrites the generous and the
mean. the chaste and the uncican, are Kept
in the same membership, but at death the
division Will be made and the good will be
Gathered into heaven and the bad, hoWev-
or many holy communionS they may have
celebrated and however many rhetorical
prayers they may have offered, and how
ever many wears their names may nave
been on the church rolls, will be cast away.
God forbid that any of us should be among
the "cast aWay" But may we do our Work
whether small or great IS thoroughly as
did chat renowned fisherman, George w.
Bethunc who spent bis summer rest aHG-
I,cr i, tho wa top. around '''f1p Thousand