Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-02-17
Y. B. BISHOP, Island Pond, "

| Bible imagery AMI IL leads me TO ask in which
mole are you and fishing, for the church
is the boat and the gospel is tho net, aud
the sea is the world, AMI the fish ara the
souls, and God addresses Us as He did Simon
and Andrew, saying, "Follow Me, and
will make you fishers OF men" But whenis
the best time to fish for souls' In the night.
Peter. why did you say to Christ, ave
have toiled all the night and have taken
nothingT Why did you not fish in the day
timeI He replies, "You ought to know thai
the night is the best time for fishing"
At Tobyhanna Mills. among ths noun
tains of Pennsylvania, saw friend with
high boots aud lis liny tlc'ils starting out
at 8 o'clock at night and said, "Whers ara
you goingY He answered, "Gony to fish,
| "W hat, in the nightw Heanswerai. "Yes
in the night" So the vast majority Of souls
captured for Col are taken in times of re.
vival in the night meetings. They might
| just as we'll come at II o'clock at noon, but
most of them will not Ask the evan yeists
OF olden times, ask Finney, ask Nettleton,
ask Osborn. ask Daniel Btksr. and then ask
all the modern evangelists which ls the best
time to gather souls, aud they will answer,
"rhe night; by all o1is, the night Not
only the natural night, but the night of
trouble.
Suppose | go aroun in this audience aud
ask these Christians when they were convert.
ell TO God. Ons would answer. 81 was at the
time lost my chiId by membranous Group,
and it was the night Of bereavem .nt," or
the answer would b4 at was Just after |
was swindei out OF my property. and it was
the night of baukrupicT,' or it would be,
at was during that tlms when | was down
with that awful Sickness and 1t was the night
of physical suffering" or it would be, 1T
was that time when sander took after me.
aud was maligne1 and abu 'si AMI it was
Al ,-t.N
tnat is ths tims for you to 60 after souls,
when night OF trouble is on them. Miss
not that opportunity to savs soul, for it is
tls best of all opportunities.
Go up along the Mohawk, or the Juniats,
or the Delaware, or the Tonbigbss or the
st. Lawrence right after . rain, and you
will find the fisherman all up aud down the
lakes, Whyl Because a good time to angle
is right after the rain, ant that is good
time to catch souls, right after a shower of
misfortune, right after floods of disaster.
And as pool overshadowei with trees is a
grand place for making a fine haul Of fish,
so when the soul is un Ter the long dark
shadows OF anxiety and distress it is good
tins to make 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 kin OF bait.
"But how, You say, "am to get ltY My
answer is, dig for it." "Where shall |
dig for itg' "In the rcl Bible grounds"
We boys brought up in the country had to
dig for bait before we started for the banks
of the Raritau. We put the sharp edge OF
the spa1e against the ground and then put
our foot on tue spade, aud with one tremeu-
dous plunge OF our strength OF body and
will we drove it IN up to the handle and then
turned over the sol.
We had never read Watons "Complete
Angler" or Charles Cotton's INSTRUCTIONS
How to Angle for Crawling in a Clear
Stream We knew nothing about the mod
ern red hacltle or the fly of orange colore1
mohair, but we 60. the right kind of bait.
No use trying to angle for fish or angle for
souls unless yon have the right kind of bait,
and thsrs is plenty ot it in the promises the
parallels, the miracles, the crucifixion, the
heaven OF the grand old gospel.
Yes not only must you dig for bait, but
use only fresh b1it. 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 Habukkuk and Isaiah and
Job and use hook and line or take the hint
of Matthew and Luke and Christ and fish
with a net.
| think many lose their time by wanting
to fish with net and they never get piacs
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 feeble minded Chris
tian men going around with Bsgster's
Bible under their arm, hoping to do the work
OF au evangelist and use the net, while they
might be better content with hook and line
and take one soul at time. They are bad
failures as evangelists They would be
mighty successes as private Christians. IL
you catch only one soul for God, that will be
enough to fill your eternity with celebration.
All hail the fisherman with hook and linel
[ have seen a man in toughest corduroy
outfit come back from the woods loaded
down with a string OF finny treasures hung
over his shoulder aud his gamebag filed,
and dog with his teeth carrying the basket
fiel with the surplus of an afternoons
angling and it was all the result OF u hook
aud line, and in the eternal world there will
be many maa and many a woman that
was never heard OF outside of village Sun
day-school or a prayer nesting buriei in
church basement who will come before the
throne OF Goi with multitude of souls
ransomed through his or her instru-
mentality, and yet the work all done
through personal interview, one by one,
one by one.
You do not know who that one soul may
be. Staupitz helped one soul into the light,
but 1t was Martin Luther. Thomas Bilney
brought salvation to ons soul, but it was
Hugh Latimer. An edge tool maker was
the means OF saving one soul, but it was
John Summerheld. Our blessed Lord healed
one blind eye at time, one paralyZed arm
at time, one dropscsl patient at time,
and raised from the dead one girl at time
one Young man at tiIu.. Admire the net
that takes in great many at oncs, but do
not despiss the hook and line.
God help us amid the gospel fisheries
whether we employ hook or net, for the day
cometh wnen we shall see how much de-
pended on our fidelity. Christ Himself de-
clarel: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto
a net that was cast into the sea and gathered
of every kin J, 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 it be at the end of the
world-the angels shall come forth and
separate the wicked from the just"
Yes, the fishermen think 1T best to keep
the useful aud worthless Of the haul In the
same net until it is drawn upon this beach,
and then the division takes place, and IL tits
on Long Island coast the mossDankers are
thrown out and the blue6sh an shad pre-
served, or if it is on tue shore OF Galilee the
fish classified as siluroiis are hurled back
into the water or thrown mp on the bank as
unclean while the perca AMI the carp and
the barbel are put into pals to be carried
home for use.
50 in the church on earth the saints and
the hypocrites, the generous an the mean,
the cnaste and the uuclean, are kept in the
same membership but at death the division
will be made, aud the good will be gathered
to heaven, and the bad, however many holy
communions they may have celebrated, and
however many rhetorical prayers they may
have offered, and however many years their
names may have been on the church rolls,
| will be cast away. Col forbid
that any OF us should be among
the ''cast away" But may we do our
work, whether small or great as thoroughly
as di1 that reno ownei fisherman, George W.
| Rnthnnn rxhn snank his sum NOR rpSL ANGLING