The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-06
rote a treatise on iohthyology, which ha,


bade that on Lake Galilee, lest pleasure
boats be wrecked by the stakes driven. An
g. other mode was by speartng; the waters OF
. Galilee 80 clear good aim could be taken for
the transfiXiug. Another was by hook and
| line. IS where Isaiah says: The fishers
/ also shall mourn, aud they that cast angle
into the brooks shall lament" And Job
saws: "Canst thou draw out leviathan with
a hook" And Habakkuk says: They take
up all Of them with the angle" Another
mode was by casting net OF that which
was flung from the shore. Another 10y
drag net or that which was thrown from
boat and drawn through the sea as the
fishing smack sailed on. How wonderful all
this is inwrought into the Bible imagery,
and 1t leads me to ask in which mode you
and l are fishing, for the church Is the
boat and the gospel is the net and the sea is
the world d the fish are the souls, and
God addresses US as be did Simon and An
drew, saying: Follow me and | will make
you fishers Of meE" But when is the best
time to fish for souls7 In the night. Peter,
why did you say to Christ, I'VE have toiled
all the night and have taken nothing"
Why did you not fish in the daytimsi be
replies " Nou ought TO know that the night
is the best time for fishing" At Toby
hanna Mills, among the mountains Of
Pennsylvania, | saw a friend with high
boots aud fishing tackle, starting out at
nine o'clock at night, and l said, Where
are you goiDgN He answered, "Going 10
fish" What in the nightm he answered,
YES, 10 the night" So the vast majority
of souls captured for God are taken 10 times
of revival in the night meetings. They
might just as we'll come at twelve o'clock at
noon, but most OF them will not Ask the
evangelists of olden times, ask Finney, ask
Netteton, ask Osborne, ask Daniel Baker,
aud then ask al the modern evangelisLs
which is the best time to gather souls, and
they will aus Ner, The night; by all odds,
the night" Not only the natural night, but
the night Of trouble. Suppose 60 around
in this audience and ask these Christians
when they were converted to God. One
would answer, 'It was at the time lost my
child by membraneous Group, and it was
the 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" or it would be, lit
was during that time when l was down
with that awful sickness, and 10 was the
night Of physical suffering" or it would be,
at was that time when sa ldsr took after
me, and / Was mRligued and abused. and it
was the night of persecution" All, my
hearers, that is the time for you to 20 after
souls, when a night of trouble is on them.
Miss not that opportunity TO save a soul, for
it Is the best Of all opportunities. Go up
along the Mohawk or the Juniata or the
renee right after a rain, and you will find
fishermen all up and down the banks. Why?
Because 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 floods of disaster. And as pool
overshadowed with trees is a good 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 mike a
spiritual haul People in the bright SUM
shine 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, lam l to get
it" My answer is, dig for it," Where
shall l dig for itg' I'm the rich Bible
grounds" We boys brought up In the
country had to dig for bait before we
started for the banks Of the Rarit8n. 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 OF
Charles Cotton's instructions how to
Angle for Grayling in a Clear Stream"
We knew nothing about the modern red
haokle, or the fly Of orange-colored
mohair, but we got the right kind of bait
No use trying to angle for fish or angle
for souls unless you have the right kind
of bait, and there is plenty or 1t in the
promises, the parallels, the miracles, the
crucifxion, 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 uD your mind as to
whether you will take the hint of Habuk-
kuk and Isaiah and Job and use hook and
line, or take the hint o. Matthew and
Luke and Christ and fish with a net.
think many lose their time by wanting
10 fish with net and they never get a
place to swing the net, In other word3
they want to do gospel work on a big ale
or they Will not do lt at all. l see feeble-
minded Christian mon going around with
a Bagster's Bible under their arm,
hoping to do the work of an evan
gelst and use the net, while they might be
better content with hook aud line and take
one soul at a time. They are bad failures
as evangeists; they would be mighty sue
cesses as private Christians. If you catch
only one soul for God that will be enough Co
fill your eternity with celebration. All
hail, the fishermen with hook and line!
have seen man in toughest corduroy outfit
come back from the woods loaded down
with a string of flnny treasures hung over
hls shoulder aud his game bag filled, ana "a
dog with his teeth carrying basket filled
with the surplus of an afternoons angling,
and it was all the result Of q hook and line :
and In the eternal world there will be many
IA man and many a woman that was never
heard OF outside of a village Sunday
school or "a prayer meeting buried in
church basement, who will come before the
throne OF God with multitude of souls
rAnsomed through his or her instrumental
ity and yet the work all done through per-
sonal interview one by one, one by one.
You do not know who that one soul may
be. Steupitz helped one soul into the light,
hut 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 it was
John Summerfeld. Our blessed Lord healed
one blind eye at time, one paralyzed arm
| at a time, one dropsicsl patient at a time
! and raised from the dead one girl at time
! one young man at time. Admire the net
that takes in a 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 the dav
cometh when we shall see how much de-
! pended on our fidelity. Christ himself de-
! clared, THE kingdom Of heaven is like unto
a net that was cast into the sea and gath
cred OF every kind, which, when it was full,
| they drew 10 the shore, and sat down and
| gathered the good in the vessels, but cast
the bad away, so shall IL be at the end Of
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