Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1893-02-09

| thrown from toat aud drawn throu yii tn
sea as the fishing smack sailed on. How
wonderful all this is inwrouzht into ths
Bb'e imagery AMI it leads me to ask in which
mole aLe you ami fishing, for the churc'
is the boat, and the gospel is the net, and
the. sea is the world, an | the fish are the
souls, and God addresses us as He did Simon
and Andrew, sayiny, "Toliow Me. AMI
will make you fishers OF men," But whenis
the Eest time to fish for souisf In the night
Peter. why did you say to Cnrist. ave
have toied all the night and havs taken
nothingY Why din you not fish in the day
times He replies. .'Yeu ought to know thai
the night Is the best time for fisling."
At Tohyhanna Mills. among the noun
tains OF Pennsylvania, saw friend with
higa boots AMI fishing tackle starting out
at o'clock at night. and l sail. "Whers ara
You goingT He answered, sc ping to fish,"
"What, in the nghtp' Heanswered. "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 well come at IL O'Clock at noon but
most of them will not. Ask the evangelists
OF olden times, ask Finney, ask Nattleton,
ask Osborn, ask Daniel Baker. and then ask
all the modern evangelists which Is the bsst
time to gather souls, and they will answer,
"fhe night; by all odds, the night" Not
only the natural night, but the night of
trouble.
Suppose l go around in this audience and
ask these Christians when they were convert
ed to God. One would answer, III was at the
time lost my child by msmbranous Group,
and it was the night of bareavem ent," or
the answer would be, st was Just after [
was swindlsd out of my property. aud it was
the night Of bankruptcy" or it would be,
1T was during that tina when l was down
with that awful sickness, an l it was the night
I0al s.rfFa W, 1. III
was that time when SANDER took after me-
andI was maligned AMI abu led, AMI it was
: the night of persecution" All. my hearers,
tnat IS The time for You to go after souls,
when night of trouble is on them. Miss
not that opportunity to saws soui, for it is
the best of all opportunities.
Go up along the Mohawk, or the Juniata,
or the Delaware, or the Tonbigbes, or thu
st. Lawrence right after rain, and you
VIII ind the fisherman all up and down the
lakes? Whyl Because good time to angle
Is right after tae rain, and that is a good
time to catch souls, right after a shower OF
misfortune, right after fools of disaster
And as pool oyershalowsi with trees is
grand place for making fine haul of fish,
SO when the soul is I'M Ter the long dark
shadows OF anxiety and distress it is good
Time to make q 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 kind of bait.
but how" you say, sam l to get it," My
answer is, ''Dig for it.n "Where shall I
dig for it?o "ln the rici Bible grounds
We boys brought up in the country had to
dig for bait before we started for thu banks
of the Raritan. We put the sharp edge of
the spade against the ground and then put
our iooJ ON the spade, and with one tremen-
dous plunge of our strength of body and
will we drove itin up to the handle ami then
turned over the sol.
we had never read Walton's complete
Angler or Charles Cotton's ''Iustructions
How to AHg.e for Gsayiing in Clear
Stream" We knew nothing about the mod
ern red hacAle or the fly of orange colorel
mohair, but we got tn right kini OF bait.
No use trying to angle for fish Or anglo for
souls unless yon have the right kind of bait,
and there is plenty OF it in the promises, the
parallels, the miracles the cruciixion, the
heaven OF the grand old g5spsl.
Yes not only must you dig for bait, but
use only fresh BAIT You cannot do any.
thing down at the poni 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 ths hint OF Habukkuk and Isaiah and
Job aud use hook and line, or take the hint
of Matthew AMI Luke aud Christ AMI fish
with net.
think many lose their tina by wanting
to fish with net aud taey nsvar 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 feeble minded Chris
tian men going around with Bagster's
Bible under their arm, hoping to do the work
OF an evangelist and use the net, while they
might be batter content with hook and line
and take oas soul at a time. They are bad
failures as evangelists. They woull be
mighty successes as privats Christians. Ii
you catch only ons soul for God, that will be
enough to fill yout eternity with celebration.
ALI hail the fisherman with hook aud line!
have ssen Il man in rou ynest corduroy
outfit come back from the woods loaded
down with a string OF inny treasures hung
over his shoulder aal his ganebay filled,
ana a dog with mis- teeth carrying the basket
fillei with thu suipiu; OF an afternoons
angling, and it was all thu result of hook
and line, and in the eternal worli tn ere will
bs many mau AMI mtny woman that
was never heard OF on ssiis of village Sun
day-school or prayer m eatin, bucie in a
church basement who will coma before the
throns OF Col with a multitude of souls
through his or her instru.
and yet ths WORK all done
through personal interview, one by one,
You do not know WHO thai one soul may
be. Staupitz hepei ols so1l into ths light,
but it was Martin Lusaer. Thomas Bilney
brought salvation to ons soul but it was
Hugh Latimer. An eigs tool maker was
the means OF saving ono soul. but it was
John Summeriield. Oar blessed Lord healed
one blind eye at a tine, ons paralyze1 arm
at time, one dropsicai patient at time,
and raised from the dead one girl at time,
one young mal at tim.. Admire the net
that takes in great many at once but do
not despiss the hook and line.
God help US ANT tle gospel fisheries,
whether we employ hook or net, for the day
cometh wnen we shall sea how much de-
pended on our filelity. Christ Himself de.
clared: "Tns king lom OF heaven is like unto
a net that was cast into the sea an gathered
OF every kin which, when it was full, they
drew to shore AMI sat down ami gathered
the good in the vessels, but cast the bal
away. 50 shall it be at ths end of the
world-the angels shall coma forth ana
separate the wicked fro tia jast."
Yes, the fishermen think it 7bss5 to keer
the useful an WORTHLESS of the haul in the
same net until it is drawn upoa thu beach.
and then the division taxes place, an l il it is
on Long Islant coast tns inossoanxers are
thrown out AMI the blueish an snad pre-
served, Or il it Is on tae saors OF GaIilee the
fish classified as silu rolls ara hursei back
into the water or thrown no on thu bank as
uuclean, while the perch an the carp and
the barbei are put into pals To be carried
home for use.