Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-02-09


that there were monsters large enough to
whelm ships.
The extinct ichthyosaurus of other aces
was 80 feet long, and "a late as the sixth
century of the Christian era up and down
!. the Mediterranean there floated monsters
compared with which modern whale WAS
a sardine or a herring The shark has again
and again been found to have swallowed a
man entire. A fisherman on the coast of
Turkey found sea monster which con
tanned woman and purse of gold
i l have seen in museums sea monsters
large enough to take down prophet. But
/ have better reason for believing the Old
Testament account, and that is that Christ
said it was true and type of his own resur
rection, 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
it fer me and for any man who does not
believe Christ dupe and an imposter.
Notice also how the Old Testament writ
ers drew similitude from the fisheries. Jere-
miah uses such imagery 10 prophesy de
struction, Behold, / will send for many
fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish
/ them Ezekiel uses fish imagery to proph-
| esy prosperity, 1T shall come TO pass that
the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi
even to En-eglaim; they shall be place to
spread forth nets their fish shall be accord
| ing to their kinds, as the fish of the great
sea, exceeding many" the explanation Of
which is that En-gedi 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 iishhoolls" Solomon, in Ecclesiastes,
declares that those captured of temptation
are as fishes taken in an evil net Indeed
Solomon knew all about the fnny tribe and
wrote treatise on ichthyology which has
been lost.
HOW 81. PETER FisHED.
Furthermore. in order that you may un
derstand the ichthyology OF the Bible you
must know that there were five ways Of
fishing one was by fence Of reeds and
canes, within which the fish were caught
But the Herodic government forbade that
on Lake Galilee, lest pleasure boats be
wrecked by the stakes driven. Another
mode was by spearing-the waters OF Cali
lee so clear good aim could be taken for
the tansiNing Another was by hook and
line, as where Isaiah says, The fishers also
shall mourn, and they that east angle
into the brook shall lament" And job says,
"Canst thou draw out leyiathan with
hooks And Habakkuk says, They take
up all of them with the angle.
Another mode was by "A casting net or
that which was flung from the shore, an-
other, by dragnet 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 il 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 is the world, and the fish are
the souls, and God addresses u as he did
Simon and Andrew saying, Follow me,
and will make you fishes of men" But
when is the best time TO fish for soulss In
the night. Peter, why did you say to Christ,
I'VE have toiled all the night and have
taken nothngy" Why did you not fish in
the daytime' lie replies, "You ought to
know that the night is the best time for ,
fishing
AT Tobyhauna Mills, among the noun
tains of Pennsylvania, | saw friend with
at o'clock at night. and | said, where are ,
you goinggn He answered, .'Going TO fish "
what, in the nightsn He answered, YES,
in the night SO the vast majority Of ,
souls captured for God are taken in times !
of revival in the night meetings. They
might just as well come at IL o'clock AT
noon, but most of them will not. Ask the
of olden times ask Finney, ask
Netteton, ask Osborn, ask Daniel Baker,
and then ask all the modern evangelists
which is the best time to gather souls, and
they will answer. The night; by all odds,
the night" Not only the natural night,
but the night of trouble.
Suppose 90 around in this audience aud =
ask these Christians when they were CON j.
verted to God. One would answer, 1T was .
at the time lost my child by membranous {
Group, and il was the night of bereaye-
nent," or the answer would be, 1T was
Just after was swindled out of my prop Y
'rty, and it was the night of bankruptcy >
)r it would he, 1T was during that time :
when was down with that awful sickness. Y
md it was the night of physical suffering" q
II il woula be- ut was that time when j.
SANDER took after me, and was maligned q
md abused. and il was the night OF perse-
,ution." All, my hearers that is the time
rouble is ON them Miss not that oppor- II
unity to save SOUL for il is the best of all ;.
opportunities.
Go up along the Mohawk, or the Junata, 4
II the Delaware, or the Tombigbee, or the |
e. Lawrence right after rain, and you
will find the fishermen all up and down the
ranks. Why Because "A good time to +.
Ingle is right after the rain and that is
rood time to catch souls, right after II
hover of misfortune, right after floods Of
disaster. And as pool overshadowed I
With trees is a grand place for making a fine
laul OF fish. so when the soul is under the
ong dark shadows of anxiety and distress r.
{ is good time to make a spiritual haul
'eople in the bright sunshine of prosperity p
Lie not So easily taken. o
l1C HES OF THE BIBLE. h
But be sure before YOU start out TO the
IL. 4 4