Connecticut western news., 1896-07-02


 and the nux vomica that go to make up our "pure" American drinks. looked with wondering eyes on the Heidelberg tun." It is the great liquor vat of Ger many, which is said to hold 800 hogs heads of wine, and only three times in
 100 years it has been filled. But, as I stood and looked at it, I said to myself: That is nothing-SO0 hogsheads. Why our American vat holds 3, 500, 900 bar rels of strong drinks, and we keep 200,- 900 men with nothing to do but to see that it is filled. Ohi to attack this great monster of intemperance, and the
 kindred monsters of fraud and unclean-
 ness, requires you to rally all your Christian courage. Through the press,
 through tho pulpit, through the plat form, you must assault 1t. Would to God that all our American Christians
 would band together, not for crack
 brained fanaticism, but for holy Chris tian reform.
 I think it was in I793 that there
 went out from Lucknow, India, under the sovereign, the greatest hunting party that was ever projected. There
 were 10, 900 armed men in that hunting party. There were camels and horses and elephants. On some princes rode,
 and royal ladies under exquisite hous-
 ings, and 500 coolies waited upon the train, and the desolate places of India were invaded by this excursion. and the rhinoceros, the deer and elephant fell
 under the stroke of saber and bullet
 After awhile the party brought back
 
 left the wilderness of Indal ghastly
 with the slain bodies of wild beasts. Would to God that instead of here and
 there straggler going out to fight these
 great monsters of iniquity in our coun- try, the million membership of our churches would band together and hew ;n twain these great crimes that make the land frightful with their roar and are fattening upon the bodies and souls of immortal menl Who is ready for such a party as that? Who will be a mighty
 hunter for the Lord?
 The Game.
 I remark, again, if you want to be successful in spiritual archery you need
 not only to bring down the game, but
 bring it in. I think one of the most
 beautiful pictures of Thorwaldsen is his Autumn. It represents sportsman coming home and standing under grapevine He has a staff over his shoulder, and on the other end of that staff are hung a rabbit and brace of birds Every hunter brings home the game. No one would think of bringing down a reindeer or whipping up a stream for trout and letting them lie ill the woods At eventide the camp is adorned with the treasures of the forest -beak and fin and antler. If you go out | to hunt for immortal souls, not only
 bring them down under the arrow of
 the gospel, but bring them into the church of God, the encampment WIG have pitched this side of the skies Fetch them in. Do not let them lie out
 in the open field. They need our prayers and sympathies and help. That is the meaning of the church of God-help. o ye hunters for the Lord, not only
 bring down the game, but bring it inl If Mithridates liked hunting so well that for seven years he never went in- I doors, what enthusiasm ought we to
 have who are hunting for immortal
 
 until he could stand boy down in the Roman amphitheater, with a hand out, the fingers like that, and then the king could shoot an arrow between the fingers without wounding them, to what drill and what practice ought not we subject ourselves in order to become spiritual archers and mighty hunters before the LordP' But let me say, you will never work any better than you pray. The old archers took the bow, put one end of it down beside the foot, elevated the other end, and it was the rule that the bow should be just the size of the archer; if it were just his size, then he would go into the battle with confidence. Let nae say that your power to project good in the world will correspond exactly to your own spiritual stature. In other words, the first thing in preparation for Christian work is personal consecration.
 Oh. for a closer walk with God,
 A calm and heavenly frame. A light to shine upon the road That leads me to the Lamb.
 I am sure that there are some here who at some time have been hit by the Gospel arrow. You felt the wound of that conviction, and you plunged into the world deeper; just as the stag, when the hounds are after it, plunges into Scroon lake, expecting in that way to escape. Jesus Christ is on your track to- l day, impenitent manl not in wrath, but in mercy. O ye chased and painting soulsi here is the stream of Gods mercy | and salvation, where you may cool your thirst Stop that chase of sin today. By ] the red fountain that leaped from the
 heart of my Lord, bid you stop. Is | there in all this house anyone who can refuse the offer that comes from the
 heart of the dying Son of God? Why, | do you know that there are, in the ban ! ished world, souls that, for that offer | you get today, would fling the crown of the universe at your feet, if they pos /, scssed it? But they went out on the | mountains, the storm took them, and l they died.
 There is in forest in Germany a | place they call the "deer leap"-two
 crags about IS feet apart, between them fearful chasm. This is called the
 ''deer leap" because once a hunter was
 on the track of deer. It came to one
 of these crags There was no escape for | it from the pursuit of the hunter, and
 in utter despair it gathered itself up
 and in the death agony attempted to | jump across. Of course it fell, and was
 dashed on the rocks far beneath. Here
 is path to heaven. It is plain, it is
 safe. Jesus marks it out for every man to walk in. But here is a man who
 says: "I won't walk in that path.
 will take my own way" He comes on
 until he confronts the chasm that di- vides his soul from heaven. Now his
 last hour has come, and he resolves that
 he will leap that chasm, from the
 heights of earth to the heights of heav-
 en. Stand back now. and give him full ] swing, for no soul ever did that suo-
 cessfully. Let him try. Jumpl Jumpl | He misses the mark, and he goes down, | deDth below dpDth sdastrnyed without