Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-06-29

T sometimes think that just as God blot
ted ont the churches of Thyatira and
Corinth and Laodicea, because Of their
sloth and stolidity, he will blot out
American and English Christianity and
raise on the ruins q stalwalt, wide
awake. missionary church that can take
the full meaning of that command. go
into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature
Spiritual ArcIlers.
remark. further, if you want to sue
coed in spiritual archery you must have
courage. If the hunter sta1sE with treru-
bling hand or shoulder that f1inches
with fear, instead of his taking the cat
amount. the catamount takes him.
What would become of the Greenlander
if. when out hunting for the bear, he
should stand shivering with terror on
an iceberg? What would have become
of Du Chaillu and Livingstone in the
African thicket with faint heart and
a weak knee? When "A panther comes
within 90 PAGES of you and it has its eye
on you and it has squatted for the fear
full spring, STEADY therel''
Courage, 0 ye spiritual archers
prowling all around about the commu-
nifty. Shall we not of the strength of
God go forth and combat them? We not
only need more heart. Eut more back
bone What is the church of God that
it should fear to look in the eye any
transgression? There is the Bengal tiger
of drunkenness that prowls around, and
instead of attacking it, how many of us
hide under the church pew or the com
munion table! There is SO much invested
in it we are afraid to assault it; millions
of dollars in barrels, in watts, in spigots,
in corkscrews, in gin palaces with mar
BILE floors and Italian top tables, and
chased ice coolers and i9 the strychnine
and the logwood and the tartaric acid
and the nux vomica that go to make up
our pure American drinks. I looked
with wondering eyes on the Heidelberg
tun.'' It is the great liquor vat of Ger
many, which is said to hold 500 hogs
heads of wine, and only three times in
100 years it has been filled. But, as
stood and looked at it, I said to myself:
''That is nothing-800 hogsheads. Why
our American vat holds 2, 800, 600 bar
rels of strong drinks, and we keep 20O,-
900 men with nothing to do but to see
that it is filed. Oh! 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 the pulpit, through the plat
form, you must assault it. Would to
God that all our American Christians
would band together, not for crack
Drained fanaticism, but for holy Chris
tan reform.
[ think it was in 1893 that there
went out from Lucknow, India, under
the sovereign, the greatest hunting
party that was ever projected There
were 10, 600 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
trophies worth $4,000 rupees, having
left the Wilderness of India CHASTITY
with the slain bodies of wild beasts.
Would to God that, instead Of here and
there a 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
in 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
party as that? Who will be o mighty
hunter for the Lord?
The Game.
I remark, again, if you want to De
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 a sportsman
coming home and standing under q
grapevine. He has a staff over his
shoulder, and on the other end of that
staff are hung a rabbit and a 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 in
the woods. At eventide the camp is
adorned with the treasures OF the forest
-beak and fin and antler. II you 60 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 we
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
IL Mithridates liked hunting so we'll
that for seven years he never went in
doors, what enthusiasm ought we to
have who are hunting for immortal
souls If Domitianus practiced archery