Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-07-03

up his hands, as did the Emperor Julian
Of old when wounded in the battle, cry.
ing, 80 Galilean, thou has conqueredV
In the armory Of the Earl Of Penn
broke there are old corselets which show
that the arrow of the English used to
go through the breastplate, through the
body of the warrior and out through the
backplate. What a symbol of that gos-
pei which is sharper than two edged
sword, piercing to the dividing asunder
of body and soul, and Of the joints and
marrow Would to God we had more
faith in that gospel The humblcst man,
if he had enough faith in it, could
bring 100 souls to Jesus-perhaps 500.
Just in proportion as this age seems to
believe less and less in it, / believe
more and more in it, What are men
about that they will not accept their
own deliverance? There is nothing pro-
posed by men that can do anything like
this gospel The religion Of Ralph Wal
do Emerson was the philosophy Of ici-
cles; the religion of Theodore Parker
was a sirocco Of the desert covering up
the soul with dry sand; the religion Of
Renan was the romance Of believing
nothing the religion Of the Huxleys and
the Spencers merely pedestal on which
human philosophy sits shiyering in the
night Of the soul, looking up to the
stars, offering no help to the nations
that crouch and groan at the base. Tell
me where there is one man who has re-
jected that gospel for another who is
| thoroughly satisfied and helped and con
tented in his skepticism, and Twill take
the car tomorrow and ride 500 miles to
see him. The full power Of the gospel
has not yet been touched As a sports
man throws up his head and catches
the ball flying through the air, just so
easily will this gospel after awhile catch
this round world flying from its orbit
and bring it back TO the heart Of Christ
Give it full swing, and it will pardon
every siu, heal every wound, cure every
trouble, emancipate every slave and
ransom every nation.
Ye Christian men and women who go
out this afternoon to do Christian work,
as you 90 into the Sunday schools, the
lag preaching stations and the peniten-
tiarios and the asylums, | want you to
feel that you bear in your hand weapon
compared with which the lightning has
no speed, and avalanches have no heft
and the thunderbolts of heaven have no
power; it is the arrow Of the omnipotent
gospel Take careful aim. Pull the ar
row clear back until the head strikes
the bowl Then let it fyl And may the
slain of the Lord be manyl
Good Hunting Ground.
Again, if you want to be skillful III
spiritual archery, you must hunt in un-
frequented and secluded places. Why
does the hunter 90 three or four days IN
the PENNSYLVANIA forests or over Ra-
ouette lake into the wilds Of the Adiron
dacks? 1t is the only way to do. The
deer are shy, and one bang" OF the
gun clears the forest From the Cali
fornia stage you see, as you go over the
plains. here and there, a coyote trottlng
along. almost within range Of the gun
sometimes quite within range Of it. No
one cares for that; it is worthless. The
good game is hidden and secluded. Ev-
ery hunter knows that. So, many OF the
souls that will be of most worth for
Christ and Of most value to the church
are secluded. They do not come IN your
way. You will have TO go where they
are. Yonder they are down in that cell
lar; yonder they are up in that garrett
Far away from the door Of any church,
the gospel arrow has not been pointed
at them. The tract distributor and city
missionary sometimes catch a glimpse
of them. as a hunter through the trees
get a momentary sight Of partridge OF
a roebuck. The trouble is, we are wait
ing for the game to come to US. We are
not good hunters. We are standing in
some street or highway expecting that
the timid antelope will come up and eat
ont of our hands. We are expecting
that the prairie fowl will light on our
church steeple. 1t is not their habit.
If the church should wait 10, 600, OOO
of years for the world to come IN and
be saved, it will wait in vain. The
world will not come. What the church
wants now is to lift its feet from dam
ask ottomans and put them in the stir
rups. We want a pulpit on wheels The
church wants not so much cushions as
il wants saddlebags and arrows. we
have got 10 put aside the gown and KID
gloves and put on the hunting shirt
We have been fishing so long in the
brooks that run under the shadow OF the
church that the fish know us; that they
avoid the hook and escape as soon as we
come to the bank, while yonder is Up
per Saranac and Big Tupper's lake,
where the first swing Of the gospel mel
would break it for the multitude OF the
fishes There is outside work to be done.
What is that see in the backwoods! II
is a tent The hunters have made
clearing and camped out What do they
care if they have wet feet, or II they
have nothing but pine branch Tor 9
pillow or for the northeast storml II
moose in the darkness steps into tho
lake to drink, they hear it right away.
If loon cry in the moonlight they
hear it. So in the service Of God We
have exposed work. We have got tC
camp out and rough it, We are putting
all our care on the people who come t.
our churches. What are we doing fol
the thousands upon thousands that d'
not come? Have they no soulsl Are they
, sinless that they need no pardons Arr
there no dead in their houses that they
need no comfortl Are they cut of from
, God to 90 into eternity--no wing Z
, bear them. no light to cheer them, M
welcome to greet them? | hear today
surging up from the lower depths
, Qroan that comes through our Christian
, assemblages and through our beautiful
: churches, and it blots out all this seem
from my eyes today, as by the mists o
/ a great Niagara, for the dash and tn
plunge Of these great torrents OF III
dropping down into the fathomless an
: laundering abyss of suffering and woe
} I sometimes think that Just as God olo'
t ted out the churches Of Thyatira an
n. ~