The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-07-03

our beautiful churcneS, ana IL OlOIS
out all this scene from my eyes to-day,
as by the mists of great Niagara, for
the dash and the plunge of these great
torrents of life dropping down into the
fathomless and laundering abyss OF
suffering and woe. i sometimes think
that just as God blotied out 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 a stalwart, wideawake, mis-
sionary church, that eau take the full
meaning of that command: go into
all the world, and preach the Gospel
to every creature"
I remark, further, IL you want to
succeed in spiritual archery you must
have courage. II the hunter stand
with trem bling hand or shoulder that
/ fiinches with fear, instead of his taxi
ing the catamount, 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 Cnaillu and
Livingstone in the African thicket
with a faint heart and a weak kneeP
When a panther comes within 30 PAGES
of you and it has its eye on you and it
! has squatted for the fearful spring,
"Steady therer'
Courage. o We spiritual archersi
There are great monsters in iniquity
prowling all around about the COM
munity. Shall we not of the strength
of God go forth and combat them? We
not only need more heart, but more
backbone. What is the church OF God,
that it shout fear to look in the eye
of any transgression? There is the
Bengal tiger of drunkenness that
prowls around and, instead of attack
ing it, how many of us hide under the
church pew or the communion table?
There is so much invested in it we are
afraid TO assault it; millions of dollars
in barrels, in watts, in spigots, in cork
screws, in gin palaces with marble floors
and Italian-top tables, and chased ice
coolers, and in the strychnine, and the
logwood, and the tartaric acid, and the
nux vomica, that go to make up our
pure" American drinks. l looked
with wondering eyes on the "Heidel'
berg tup." It is the great liquor vat
of Germany, which is said to mold 500
hogsheads of wine, and only three
times in a hundred years it has been
filled. But, as i stood and looked at
It, l said to myself: That is nothing
800 hogsheads. Why, our American
vat holds $500. 900 barrels of strong
drinks, and we keep 100000 men with
nothing to do but to see that 1t Is
filled" Oh! to attack this great monster
of intemperance. and the kindred
monsters of fraud and uucleanness, re
quires you to rally all your Christian
courage. Through the press, through
the pulpit, through the platform,
you must assault it Would to God
that all our American Christians would
band together, not for crack Drained
fanaticism. but for holy Christian re-
form. think it was in 1898 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 party.
There were camels and horses and
elephants On some princes rode, and
royal ladies, under exquisite housings,
and 500 coolies waited upon the
train, and the desolate places of
India were invaded by this ex-
cursioD, and the rhinoceros, the
deer and elephant fell under the stroke
of saber and bullet After awhile the
party brought back trophies worth So
900 rupees, having left the wilderness
of India CHASTITY with the slain bodies
| of wild beasts. Would to God that in
stead of here and there a straggler go
ing out to fight these great monsters
of iniquity in our country, the million
mem bership of our churches would
band together and hew in twain these
| great crimes that make the land fright
| full with their roar, and are fattened
upon the bodies and souls of immortal
men! Who is ready for such party as
that? Who will be mighty hunter for
the Lord?
remark, again, If you want to be q
success in spiritual archery, you need
not only bring down the game, but
bring it in think one Of the most
beautiful pictures of Thorwaldsen IL
his Autumn" It represents a sports
man coming home and standing under
3 q
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 bring
ing down a reindeer or whipping Up q
stream for trout, and letting them lie
in the woods At eventide the camp
adorned with the treasures of the
forest-beak, and fin, and antler. II
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 encamp-
ment 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, We hunters for the
Lord, not only bring down the game,
but bring it in
Oh! for a closer walk with God.
A calm and heavenly frame.
lfrhf hat hf h.