The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-07-09


| ual archery you must hunt in unfrequented
| and secluded places. Why does the hunter
90 three or four days in the Pennsylvania
| forests or over Raquette Lake into the W1lds
Of the Adirondacks? 1t Is the only way to
do. The deer are shy, and one "bang OF
the gun clears the forest. From the Califor-
MIA stage you see, as you go over the plains,
here and there coyote trotting along, al
most within range Of the gun-sometimes
quite within range of it. No one cares for
that; It Is worthless. The good game is hid
den and secluded. Every hunter knows that
80, 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 cellar;
yonder they are up In that garnet. Far away
| from the door Of any church, the gospel ar
row has not been pointed at them. The tract
distributor and city missionary sometimes
catch a glimpse of Them as hunter through
the trees gets a momentary sight of part
ridge or roebuck. The trouble Is. we are
waiting for the game to come to us. We are
not good hunters. We are standing1n some
street or highway expecting that the timid
antelope will come up and eat out OF our
hands. We are expecting that tho prairie
| fowl will light on our church steeple. 1t Is
not their habit.
If the church should wait 100000 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 damask o.tomans and put them
in the stirrups. We want pulpit on wheels.
The church wants not so much cushions as
it wants saddlebags and arrows. We have
got to put aside the gown and kid gloves and
put on the hunting shirt. We have been fish
ing so long in the brooks that run under the
shadow of the church that the fish know US;
| 4 = NO Wa \
as we come to the bank, while yonder is Up
per Saranac and Big Tupper's lake, where
the first swing Of the gospel net would break
it for the multitude Of the fishes. There is
outside work to be done. What is that see
in the backwoods? 1t is tent. The hunters
have made a clearing and camped out.
What do they care If they have wet feet, Or
If they have nothing but pine branch for a
pillow or for the northeast storm? II q
moose In the darkness steps into the lake TO
drink, they hear 1t right away. If loon
cry in the moonlight, they hear it. SO in
the service of God we have exposed work.
We have got to camp out and rough it. We
are putting all our care on the people who
come to our churches. What are we doing
for the thousands upon thousands that do
not come? Have they no souls2 Are they
sinless that they need no pardon? Are there
no dead In their houses that they need no
comfort Are they cut off from God to so
into eternity-no wing to bear them. no light
to cheer them, no WEI one to greet them? |
hear to-day surging Jp from the lower
depths grcan that comes through our
Christian assemblages and through our
beautiful churches, and it blots 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 drop
ping down into the fathomless and thunder
} ing abyss of suffering and VICE. Isometimes
think that just as God blotted 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 q stall
wart, wideawake, missionary church that
can take the full meaning of that command,
$50 into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature"
Iremark, again, if you want to be success
full in spiritual archery you need not only to
bring down the game, but bring it in.
, think one of the most beautiful pictures of
Thtrwaldsen is his Autumn" Itrepresents
: a sportsman coming home and standing un-
der a 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 reindeer or whip
, ping up a stream for trout and letting them
l lie in the woods. At eventide the camp is
: beak and fin and antler. II you go out tc
} hunt for immortal souls, not only bring them
, down under the arrow of the gospel bu
bring them into the church of God, the en-
5 campment we have pitched this side of the
skies. Fetch them in. Do not let them lie
: out in the open field. They need our prayer:
3 and sympathies and help. That IS the mean
ing of the church of God-help. o ye hun
, tiers for the Lord not only bring down thu
game, but bring 1t in!
If Mithridates liked hunting so we'll tina
t for seven years he never went indoors, Wha
Y enthusiasm ought we to have who are hunt
ing for immortal souls! 1fDomit1anus prac
l iiced archery until he could stand boy
f down in the Roman amphitheater, with
S hand out, the fingers like that, and then thu
, king could shoot an arrow between tn
t fingers without Wounding them, to wha
l drill and what practice ought not we sub
> ject ourselves in order to become spiritua
3 archers and "mighty hunters before tn
t LOrdr' But let me say, you will never Wor
4 any better than you pray. The old archer
1 took the bow, put one end of it down besid
! the foot, elevated the other end, and it wa
8 the rule that the bow should be just the sig
5 of the archer; if it We're just his size then Ii
Q would go into the battle with confidence
e Let me say that your power to project goo
0 In the world will correspond exactly to you
t own spiritual stature. In other words, tn
8 first thing In preparation for Christian Wor
4 is personal conservation.
Oh, for q closer walk with God.
> A calm and heavenly frame,
. A ightto shine upon the road
J That leads me to che Lamb.
Y am sure that there are some here who a
- some time have been hit by the gospel arrow
a You felt the wound of that conviction. an
a you plunged into the world deeper; just a
y the stag, when the hounds are after il
plunges into Scroon lake, expecting in tina
q way to escape. Jesus Christ is on you
a track to-day. impenitent man! not in wrath
"a but In mercy. o We chased and pantin
r souls! here is the stream of Gods mercy an
u salvation, where you may cool your thirs
y Stop that chase of sin to-day. By the re
J. fountain that leaped from the heart of m
d Lord, bid you stop. Is there in all thi
h house anyone who can refuse the offer ths
a comes from the heart of the dying Son
o God? Why, do you know that there are. i
"a the banished world, souls that, for that o fife
+ you get to-day, would fling the crown of tt
- universe at your feet. If they possessed 4
ir But they went out on the mountains, th
n storm took them, and they died.
Il There is in a forest In Germany plat
no they call the "deer leap'-two crags abot
If is feet apart, between them a fearful chasn
IT This is called the "deer leap" because ono