The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1901-05-17

through the body of the warrior and
out through the backplate. What a
symbol of that Gospel which is sharp
cr than a two-edged sword. piercing
to the dividing asunder of soul and
body and of the joints and marrow.
Would to God we had more faith in
that Gospel. The humblest man in the
world. If he had enough faith in il,
could bring a hundred souls to Christ
perhaps 800. just in proportion as
this age seems to believe less and less
in IL, | believe more and more in it.
What are men about that they will
not accept their own deliverance?
There is nothing proposed by men
that can do anything like this Gospel.
Again, if YOU want 10 be skillful in
spiritual archery You must hunt in
unfrequentcd and secluded places.
Why does the hunter go three or
four days in the Pennsylvania for
estS or over Raquette lake into the
wilds of the Adirondacks? IL is the
only way TO do. The deer are shy.
and one bang" of the gun clears the
forest. From the California stage
you see, As you go over the plains.
here and there coyote trotting
along almost within range of the
gun-somctimes quite within range
of IT. No one cares for that. II Is
worthless. The good game is hidden
and secluded. Every hunter knows
that. so many of the souls that will
be of most worth for Christ and of
most value to the church are Sc
cludcd. They do not come in our
way. You viii have 10 go where they
are. londer they are down in that
cellar. Nonder they are up in that
garret-far away from the door of
any church. The Gospel arrow has
not been pointed at them. The tract
distributor and the city missionary
sometimes just catch a glimpse of
them. as a hunter through the trees
gets momentary sight of par
| fridge or roebuck. The trouble * we
are waiting for the game To come 10
us. We are not good hunters. We
are standing on some street or road
expecting that the timid antelope
VIII come up aud eat out of our hand.
We are expecting that the prairie
fowl will light on our church steeple.
1t is not their habit. If the church
should wait 100000 of years for
the world 10 come in and he saved.
it viii wait in vain. The world will
not come
What the church wants now is to
! lift its feet from damaSk ottOmanS
and pat them in the Stirrups. The
church wants not so many cushions
As it wants saddlebagS and arrows.
We have got - put aside the gown
and the kid gloves and PUT on the
hunting shirt. We want a pulpit on
wheels. We have been fishing so
long in the brooks that run under
the shadow of the church that The
fish know lis, and they avoid the
+ hook and escape rs soon as we come
TO the bank. while yonder is Upper
Saranac and Big Hupper's lake. where
/ the first swing of the Gospel net
/ would break il for the multitude of
/ tho fishes. There is outside work TO
/ hc done. What is II that l see in the
/ bacllwoods? IT j. 4 tent. The hunt
I crs have made a clearing and camped
I out. What 10 they care if they have
/ wet feet or ii they have nothing but
I pine branch for pillow or for the
northeast storm? II moose in the
I darkness steps into The lake to drink.
/ they hear il right away. If loon
( cry in the midnight. they hear II.
/ 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 comparatively few
people who 90 10 church. What are
we doing for the millions who do
not come? Have they no souls? Are
they sinless that they need no par
don? Are there no dead in their
houses that they need no comfort :?
! Are they cut off from God to go into
eternity, no wing TO bear them, no
| light 10 cheer them, no welcome TO
greet them? | hear to-day surging
up from the lower depth of our cities
a groan that comes through our
Christian assemblages and through
our beautiful churches, and il b!ots
out all this scene from my eyes to-
day. as by the mists of great Nj
agara. for the dash and the plunge
of these great torrents of life drop
ping down into the fathOmless and
laundering abysm of suffering and
woe. | sometimes think that Just as
God blotted out the churches of Thy
atira and Corinth and Laodicea be-
cause of their sloth and stolidity he
will blot out American and English
Christianity and raise on the ruins a
stalwart. wide-awake missionary
church that can take the full mean
ing of that command: go We into
all the world and preach the Gospel
to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. but
he that believeth not shall be damned"
"a command. you see. punctuated
with throne of Heaven and dun
| geon of hell.
! / remark, further, if you want to
succeed in spiritual archery you must
have courage. If the hunter stands
with trembling hand or shoulder that
finches with fear, instead of taking
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 Chailu and