The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1901-10-11

out through the backplate. What
symbol of that Gospel which is sharp
er than a two-edged sword. piercin.
TO the dividing asunder Of soul an,
body and of the joints and marrow
Would to God we had more faith il
that Gospel! The humblest man in tn,
world, if he had enough faith in il
could bring a hundred souls TO Chris
perhaps 500. Just in proportion as
this age seems TO believe less and les.
in it, | believe more and more in il
What are men about that they vii
not accept their own deliverance
There is nothing proposed by mer
that can do anything like this Gospel
Again, if you want to be skillful in
spiritual archery you must hunt in
unfrequented and secluded places
/ Why does the hunter go three OF
four days in the Pennsylvania for
ests or over Raquette lake into the
wilds 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 California stage
you see, as you go over the plains,
here and there a coyote trotting
along almost within range of the
gun-sometimes quite within range
of it. No one cares for that. 1t 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
cluded. They do not come in our
way. You will have TO go where they
are. Yonder they are down in that
cellar. Yonder 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 a par
fridge or roebuck. The trouble is 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
will come up and eat out of our hand.
We are expecting that the prairie
fowl will light on our church steeple.
II is not their habit. II 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 ottomans
and put them in the stirrups. The
church wants not so many cushions
as il wants saddlebags and arrows.
We have got to 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 us, and they avoid the
to the bank, while yonder is Upper
Saranac and Big Hupper'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 it that see in the
backwoods? 1t is a tent. The hunt
ers have made a clearing and camped
out. What do they care if they have
wet feet or il they have nothing but
a pine branch for a pillow or for the
northeast storm? If moose in the
darkness steps into the lake TO drink
they hear it right away. If loon
cry in the midnight, they hear it.
So in the service of God we have
exposed work. We have got to camp
out and rough II. We are putting all
our care on the comparatively few
people who go TO 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 to cheer them, no welcome TO |
greet them? I hear to-day surging |
mp from the lower depth Of our cities |
a groan that comes through our
Christian assemblages and through |
our beautiful churches, and it blots /
Dut all this scene from my eyes to-
lay, as by the mists of a great Nj
lgara, for the dash and the plunge
If these great torrents of life drop
ping down into the fathomless and
numbering abysm of suffering and
woe. I sometimes think that just as
iod blotted out the churches of Thy
ltira and Corinth and Laodicea be-
'ause of their sloth and stolidity he
will blot out American and English
and raise on the ruins a
talwart, wide-awake missionary
hurch that can take the full mean
ng Of that commands: "Go We into
III the world and preach the Gospel
o every creature He that believeth
nd is baptized shall be saved. but
e that believeth not shall be damned"
"A command. you see, punctuated
With a throne of Heaven and dun
con of hell.
] remark, further. il you want 10
ucceed in spiritual archery you must
ave courage. If the hunter stands
nth trembling hand or shoulder that
inches with fear, instead of taking
he catamount the catamount takes
i'm. What would become of the
reenlander IL when out hunting for
he bear he should stand shivering
18th terror on an iceberg? What
-ould have become of Du Chaillu and
livingstone in the African thicket