Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-05-15
lNly1zAl(0@Zz2{zBaln77

for that. 1T is worthless The good
game is hidden and secluded Every
hunter knows that. So many of the souls
that viii be OF most worth for Christ and
of most value to the church are secluded.
They do not come in our way. You will
have TO go where they are Wonder 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 some
times just catch "A glimpse of them, as
hunter through the trees gets momen-
tary sight of a partridge or roebuck. The
trouble is we are waiting for the game to
come TO us. We are not good hunters.
We are standing on some street or road
expecting that the timid antelope will
come up tnd eat out of our hand We
are expe ting that the prairie fowl will
light OF our church steeple. 1t IS not
their habit. If the church should wait
1000 100 of years for the world to come
in and De saved, ii will wait in vain. The
world Will not come.
What the church wants now is to lift
its feet from darask ottomans and put
them in the stirraps. The church wants
not so much cushions as it wants saddle
bags and arrows. We have got to put
aside the gown and the kid gloves and
put on the hunting shirt. We want
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 hook and escape
as soon as we come to the bank, while
yonder is Upper Saranac and Big Tup-
per's lake, where the first swing of the
gospel net would break it for the multi
tude of the fishes. There is outside work
to be done. What is it that | see in the
backwoods? 1t is a 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 q 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 ex
pc sed work. We have got to camp out
and rough it. 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 pardon? Are there no dead in their
houses that they need NJ comforti Are
they cut off from God to go into eternity,
no wing to bear them. no light to cheer
them, no welcome to greet themf "Go
We into all the world and preach the Cos
pei to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, but he
that believeth not SHAH be damned"-a
command, you see, punetuated with
throne of heaven and a dungeon of he'll.
l remark, further, if you want to sue
coed in spiritual archery you must have
courage. If the hunter stands with trem-
bling hand or shoulder that finches with
fear, instead of his taking the cata-
mount 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 Chaiilu
and Livingstone in the African thicket
with a faint heart and a weak knee?
| When panther comes within twenty
PAGES oe you and it has its eye on you
and it has squatted for the fearful
spring, STEADY there" Courage, O we
spiritual archers! There are great mon.
sters of inquity proving all around
about the community. Shall we not in
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 should fear to look in the
eye any transgression? There is the
Bengal tiger of drunkenness that prowls
around, and instead of attacking 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 corkscrews, in gin palaces
with marble floors and Italian top tables
and chased ice coolers, and in the strych-
nine and the logwood and the tartaric
acid and the nux vomica that go to make
mp our pure" American drinks. | look
ed with wondering eyes on the 'Heidel-
berg tun." 1t is the great liquor vat of
Germany, which is said to hold 500 hogs
heads of wine, and only three times in
100 years it has been filed. But as |
stood and looked at it | said to myself:
That is nothing-S00 hogsheads. Why,
our American vat holds 100000 bar
rels of strong drinks, AMI we keep 300,
| 600 men with nothing Il do but to see
that it is filed"
Oh to attack this great monster of in
temperance and the kindred monsters Of
fraud and uncleanness requires 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 brain
ed fanaticism, but for holy Christian re-
form! ] think it was in 1893 that there
went out from Lucknow India under the
sovereign the greatest hunting party that
was ever projected. There were 10000
armed men in that hunting party. There
were camels and horses and elephants.
On some princes rode and royal ladies I'M
der exquisite housings, and 500 coolies
waited upon the train, and the desolate
places of India were invaded by this ex-
cursion. and the rhinoceros AMI deer and
elephant fell under the stroke Of the sa-
her and bullet After awhile the party
brought back trophies worth 10000 ru-
PEGS. having left the wilderness of India
CHASTITY with the slain bodies of wild
beasts. Would to God that instead of
! here and there a straggier going out TO
fight these great monsters Of iniquity i'll
our country the millions Of membership
of our churches would band together and
hew in twain these great crimes that
make the land frightful with their roar
and are fattening upon the bodies and
souls of immortal men: Who is ready
for such a party as that: Who viii be
mighty hunter for the Lord?
l remark, again, if you want to be sue
ceSSful in suirirual archery r0u need not