Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-05-17


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 secluded They do not come in
Your way, You will have to 90 where they
are.
| remark, further if you want to succeed
IN spiritual archery you must have cour-
age. Ii the hunter stands with trembling
hand or shoulder that flinches with fear,
instead of his taking the catamount the
catamount takes him. What would be-
come of the Greenlander if when out hunt
ing for the bear he should stand shivering
with terror on an iceberg? What would
have become of Du Chaillu and Livings-
tone in the African thicket with a faint
heart and a weak knee? When panther
comes within twenty PAGES of you, and it
has its eye on you, and it has squatted for
the fearful spring, "Steady there!" Cour-
age, o We spiritual archers! There are
great monsters of iniquity proving all
around about the community. Shall we
not in the strength of God 60 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 transgresslon? 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
tue communion tablet There is so much
invested IN IL we are afraid to assault it
millions of dollars in barrels, in watts, in
spgots, in corkscrews, in gin palaces with
marble floors and Italian top tables, and
chased ice coolers, and in the strychninee,
and the logwood, and the tartaric acid,
and the nux vomica that go to make up
our "pure" American drinks. | looked
with wondering eyes on the Heidelberg
tun." 1t is the great liquor vat of Ger
many, which is said to hold 800 hogsheads
of wine and only three times in hundred
years it has been filled. But as | stood
and looked at it I said to myself: THAT is
nothine-SOO hogsheads. Why, our Ameri-
can vat holds 100000 barrels of strong
drink, and we keep 100000 men with moth
ing to do but to see that it is filed" Oh,
to attack this great monster of lntemper.
ance 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
crackbrained fanaticism, but for holy
Christian reform! I 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 ele..
plants. On some princes rode, and royal
ladies under exquisite housings. and 5OO
coolies waited upon the train, and the des-
olate places of India were invaded by TINS
excursion, and the rhinoceros and deer and
elephant fell under the stroke of the sabre
and bullet. After awhile the party brought
back trophies worth $4,000 rupees, having
left the wilderness of India CHASTITY with
the slain bodies of wild beasts. Would to
God that instead of here and there strag'
gler going out to fight these great monsters:
of iniquity in our country the millions OF
members of our churches would band to-
gether 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 will be a
mighty hunter for the Lord?
l remark, again, if you want to be sue.
cessful in spiritual archery you need not
only to bring down the game, but bring 1T
in. l think one of the most beautiful pic
lures of Thorwaldsen is his Autumn" 1t
represents sportsman coming home and
standing under a grapevine. He has a
staff over his shoulder, and on the other
end of that staff are hung rabbit and a
brace of birds. Every hunter brings home
the game. No one would think of bring
ing down a roebuck or whipping up a
stream for trout and letting them lie IN
the woods. At eventide the camp IS
adorned with the treasures of the forest
beak and fin and antler.
If you 90 out to hunt for immortal souls
not only bring them down under the ar
row of the gospel, but bring them into the
church of God, the grand home ,and. en-
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 pray
meaning of the church of God-help. U
We hunters for the LORD, not only bring
down the game, but bring it in!
If Mithridates liked hunting so we'll that
for seven years he never went indoors,
what enthusiasm ought we to have who
are hunting for immortal souls! II DOM.
tan practiced archery until he could stand
q boy down in the Roman amphltheatre
with hand out, the fingers spread apart,
and then the king could shoot an arrow
between the fingers without wounding
them. to what drill and what practice
ought we to subject ourselves in order to
become spiritual archers and mighty
hunters before the Lord"
But let me say, you will never work any
better than you pray. The old archers
took the bow. put one end of it down beside
the foot. elevated the other end, and 1T
was the rule that the bow should be Just
the size of the archer. If it were just ms
size then he would go into the battle with
confidence. Let me say that your power
to project good in the world will CORE
spond exactly to your own spiritual stat
ure. In other words, the first thing IN
preparation for Christian work Is personal
conservation.
ooh. for closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly Frame.
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!
am sure that there are some men who
at some time have been hit by the gospel
arrow You felt the wound of that con.
yiction. and you plunged into the world
deeper. lust as the stag, when the hounds
are after it, plunges into Schroon Lake,
expecting in that way to escape. Jesus
Christ is on your track to-day. 0 impenl-
tent man, not in wrath, but in mercy. "
We chased and painting souls, here, is the
stream of Gods mercy and salvation,
where you may cool your thirst! -,
Stop that chase of sin to-day. By the
red fountain that leaped from the heart
of my Lord l bid you stop, There Is
mercy for you-mercy that pardons, mercy
that heals, everlasting mercy. The twelve
gates of Gods love stand open. Enter and
be forever safe.
There is in forest in Germany place
they call the "deer leap"-two crags, about
eighteen yards apart, between them tear,
full chasm. This is called the deer leap !,
because once hunter was on the track OF
a deer. 1t came to one OF these, crags'
There was no escape for 1t from the Puii ).
suit of the hunter, and in utter despair it
Gathered itself up and in the death agony