The Penn's Grove record., 1901-05-17

come to the bank, while Wonder is Upper
Saranae 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 il
that | see in the backwoods? 1t is a tent.
The hunters have made a clearing and
eamped out. What do they care it they
have wet feet or if they have nothing but
a pine branch for a pillow or for the
northeast storm? If a moose in the dark.
ness steps into the lake to drink. they
hear it right away. II a loon cry in the
midnight, they hear it. So in the service
of God we nave exposed 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 arc
we doing for the millions who do not
come? Have they no souls? Are there
no dead in their houses that they need no
comfort? Are they cut off from God to
go INTO e~ternity-no wing to bear them, no
light to cheer them. no welcome to greet
them? [ hear to-day, surging up from
that lower depth of our cities, a groan that
comes through our Christian assemblages
and through our beautiful churches, and it
blots out all this scene from my eyes, as
by the mists of a great Niagara, for the
dash and the plunge of these great torrents
of life dropping down into the fathomless
and laundering abysm of suffering and
woe.
I sometimes think that Just as God
blotted out the churches of Thyatira and
Corinth and Laodicea because of their
sloth and stolidity He will blot American
and English Christianity and raise on the
ruins a stalwart. wideawake missionary
church, that can take the full meaning 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, p~unctuated
with a throne of heaven and a dungeon of
hell.
l remark, further, if you want to succeed
in spiritual archery YOU must have cour-
age. If the hunter stands with trembling
hand or shoulder that finches with fear,
instead of his taking the catamount the
catamount takes him. What would be-
come of the Greenlander il when out hunt
ing for the bear he should stand shivering
with terror on an iceberg? What would
hare become OF Du Chaillu and Livings-
tone in the African thicket with a faint
heart and a weak knee? When a panther
cones within twenty PAGES of you, and it
h its eve on you, and it has squatted for
the fearful spring, "Steady therei" Cour-
age, o ye spiritual archers! There are
great monsters of iniquity prowling 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 tablet There is so much
invested in it we are afraid to assault it
millions of dollars in barrels, in watts, in
spigots, in corkserews. in gin palaces with
marble floors and Italian top tables, and
chased ice coolers, and in the stryehnine,
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 a hundred
years it has been filled. But as ! stood
and looked at it ! said to myself: "Tha Is
~nOthing-S00 hogsheads. Why. our Ameri-
can vat holds 10000, 900 barrels of strong
drink, and we keep 300, 900 men with moth
ing to do but to see that it is filed" Oh,
to attack this great monster of intemper-
ance and the kindred monsters of fraud
and u~ncleanness requires you to rally all
your Christian couraaei Through the
prcs,, through the pulpit. through the
platform, you must assault it.
Would to God that all our American
Via bAih "Ohlh bhiAh tbEtNANNA
~crackbrained fanaticism, but for holy
Christian reform, / 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 300
coolies waited upon the train, and the des-
olate places OF India were invaded by this
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 10000 rupees. having
left the wilderness of India CHASTITY with
the slain bodies of wild beasts. Would to
God that instead Of here and there a 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 it
in. / think one of the most beautiful pic
lures of Thorwaldsen is his Autumn" 1t
represents a sportsman coming home and
standing under a grapevine. He has n
staff over his shoulder, and on the other
end of that staff are hung a 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 go 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 nave pitched this side of the
skies. Fetch them in. Do not let them lie
out in the open field. They need our pray
ers and sympathies and help. That is the
meaning of the church of God-help.
We hunters for the Lord, not only bring
down the game, but bring ii in.
II Mithridates liked hunting so well that
for seven years he never went indoors,
what enthusiasm ought we to have who
are hunting for immortal souls! # Domi,,
tan practiced archery until he could stand
a bow down in the Roman amphitheatre
with a hand out, the fingers spread apart,
and then the king could shoot an arrow
between the fingers without woundlng
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 VIII 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 it
was the rule that the bow should be Just
the size of the archer, Ii it were Just his
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
urc. In other words. the first thing IN
preparation for Christian work is personal
conservation.
"Oh, for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!
I am sure that there are some men who
at some time nave been hit by the gospel
arrow. You felt the wound of that con,
%viction, and you plunged into the world
deeper, Just 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. o impen1,
tent man. not in wrath, but IN mercy. y
We chased and painting souls, here is the
- a-l ea1pafIOn