Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-05-18

Il
. fidelity and shows how much effort
at doing good fails through lack of
adroitness; text, Genesis K, 9, He was
mighty hunter before the Lord"
In our day hunting is sport, but in the
lands and the times infested of wild
beasts il was matter of life or death
With the people. 1t was very different
from going out on a sunshiny afternoon
with patent breechlOader to shoot reed
birds on the flats. when PolluX and
Achilles and Diomedes went cut to clear
the land of lions and panthers and bears
Aenophon grew eloquent in regard to
the art of hunting. In the far east peo-
Pile, elephant mounted. chased the tiger.
Francis |. was called the father of hunt
ing. And Moses. in my text, sets forth
Nimrod as hero, when it presents him
with broad shoulders and shaggy apparel
and sun Drowned face and arm punched
with muscle, "a mighty hunter before the
Lord" | think he used the bow and the
arrows with great success practicing
archery.
have thought if it is such n grand
thing and such a brave thing to clear wild
beasts out of country if it is not a bet
ter and drawer thing 10 hunt down and
destroy those great evils Of society that
are stalking the land with fierce eye and
bloody paw and sharp tusk and quick
| spring. | have wondered if there is not
such a thing as gospel archery by which
those who have been flying from the
truth may be captured for God and
heaven. The Lord Jesus in his sermon
used the art Of angling for an illustration
when he said, II will make You fishers Of
men" And so l think | have authority
for using hunting as an Illustration of
gospel truth, and | pray God that there
may be many man enlisted in the work
who shall begin to study gospel archery
Of whom it may after awhile be said,
He was mighty hunter before the
Lord.
How much awkward Christian work
there is done in the world How many
good people there are who drive souls
| away from Christ instead of bringing
them TO him! All their fingers are thumbs
religious bluuderers who upset more
than they right. Their gun has crook
ed barrel aud kicks as it goes off. They
are like II clumsy comrade who goes
along with skillful hunters. At the very
moment he ought to be most quiet he is
cracking an alder or falling over log
and frightening away the game.
The archers of olden time studied their
art. They were very precise in the mat
teFs~a-The old books gave special direc-
tons as to how an archer should go and
as TO what an archer should do. He
must stand erect and firm. his left foot
little in advance of the right foot.
IaF+ L., t.,I.- l. i
of the bow in the middle, and then with
the three fingers aud the thumb OF his
right hand he should lay hold the arrow
and affix it to the strng-So precise was
the direction given But how clumsy we
are about religious work, How little
skill and care we exercise, How often
our arrows miss the mark. | am glad
that there are Institutions established
in many cities of our land where men
may learn the art of doing good-study-
ing spiritual archery and become known
as mighty hunters before the Lord
In the first place, if You want TO be eff
fectual in doing good you must be very
sure Sc your weapon. There was some
thing very fascinating about the archery
of oiden times. Perhaps you do not know
what they could do with the bow and ar
row. Why, the chief battles fought by
the English Plantagenets were with the
longbow. They would take the arrow Of
polished wood and feather it with the
plume of a bird. and then it would fly
from the bowsring of plated silk. The
bloody fields Of Agincourt and SOlway
Moss and Eeville's Cross heard the loud
thrum of the archers bowstring Now.
my Christian friends, we have mightier
weapon than that. II is the arrow of the
gospel; it is a sharp arrow; it is n straight
arrow; it is feathcrcd from the wing of
the dove Of Gods spirit; ii flies from a
bow made out of the wood Of the cross.
As far as | can estimate or calculate, it
has brought down 400000.O00 Of souls.
Paul knew now to bring the notch Of
t.at arrow OH to the bowString, and its
whir was heard through the Corinthan
theaters and through the court room until
the knees Of Felix knocked together. 1t
was that arrow that stuck in Luthor's
heart when he cried out. oh, my sins.
oh. my sins" If it strike a man in the
head. It kills his skcpticism if it strike
him in the heel, II will turn his step: IL
II strike him in the heart, ne throws up
his hands, as did one o. old when wound
ed IN the battle, crying, 20 Gaiilcan,
thou hast conquered
In the armory OF the Earl Of Penn
broke there are old corseiets which show
that the arrow Of the English used TO 90
through the breatspiate, through the body
Of the warrior and out through the back
plate. What a symbol of that gospel
which is sharper than a two-edged sword,
piercing 70 the dividing asunder Of soul
and body and Of the joints and marrow
Would to God we had more faith in that
gospel The humblcst man in the World
if he had enough faith in it, could bring
hundred souls to Christ--pcrhaps 800.
The religion Of Ralph Waldo Emerson
was the philosophy Of iciclcs; the religion
OF Theodore Parker was O sirocco of the
desert, covering up the soul with dry
sand; the religion Of ReDan was the ro-
nance OF believing almost nothing; the
religion Of the Huxieys and the Spencers
is merely pedestal on which human phi
losophy sits shivering In the night of the
soul, looking Up to the stars. Offering no
help to the nations that crcGch aud groan