River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-03-26

people into the FatherS mouse. he
opened the gates of hell, that they
might see 'tthe fire that is not
quenched," and "the worm that dieth
not" 1t was Jesus who did this
not Milton nor any medieval monk.
And he did it because love prompted
him to be faithful and tell the whole
truth. He went into every depart
ment of human life from the cook
mixing the meal in the kitchen to the
king on his throne inviting to his
sons marriage, that he might get an
illustration, handle by which the
people might take hold of the truth.
Let us come after Jesus in his
methods.
Tact Is Needed.
In fishing there must be skillful
cannot catch singly. They go in
schools. They do not bite hooks. If
you ever catch fish of that kind, you
have to draw the seine around the
whole school. There are people like
these fish. They are fond of crowds.
They go together. They will come
to the great assembly, and when they
hear witnesses testify for Christ they
will believe the testimony. When
they see people go into the after
meeting, they will go with them;
when they hear them confess Christ,
they will be encouraged to confess.
You can reach that class of people
only through the crowd. They are So
cial beings and you must touch them
in their social nature.
There are other fish that do not go
IN schools. Like the brook trout, they
hide in out-of-the way places. They
are timid and wary. A fly out of sea-
son has no attraction for them. The
fisherman must keep out of their
sight; and if he breaks a stick, he has
lost his chance of catching that fish.
There are men of this kind. They dis
like the crowd. They are timid. They
do not like the personal approach. II
you go in the open, you will brighten
them away. We need the wisdom of
God in tactful approach, that we may
say just the right word and speak 1t
in the right spirit Nicodemus could
in the right spirit.
The Heroic Method.
There are others that you must win
in more heroic fashion. Saul of Tar
sus could never have been won in
quiet way. To have mentioned the
fact that you wanted him to become a
Christian would have led to your ar
rest. 1t took the light from heaven,
the flash from God; it took the blind
ing and the dark to bring him to con-
slider and make him pray.
Edward Payson, with his tones Of
tender love, put some people to sleep.
What they needed was Jonathan
Edwards with a thunderbolt against
sin in every paragraph. Gypsy
Smith, with his fascinating gypsiness,
that has in it the fragrance of the
wild flowers and the sweetness of the
birds song in the woods, is very at
tractive to some; and they are glad to
hear the gospel as he breaches it..
But there are others (and perhaps
the larger number) who need the
sledge-hammer blows of r. A. Torrey
and the fiery zeal of Billy Sunday.
Do not fish for trout as you do
for sturgeon. Try your trout bait
on sturgeon and you will get no fish;
try your sturgeon bait on trout, and
you will not fill your basket. So do
not criticise the trout fisher because
he refuses to use the sturgeon meth
cd; and do not criticise the sturgeon
fisher because he refuses to use the
trout method. "By all means save
some.'
A Word as to Process.
A word as to process. Come We
after me and will make you to become
fishers of men," If you are not soul
winner, Christ can make you one.
Just transfer the experience of your
business to the spiritual realm and
see how it works. You are mer-
chant? "Come We after me-" says
Jesus, land I will make you mer-
chant of men. will help you to deal
in goods that do not perish with the
using-in merchandise better than
gold" Are you carpenter? Come
We after me, and I will make you a
carpenter of men, building structures
of character that will outlast marble
and granite" Are you a sculptor?
Come We after me, and l will make
you a sculptor of men, chiseling into
shape that which will stand after the
marble of Phidias has crumbled into
dust" Whatever your occupation, let
your experiences in that occupation be
projected into the fishing for men.
The Higher Power.
But fishing depends upon more than
skill. 1t depends upon the elements
above us; the sun, moon and stars,
for some fish can be caught only at
food tide. Old fishermen tell us that
it depends upon the wind, and they
make a doggerel out of it:
when the wind is east,
The fish bite least;
When the wind is west,
The fish bite best"
You can argue with the science OF
IT: but when you go fishing you find
that the catching of fish depends upon
the wind, weather and tide. Our sue
cess in fishing for men depends upon
the wind that comes from God, the
tides that are moved by heavenly infiu-
ences. the atmosphere that comes
from Pentecostal prayer and preach
ing.