Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-06-16

| east Wlnu is It'll
| tating and full of
| threat. Eighteen times does the Bible
speak against the East wind. Moses
! describes the thin ears blasted by the
east wind. The Psalmist describes the
breaking of the ships of Tarshish by
he east wind. The locusts that plagued
Egypt were borne in on the east wind.
The gourd that sheltered Jonah was
shattered by the east wind and in all
the six thousand summers, autumns,
winters, springs, of the worlds eXis-
tence, the worst wind that ever blew
is the east wind. Now, if God would
only give us climate of perpetual
nor -wester, how genial and kind and
placid and Industrious Christians we
would all be- But it takes almighty
| grace to be what we ought to be under
me east wind. Under the chilling and
wet wing of the east wind the most of
The earth's villainies, frauds, outrages,
suicides, and murders have been
| Matched out I think If you should
keep meteorological history of the
| lays OF the year, and put right beside
1t the criminal record of the country,
you would find that those were the
best days for public morals which were
under the north or west wind, and that
| those were the worst days for public
morals which were under the east wind.
The points of the compass have more
| 10 do with the worlds morals and the
churchs piety than you have yet sus-
pected. Rev. DR.. Archibald Alexander,
eminent for learning and for consecra-
ton, when asked by one of his stu
dents at Princeton whether he always
had full assurance of faith. replied,
Yes, except when the wind blows from
the east" DR.. Francia, Dictator of
Paraguay, when the wind was from the
east, made oppressive enactments for
the people; but when the weather
changed, repented him of the cruelties,
| repealed the enactments, and was in
good humor with all the world.
Before | overtake the main thought
| of my subject, want to tell Christian
| people they ought to be observant of
climatical changes. Be on your guard
when the wind blows from the east.
| There are certain styles of tempta-
| tons that you cannot endure under
certain styles of weather. When the
| ,ind blows from the east, if you are
IF nervous temperament, go not
.mong eXasperating people, try not to
settle bad debts, do not try to settle
| old disputes, do not talk with bigot
on religion, do not go among those
| people who delight in saying irritating
things. do not try to collect funds for
charitable institution, do not try to
answer an insulting letter. If these
things must be done, do them when the
wind is from the north, or the south, or
| the west, but not when the wind is
| from the east.
You say that men and women ought
not TO be so sensitive and nervous |
admit it, but | am not talking about
what the world ought to be; | am talk
| ing about what the world is. While
there are persons whose disposition
does not seem to be affected by
| changes in the atmosphere, nine out OF
every ten are nightly played upon by
such influences. o Christian man.
under such circumstances do not write
hard things against yourself, do not
get worried about your fluctuating ex-
perience. You are to remember that
the barometer in your soul is only
answering the barometer of the wealth
er. Instead of sitting down and being
discouraged and saying: Il am not q
Christian because | don't feel eXhila-
rant" get up and look out of the win
dow and see the weather vane point
ing in the wrong quarter, and then say.
Get thee behind me- Satan, thou
prince of the power of the air; get out
of my house! get out of my heart. thou
demon of darkness horsed on the east
wind. Away" However good and
great you may be in the Christian life.
your soul will never be independent OF
physical condition. | feel | am utter
ing most practical, useful truth here.
one that may give relief to a great
many Christians who are worried and
respondent at times.
DR.. Rush, monarch in medicine.
after curing hundreds of cases OF men
tai depression, himself fell sick and
lost his religious hope, and he would
not believe his pastor when the pastor
told him that his spiritual depression
was only a consequence of physical de-
preston, Andrew Fuller, Thomas
Scott, William Cowper, Thomas Bos-
ton, David Brainerd, Philip Melanc-
thon were mighty men of God, but all
of them Illustrations of the fact that a
mans soul is not independent of his
physical health. An eminent physi-
clan gave as his opinion that no man
ever died greatly triumphant death
whose disease was below the dial
phragm. Stackhouse, the learned
Christian commentator, says he does
not think Saul was insane when David
played the harp before him. but it was
A hypochondria coming from infamma-
ton of the liver. Oh, how many good
people have been mistaken in regard to
their religious hope, not taking these
things into consideration! The Dean OF
Carlisle, one OF the best men that ever
| lived, and one OF the most useful. sat
Town and wrote: Though | have en-
| ieavored to discharge my duty as well
! Is I cOull vet sadness and malancboiy