Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-06-26

Importance Of prompt action IN any thlilS
we have TO do for ourselves or others;
text: Eeclesiastes XII, 4, He that Oh
serveth the wind shall not sow"
What do you find in this packed SEN
tance of Solomon.s monologue? | find in
it a farmer at his front door examining
the weather. 1t is seeitime. His fields
have been plewed and narrowed. The
wheat is in the barn in sacks, ready to
be taken atied and scattered Now is the
time to sow. But the wind is not favor
able. 1t may blow up storm before
night, and he may get wet if he starts
out for the sowing; or it may be long
storm. that will wash out the seed from
the soil; or there may have been long
drought, and the wind may continue 10
blow dry weather The parched fields
may not take in the grain. and the birds
may pick it up, and the labor az Wei as
the seed may be wasted. SO ne s;Ies up
the work for nat day and goes into the
house and W; its to see what il will be on
the morrow. On the morrow the wind is
still in the wrong direction. Did you
ever see such a long spell of bad wealth
err The lethargic and cyercautious and
diiatory agriculturist allows the season
TO pass without sowing, and no sowing,
of course. no harvest That is what Sol
ONION means when he says in his text,
'He that obseryeth the wind shall not
SOW"
As much in our time as in Solomonic
fines there is abroad a fatal hestancy,
disposition TO let little things stop US, a
ruinous adjournment. We all want to do
some good in the W orld, but how easily
VIC are halted in our endeavors. Perhaps
we are solicitors for some great charity.
There is a good man who has large
means. and he is accustomed TO give lib
orally to asylums, to hospitals, to reform
organizations, to schools, to churches, to
communities 1esolated with flood or de-
yastated with fires. But that good man,
like many a good man. is mercurial in
his temperament. He is depressed by at
mospherie changes. He is always vic
timized by the east wind For this or
that reason you postpone the charitable
solicitae.on. Meanwhile the suffering
that you wish to alleviate does it's awful
work. and the opportunity for relief is
past If the wind had been from the
west or northwest, you would have en-
tered the philanthropist's counting room
and sought the gift. but the wind was
blowing from the east or northeast, and
you did not make the attempt, and You
thoroughly illustrated my text, He that
Obseryeth the wind shall not sow"
The Crisis Was Not Met.
There comes dark Sabbath morning.
The pastor looks out of the window and
sees the clouds gather and then discharge
their burdens of rain. Instead of a full
church it will be a handful of people
with wet feet and the dripping umbrella
at the doorway OF III the end Of the pew
The pastor has prepared one of his ast
sermons. 1t has cost him great research
and he has been much in prayer while
preparing it. He puts the sermon aside
for a clear day and talks platitudes and
goes home quite depressed, but at the
same time feeling that he has done his
duty. He did not realize that in that
small audience there were at least two
persons who ought to have had better
treatment. One of those hearers was a
man in a crisis of struggle Nth evil appe-
tite. A carefully prepared discourse I'M
der the divine blessing would have been
TO him complete victory. The fires of sin
would have been extinguished, and his
keen and brilliant mind would have been
consecrated to the gospel ministry, and
he would have been-a mighty evangel,
and tens of thousands of souls would
have. under the spell of his Christian
eloqucnce, given up sin and started new
life, and throughout all the heavens there
would have been cOngratulation and hO-
sauna, and after many ages of eternity
had passed there would be celebration
among the ransomed of what was ac-
eomphshed enc starmy Sunday in
church ON earth undeS mighty gospel
sermon delivered TO ffteer or twenty
people. But the crisis / speak of was
not properly met. The mar. in struggle
with evil habit heard that stormy day
no word that moved hfm. He went out
in the rain unlimited and unhelped lack
TO his evil way and down to his over
throw Had it been 4 sunshiny Sabbath
he would have heard something worth
hearing. But the wind blew from
stormy direction that Sabbath day.
There was another person in that
stormy Sunday audience that deserved
something better from that pastor than
extemporized nothingEess. 1t was a
mother who was half awakened 10
sense of responsibility in regard to her
household She had begun to question
herself as to whether it would not he
better TO introduce into her home A reli-
gion that would decide arigla the des-
tiny OF her sons and daug iters Her
home had so far been contr Jlled only by
worldly principles. She had cared the
riot of the elements that morning ard
had found her way to church, hoping to
hear something that would help her TO
decide the domestic question which was
to her a solicitude. A good, strong SER
mon under the divine blessing would
have led her into the kingdom of God
and afterward her whole family The
children whether they became farmers
or mechanics or merchants or artists or
men of learned profession or women at
the head of households, would have done
their work in a Christian way and after
lives Of usefulness ON earth would have
taken thrones in heaven. Ii would have
been whole family saved for tim and
saved for eternity. But the pastor had
adjourned the strong and effective dis
course to a clear Sunday. The mother
went home chilled in body mind and soul
AMI concluded not 70 trouble herself or
her household about the future and to LET
Tomorrow take care Of itself and keep on
dain- as they had been doing. No God
Ia that home No religious consolation
in tine of bereavement, No formation Of
Thorough Christian character in the lives
Of those growing w boys and girls. They
viii 20 nut iuto the world b meet its Vi
eissit8dcs without say Sublime re-eh-
forcement Of .he gospel.
lack Courage of Conviction.