Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-08-14


cannot until all the focks be gathered
together and till they roll the stone from
the wells mouth; then we water the
sheep
4 scene in Mesopotamia. beautifully
pastoral. A well of water of great value
in that region The fields around about
it white with three fiocks of sheep iy!aa.
down waiting for the watering. hear
their bleating coming on the bright air
and the laughter of young men and maid
ems INDUCING in rustic repartee. | look
of. and | see other tiocks of sheep COM
ing. Meanwhile Jacob, a stranger, on
the interesting errand of looking for a
wife. comes to the well. A beautltai
shepherdess comes to the same well.
see her approaching, followed by her faith
er's flock of sheep. 1t was memora-
Bile meeting. Jacob married that shep-
herdess The Bible account of it is, ia
rob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice
and wept.' 1t has always been a mys-
terry to me what he found to cry about.
But before that scene occurred Jacob ac-
costs the shepherds and asks them why
they postpone the shaking of the thirst OF
these sheep and why they did not imme-
diately proceed to water them. The shop
herds reply to the effect: I'VE are all
good neighbors, and as matter OF cour-
tesy we wait until all the sheep of the
neighborhood come up. Besides that,
this stone on the wells mouth is some
what heavy. and several of us take hold
of ii and push it aside, and then the
buckets and the troughs are filed and
the sheep .fu satisfied. We cannot until
all the fioeks are gathered together and
till they roll the stone from the wells
mouth; then we VIZ er the sheep"
Oh. this is a thirsty world Hot for
the head, and blistering for the feet, and
parching for the tongue The worlds
great want is cool. refreshing, satisfy
ing draft. We wander around, and we
find he cistern empty. Long and tedious
drought has dried up the worlds foun-
tain, but centuries ago a Shepherd, with
crook in the shape of q cross and feet cut
to the bleeding, explored the desert pas
sages of this world and one day came
across well a thousand feet deep. bub-
bling and bright and opalescent, and
looked to the north. and the south, and
the east. and the west and cried ont
with voice strong and musical. that
rang through the ages, "Ho, every one
that thirsteth. come ye 10 the waters"
Now, a great flock of sheep to-day gath
er around this gospel well. There are a
great many thirsty souls. l wonder why
the flocks of all nations do not gather,
why so many stay thirsty. and while |
am wondering about it my text breaks
forth in the explanation, saying, we
cannot until all the flocks be gathered to-
gether and till they roll the stone from
the wells mouth: then we water the
sheep
Coming to the Gospel Wei.
Ii a herd of swine come to a We'll they
angrily jostle each other for the preced-
ence: if drove of cattle come to well.
they hook each other back from the wat
er but when n flock of sheep come,
though hundred of them shall be disap-
pointed. they only express it by sad bleat
ing, they come together peaceably. We
want great multitude to come around
the gospel well / know there are those
who do not like a crowd; they think
crowd Is vulgar. If they are oppressed
for room in church, it makes them posi-
lively impatient and belligerent. We have
had people permanently leave church
because so many other people come to it.
Not so did these oriental shepherds.
They waited until all the hocks were
gathered, and the more fiocks that came
the better they liked it. And so we
ought TO be anxious that all the people
should come. Go out into the highways
and the hedgf 9 and compel them to come
in. Go to the rich and tell them they are
INDECENT without the gospel of Jesus. Go
TO the poor and tell them the attiusnce
there is in Christ. Go to the blind and
tell them of the touch that gives eternal
illumination. Go to the lame and tell
them of the JOY that will make the lame
man leap like a hart. Gather all the
sheep off all the mountains. None so
torn of the dogs, none so sick, none so
worried, none so dying. ms to be omitted
Why not gather great flock? All this
city in flock, all New York in flock.
all London in :. flock, all the world in 4
flock
This weil of the gospel is deep enough
to put out the burning thirst of the
600 000.0 900 of the race. Do not lei the
church by Il spirit of ely clusiveness keep
the world out. Let down all the bars,
swing open all the gate. scatter all the
invitations. Whose or will, let him
come" Come. white and black. Come.
red men Of the forest. Come. Laplander
out of the snow. Come. Patagonian. out
of the south. Come in furs. Come pant
Ing upder palm leaves. Come one.
Cone all. Come now. As at this well Of
Mesopotamia Jacob and Rachel were be-
trothed. SO this morning at this well of
salvation Christ, our Shepherd, will meet
..,,,,;,., - with t~nnr inna, HnaIs of