Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-03-27

most pertinent at this time when
u a widespread effort for religious
awakening is being made; text, Luke ",
6, ''rhey inclosed a great multitude Oh
fishes, and their net brake.
Simon and his comrades had expert
enced the night before what fishermen
call poor luck Christ steps on board
the fishing smack and tells the sailors TO
pull away from the beach and directs
them again to sink the net. Sure enough,
very soon the net is full of fishes, and
the sailors begin to haul in. SO large a
school of fishes was taken that the hardy
mel begin to look red in the face as they
pun, and hardly have they begun to re-
J ce at their success when snap goes a
tread of the net, and snap goes another
thread, so there is danger not only OF
losing the fish, but of losing the net.
Without much care as to how much
the boat tits or how much water IS
splashed on deck the fishermen rush
about, gathering up the broken meshes
of the net Out yonder there is ship
dancing on the wave. and they hail it:
'Ship ahoy! Bear down this way" The
ship comes, and both boats, both fishing
smacks, are filed with the tioundering
treasures.
"Ah," says some one, how much bet
ter it would have been if they had staid
on shore and fished with hook and line
and taken one at a time instead of hav-
ing this great excitement and the boat
almost upset and the net broken and
having to call for help and getting sop
ping wet with the scar
The church is the boat, the gospel is
the net, society is the sea, and great re-
vival is a whole school brought in at one
sweep of the net have admiration for
that man who goes out with a hook and
line to FISH l admire the way he UNI
winds the reel and adjusts the bait and
drops the hook in a quiet place on still
afternoon and here catches one and there
one, but like also a big boat and large
crew and a net mile long and swift
oars and stout sails aud a stiff breeze
and great multitude of souls brought
so great multitude that you have to get
help to draw it ashore, straining the net
TO the utmost until it breaks here and
there, letting few escape, but bringing
the great multitude into eternal safety.
Belief in Revivals.
In other words, l believe in REVEALS.
The great work of saving men began
with 5000 people joining the church in
one day, and it will close with forty or a
hundred million people saved in "a hours
when nations shall be born in a day.
But there are objections to reyiyals.
People are opposet to them because the
net might get broken, and if by the pres
sure of souls it does not get broken, then
they take their own penknives and slit
the net. They inclosed great multi
tude of fishes, and their net brake"
1t is sometimes opposed to reviyals of
religion that chose who come into the
church AT such times do not hold out. AS
long as there is a gale of blessing they
have their sails up. But as soon as
strong winds stop blowing then they
drop into a dead calm. But what are
the facts in the case? In all our churches
the vast majority of the useful people
are those who are brought in under great
awakenings, and they hold out. Who
are the prominent men in the United
States in churches, in prayer meetings,
in Sabbath schools? For the most part
they are the product of great awaken
ings.
l have noticed that those who are
brought into the kingdom of God through
revivals have more persistence and more
determination in the Christian life than
those who come in under low state of
religion. People born in an icehouse may
live, but they will never get over the
cold they caught in the icehouse. A can
non ball depends upon the impulse with
which it starts for how far it shall go
l. ,F4l. Al 1.
vival force with which soul is started
the more farreaching and far resounding
will be the execution.
But it is sometimes objected to re-
vivals that there is so much excitement
that people mistake hystera for religion.
We admit that in every revival of reli-
gion there is either a suppressed or
demonstrated excitement. Indeed, if
man can 20 out of state of condemna-
ton into a state of acceptance with God
or see others 90 without any agitation of
soul he is in an unhealthy morbid state
and is as repulsiye and absurd as a man
who should boast he saw child snatehed
out from under a horses hoofs and felt
no agitation or saw man rescued from
the fourth story of n house on fire and
felt no acceleration of the pulses.
Z Salvation from sin and death and hell
into life snd peace and heaven forever is
such tremendous thing that if Il man
tells me he can look on it without any
agitation | doubt his Christianity.
Gathering In the Young.
1t is sometimes said that during re-
vivals of religion great multitudes of
children and young people are brought
into the church. and they do not know
what they are about. 1t has been my
observation that the earlier people come
into the kingdom of God the more useful
they are. Robert Hall, the prince of
preachers, was converted at II years of
age. 1t is likely he knew what he was
about. Matthew Henry, the common
tator, who did more than any man of his
century for increasing the interest in the
study of the Scriptures, was converted
at IL years of age; Isabella Graham. i'm
mortal in the Christian church, was con-
verted 1t 10 years of age; DIR. Watts.
whose hymns will be sung all down the
ages, was converted at . years of age;
Jonathan Edwards, perhaps the might
est intellect that the American pulpit
ever produced, was converted at years
Of age. and that father and mother take
an awful responsibility when they tell
their child at years of age, You are
too young to be a Christian" or, You
are too young TO connect yourself with
the church. That is a mistake as long
as eternity.
II during q revival two persons present
themselves as candidates for the church
and the one i 10 years Of age aud the
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