Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-10-30

sweet influences of Pleiades =
What is the meaning of that question
that God put to Job? Have we all our
lives been rea ding it and are most of US
ignorant OF its beauty and power ana
practical suggestiy eness? A meaningless
passage of Scripture many thought II TO
be. But the TELESCOPES We're busy age
after age and astronomical observations
kept on questioning the skies until the
meaning of my text comes out lustrousE-
The Pleiades is a constellation OF seven
stars appearing to the naked eye, but scr
entilic instruments reveal more than 4Vo
properly belonging to the group Aleyohe
is the name of the brightest star OF that
group called the Pleiades. Russlah
astronomer observed that Aleyone Is the
center of gravitation of our solar system.
Hugh Macmillan says that the sun anu
its planets wheel around that center al
the rate of AZ, 900 miles a day IN an or
hit which it will take l9,000,0o0 years 10
complete. The Pleiades appear IN the
springtime and are associated with h9"-
ers and genial warmth and good weather.
The navigation of the Mediterranean
was from May to Noyember-the rising
and the setting of the Pleiades. Inc
priests of Belus noticed that rising ana
setting 1000 years before Christ.
Now. the glorious meaning of my text
ia plain as well as radiant. To give ~oD
the beautiful grace of humility God asked
him. ..Canst thou bind the sweet lnnu-
ences of the PleiadesE" Have You any
power over the laws of gravitation! Can
YOU modify or change an influence weld
ed by a star more than 400Ouo miss
away? Can you control the winds OF tlss
springtime? Can you cali out the now
ers? How little you know compared with
omniscience. How little you can do COM
pared with omnipotence!
The probability is that JOB had been
tempted to arrogance by his vast attain
ments. He was metallurgist, a zoolo-
gist. 4 poet and shows by his writings he
had knowledge of hunting, of music, OF
hushuadry, of medicine, of mining, of as
tronom,, and perhaps was so far ahead
of the scholars and scientists OF MS tile
tbat he may have been somewhat puifed
up; hence this interrogation OF my text
And there is nothing that so soon takes
down hui an pride as an nterrogau oll
po;nt rightly thrust. Christ used IT
nightly. Paul mounted the parapet Oh
his great arguments with such pat
terry. Men OF he world understand IT.
> Demosthenes began his speech on the
crown and Cicero his Grafton against Cat
lime and Lord Chatham his most IA
NOUS orations with a question. Inc EN-
pire of ignorance is so much vastef IMAM
the empire of knowledge that after lhe
most learned and elaborate dlsqulsltioh
upon any subject of sociology or theolosy
the plainest man may ask question that
will make the wisest speechless. AFTER
the profoundest assault upon Christianity
the humblest disciple may MAKE an IN
ouiry that would silence a Noltalre.
Armed with Interrogatious.
Called upon, as we all are at times, TO
deferd our holy religion, instead OF afgu-
1nent that can always be answered by ar
gumcnt let us try the power of interroga-
tion. We ought to be loaded with at least
half dozen questions and always ready,
and when Christianity is assalled ana we
are told there Is nothing i'll It, and there
is no God, and there never was miracle
and that the Scriptures are unreasonable
and cruel and that there never Will be
Judgment day. take out of your portable
armory Of interrogation something like
This. What makes the condition of wo-
man in Christian lands better than i'll
heather lands! Do you think it would be
kind in God to turn the human race into
a world without any written revelation
IN pxnIain and encourage and elevate and
save? And If revelation was made
which do YOU prefer, the Zenda-Nesta OF
the Persian or the Confucian writings of
the Chinese or the Koran of M0hammed
or our Bible? If Christ is not a divine
being, what did he mean when he sale,
Before Abram was | am" IL the Bible
Is a bad book, where are the evil results
of reading it2 Did you see any degrading
influence of the book in your father or
mother or sister who used to read it? Do
YOU not think that judgment day is nee
essary in order to explain and fix up
things that were never explained or fixed
up? If our religion is illogical and an
imposition upon human credulity why
were Herschel and Washington and Glad
stone and William Mckinley its adyo-
Gates How did it happen that our reli-
gion furnished the theme for the greatest
poem ever written, Paradise Lost" and
to the painters their greatest themes in
the elaboration of the Magi," The
Transformation, "The Last Supper"
1.-THE Crucifxion, The Entombment, I"
1.-The Last Judgment and that all the
schools of painting put forth their utmost
genius in presenting The MadonnaY'
A discourse on God omnipotence AMI
mans limitations would not have had
such an effect upon Job as the interroga-
ton Of the text '+Canst thou bind tie
sweet influence of PleiadesY
sweet Influences from Afar.
These words also recognize far-reaching
influences. job probably had no ade-
quate idea of the distance of the worlds
mentioned from our world, but he knew
them to be far off, and we, who have the
advantage Of modern sidereal invesriga-
ton, ought to be still more impressed than
was Job with the question of the text, as
it puts before US the fact that worlds hun
dreds Of thousands Of miles distant have
a grip on our world. There are sweet in
fiaenees which hold us from afar. There
may have been in cur ancestral line per
haps 200 years ago some consecrated man
or woman who has held over all the gen
erat:ans since an influence for good which
we have no power to realize. and We in
furn. by our virtue or vice. may influence
those who shall i've 200 years from now.
Moral gravitation is as powerful as ma
terial gravtafion. and IL, as my text
teaches and science confirms, the PEE
AIDES. which are millions u miles from
our earth, influence the earth We ought 10
be impressed with how we may be in
auenced by others far away back and
how we may influence others far down
the future That riil away up among
the A5!auharies 80 thin you think it viii