Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-04-16

give their thousands of dollars if they
could get bacl, to the OLD religion Of their
fathers. Such men are not to he carl
catured. but helped. and not through
their heads, but through their hearts.
I When these men really DO come into the
Kingdom of God they will be worth far
more to the ca Use of Christ than those
who never examined the evidences of
Christianity.
Another Apology.
Other persons apologize for not enter
ing the Christian life because of the in
corrigibihty of their temperament Now,
we admit it is harder for some people to
become Christians than for others, but
the grace of God never came to noun
tain that it could not climb or to an abyss
that it could not fathom or to a bondage
that it could not break The widest
horse that ever trod Arabian sands has
been broken to bit and trace. The mad
dest torrent tumbling from mountain
shelving has been harnessed 10 the mill
4 wheel and the factory band, setting u
thousand shnttles all a-bQzz and a-clat-
ter. And the widest. the haughtiest, the
most ungovernabie man ever created ~
the grace of God may be subdued and
3 sent Uul on iLiHistTN u hiiitlAtf>Sf - N'S''
sends an August thunderstorm to water
1 the wild flowers down in the grass Peter,
with nature tempeStuous as the sea that
he once tried TO walk, at one look from
Christ went out and wept bitterly. Rich
1 harvests of grace may grow on the sum
I NIT of the Jagged steep, and ticcks of
Christian graces may find pasturage IN
fields of bramble and rock. Though your
disposition may be all a-bristle with fret
fulness. though you have a temper
a-gleam with quick lightnings, though
your atarice be like that of the horse
leech, crying. Give though damnable
impurities have wrapped you in all con-
Stunning fire. God can drive that devil out
of your soul. and over the chaos and the
darkness he can say, Let there be light.
Converting grace has lifted the drunkard
from the ditch and snatched the knife
from the hand of the assassin and .-'e
false keys from the burglar and in the
pestiferous lanes of the city met the
daughter of sin under the dim lamplight
and scattered her sorrow and her guilt
with the words, THY sins are forgiven;
go and sin no more For scarlet sin
scarlet atonement.
Other persons apologize for not enter
ing the Christian life because of the in
consistencies of those who profess re
ligion. There are thousands of poer farm
crs. They do not know the nature of
soils or the proper rotation of crops.
/ Their corn is shorter in the stalk and
smaller in the ear They have ten less
bushels to the acre than their neighbors.
But who declines being farmer because
there are SO many poor farmers: There
are thousands of incompetent merchants.
They buy at the wrong time. They get
cheated in the sale Of their goods. Every
| bale of goods is to them a bale of DIS
aster They fail after awhile and 20 oat
| Of business But who declines to BE- a
merchant because there are so many IN
competent merchants? There are tn ou-
sands of poor lawyers. They cam Ut
| draw n declaration that will stand thu
test. They cannot recover just damages
They cannot help a defendant escape
from the injustice of his prosecutors.
They are the worst impediments against
any case in which they are retained. But
who declines to be a lawyer because
| there are 50 many incompetent lawyers?
Yet there are tens Of thousands of peo-
Pile who decline being religious because
there are so many unworthy Christians.
Now. | say it is illogical. Poor lawyers
are nothing against jurisprudence; poor
physicians are nothing against medicine;
poor farmers are nothing against agri-
culture. and mean. con emptihle profess
sors Of religion 're nothing against our
glorious Christianity.
False Lights TO Be Avoided.
Sometimes you have been riding along
Mo nv. md
have seen lights that kindled over de-
cayed getation--lights which are called
jack-o' lantern or -the-wisp These
lights are merely poisonous miasmata
Ny friends, on your way to heaven you
will want a better light than the will-o'
the-wis,s which dance on the rotten char
acter of moribund Christians. Exuda-
tons from poisonous trees in our neigh
bor's garden will make a very poor balm
for our wounds.
Sickness will come and we will be
pushed out toward the Red sea which di-
vides this world from the next, and rot
the inconsistency of Christians, but the
rod of faith. will wave back the waters
as a commander wheels his host. The
judgment will come, with its thunder
shod solemnities. Oh. then we will not
stop anu say. 1HcFe WIS II mean OHIlS-
tan; there was a cowardly Christian
there was an impure Christian. In that
day as now IF thou be wise, thou shalt
be wise for thyself. but if thou soonest
thou alone shall bear it," Why. any
brother, the inconsistency of Christians
so far from being an argument to keep
you away from God, ought to be an ar
gument to drive you to him. The best
place for u skilfu doctor is in neigh
borhood where there are all poor doe
tors. the best place for an enterprising
merchant to open his store is in place
where the bargain makers do not under
stand their business, and the best place
for you who want TO become the illus
trious and complete Christian the best
place for you is to cone right down
among us who are so incompetent and
so inconsistent sometimes. Show Ms how.
Give US an example.
Time to BE Religions.
Other persons apologize for not becom-
ing Christi because they lack time
as though religion muddled the brain Of
the accountant or tripped the pen of the
author or thckened the tongue Of the
orator or weakened the arm Of the me-
chanic or scattered the briefs of the law
yer or interrupted the sales of the mer-
chant. They bolt their store doors
against it and fight il back with trowels
and with yardstcks and cry. Away with
your religion from our store, our Office.
our factory" They do not understand