Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-12-02
HOW SHALL SHALL wELIvE?

OF race if we are to find our paradise.
HOW SHALL SHALL WE LIVE?
BY Rev. A. ". ~. hadder.
Man shall not live by breaG alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out
OF the mouth of God.-AIatthew 4: 4.
How shall we live? The tempter
says by bread Christ replies in
the words of our text. Man lives by
God's gifts only as God is behind
them, and vet the real support is not
IN the gifts but in the giver. Life. in
its fullest sense. is action from with
in, sustained with food from without.
This Is clearly illustrated by the pow
er of steam, generated within a boiler,
but dependent upon water and fuel
from without.
God has appointed under all ordi-
nary circumstances that we should
sustain life by the secondary means
of earthly food. but, placing this as
the limit of Gods directions, we make
our lives earth, earthly, and hold out
little or no hope to the poor and needy
of this worlds goods.
The word bread" covers wide
range Of earthly supplies, and is of
primary interest to the people Of all
nations. 1t places an emphasis upon
the saying, "Self-preservation is the
first law of nature" The world says,
By these things we live"
Moreover, we are not blind to the
necessar7 anxiety about such things
as the body's just claim, but rather &C
cept the fact that food, raiment and
shelter are part of Gods economy of
life. Christ says: Your hnavelliy
father knoweth that We have need Of
all these things" In the Lort.'s Prayer
we are taught to ask, Give us this
day our daily bread" and we are jus
tilted in a material Interpretation of
this human request as much as spir-
itual sense. But we are wrong~if we
place so small a horizon about our
lives and give no attention to the
words Of Christ, May shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word
that prOceedeth out of the mouth OF
God" We place ourselves by the side
of the "Pharisees," of whom it was
spoken: Woe unto you, Pharisees; for
We 1.-THE mint and rue and all manner
of herbs, and pass over judgment ard
the love of God; these We ought to have
done, and not to leave the other un-
done"
First-We should live in love- If
Paul were writing to-day he would
have said, Though possess abund-
Ance of all things, and have not love,
it profteth me nothing" Iron in the
soil is raised to more useful sphere
by the growing plant rooted in the
earth; the planidsn. 9n taken to nourish
the body place the iron still higher
and finds its largest usefulness in en-
ergy produced in the blood of man. So
the seed of divine love, placed by God
in the human heart, can raise it to a
larger and nobler life. We need the
food of culture, knowledge, affection,
solitude, all of which are bread to
nOurish, sustain. and develop our
souls, for man is not wholly alive
when his body is alive, but when his
soul is also alive: for the soul lives by
every word which proceeds from the
mouth of God.
Second-We may also live by every
kind of truth which comes from God
to make us more alive. 1t is ignor-
ance, narrowness, bigotry and selfish
ness which make us cling to the letter
and reject constant new revelation.
The mind needs to be nourished with
new thoughts or it will return to in
fancy long before the body comes to its
three score and ten. Truth revealed
in science, truth REVEALED in daily ex-
perience, truth revealed il common
faith in man-these are some of the
words proceeding out of the mouth
o. God For mems souls are only nour-
ished and strengthened in proportion
to their minds and hearts working.
High friendships, noble loves, solemn
angels in grief and death, adversely
and solitude-all special agencies to
feed particular souls.
Third-We may also grow strong
and live by every kind of service. This
was Christ's teaching and practice. II
must be about my Fathers business"
are his words. Gods servlce-an ex-
allied sense of true life. a definite path
of Duty a noble example of a blessed
spirit Though the body lack the
bread of this world and came to hun
ger, pain, tears, sorrow, insult, and
rejection, yet the one thought is, my
meat is to do the will of him that
sent me-"
So may we. readers of to-day's SER
mon. resist the temptation of a con-
centrated thought and work for earth
ly bread and feed upon that bread, of
which, If a man eat, he shall hunger
no more.
Sentence Sermons.
Commences is genius.
Love knows no limitations.
Every deed is a seed.
There is no sanctity without sense