Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-08-12

BY 4. a. NJ. GcS$Ier
VIII arise and so to nly father
Luke wv. As.
The sw setest Of stories told in any
tongue a.uong men is this beautiful
parable Of the prodigal son. Every
where is it attentively heard. Simple
even to plainness. told ten thousand
times. il never loses its marvellous
Charm.
What is perhaps most wonderful
about it II that, while the quiet OF the
wanderer is never for a moment hid.
den, willie his transgression is sci be
fore us in characters so distinct as
never TO be mistaken, we do not for
a moment lose our sympathy for the
wandcrer himself. So the Master wish
ed it. For so He opens the ~inexhaust-
lille fountains of the divine love TO our
vision: so He shows us how He re-
ceiyes sinners and eats with them;
how lie welcomes the guilt to the
feast of His love and rejoices over
them MS a father over Il child tia.
was lost.
And vet this sympaths turns alto
getner upon the incident TO which this
scripture directs us. Let the nara
tive Lave another termination and our
pity turns to disgust. Let it read:
"Eut he was besotted and rejoiced in
the husks with the swine: he longed
not for his fathers home: he ignored
its plenty and died in his wretched-
Eess." We should then say: ''Miser-
able brute, he lived and died as he de-
served
lii tie strange land to which we
haze come. whether our feet so into
flower gardens or deserts. we are apt
20 idsc knowledge of the fatherhood
taat is over us. The material advan-
tages of the world. all its profits, hon
ors aud emoluments, can never satisfy
the highest aspirations Of the human
SOU. We want something more endur-
Tag and profound. Nor will art. litera-
tire or sentiment satisfy the craving.
Not anything that exhausts itself N
the realm of the intellect or the e;.lo-
tons alone responds to the soul high
est aspirations. The leverage by
which it is to be lifted must be out
side itself. 1t wants God.
The burden of sorrow, care and an
xiety that Expresses US requires a
higher ministry than this strange
land affords. Its comforts are but
"huslis." Many a business mar who
reads these words Today shudders as
he recollects that the Sunday rest is
already half gone and that tomorrow
he must resume the grind of yester-
day and take up the agonies that had
only been laid aside during his rest.
ing spell. The mother who left the
body of her child in the cemetery q
few days ago is not relieved by the
thought that She shares only the com
mon lot of mortals. 4 tenderer hand
than that of philos oPhy is needed to
stray the rush of her tears.
No, it is not satisfying, this "far
country" Many of IFS gifts are high
and noble; indeed they are all of them
OF the Fathers bestowal-we must not
forget this when we are tempted to
belittle the worlds fayors-but they
are only the media and not the sub
anc OF a divine affection. We need
to get beyond and above them all to
lie perennial fountain from which all
beneficenee flows If the soul is to be
satisfied with perfect refreshment. Il
will arise and 20 to my Father" Let
every reader say this to his own SOU
to-day. Beyond and above all songs
and psalms, beyond and above all rites
and ccremonials to the loving heart of
the Fatheri
There is no room for doubt as to
my welnomc. for His arms are always
open TO receive His sorrowing. suffer.
ing. penitent children. They are His
very own. He gives them a peace
which this world can neither bestow
nor despoii.
My Father. When every soul shall
ONE 10 the sense of proprietorship
which this pronoun suggests, then
shall men cease to tremble before an
awful fyrant, and that sense of des-
pair which accompanies the idea OF
an impersonal or absent power that
is above us perishes. The vague yearn-
ing that had its birth In our early
childhood when at a mothers knee we
learned 10 say, Our Father. which
art in heaven finds a higher realiza,
ton than was then possible to our
dreams. for the heavenly gates have
opened and the Father has come down
to meet his returning child In an In.
efrable ministry Of comfort. peace and
love.