Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-09-30


eth receiteth. and he that seeketh find
eth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened.-St, Matthew viii, I, ..
These words, proclaim an unchange-
able. universal, deternal law OF the
kingdom Of God. they are not three
fold repetition, of a single though.
They are rather an announcement Of
the three successive stages In the up
ward progress OF the one ls'T of de-
string and Obtaining. These steps are
not interchangeable. Seeking is not
asking sISaockinG Is neither asking
nor seeking. Asking is desire; seeking
is desire in action, knocking is active
desire concentrated upon a defcite
purpose and plan.
The words of the text are, we be-
lieye, not the language Of "charac
ter" ia fiction. bat an utterance of Je-
sus Christ Two of their most i'm
pressiye qualities are their unques-
tioning confidence and their unlimit-
ed scope There is no suggestion in
them of doubt Of the reality of the
law; no hint of a limit to the law in
time. or i'll space. or in the nature OF
things ASK, seek. knock, at any time,
anywhere and for anything. and yoa
shall receive, you shall find, it shall be
opened to you. Painful CT pleasant,
good or what is thought TO be evil,
what yen wish for. what you look for.
what you work for you shall have.
The. lesson of, The, reality and the uni
versatility of the law of desiring and OBJ
tanning is hard to be learned Like
other. hard lessons of human life, this
is to be learned only by experience.
Man gets opinion and belief from OBJ
seryatiop. Experience alone brings
know' dge. When one has seen the
fulfllment Of law of Gods kingdom
in mis- own life he knows that the law
is fealas This is the foundation of his
faitii' In the iaw and in the God ex-
pressed in the law. His faith, too, IS
the real faith, which results from real
understanding. which grows out of
real knowledge acquired by man in his
own individual experience. No argu-
ment, can shake such faith. No denial
canedestroy it. Once attained. it is i'm
mortal
1t would seem that this kind of
knowledge was the foundation of the
faith of Jesus Christ in the reality and
the universally Of the divine law of
desiring and receiving. He believed
that the law was real and unlimited,
because lie saw and felt its operation
In tile concerns OF his own holy life.
He knew that what he asked was be-
ing given to him; that he was finding
what he sought; that the doors at
which he knocked We're opened to him.
He lived to do good to others; he de-
sired. he attempted, he planned, to do
good to them. and the sick were made
well, the lame walked. the blind saw.
the deaf heard. the dumb talked. lep
ers were healed, the dead were raised,
and broken hearts were mended. How
could he question the universally of
the law when he found that whatso-
ever good he determined to do, and
whatsoever and wheresoever he deter
mined 10 do it, the good was done?
This was actually receiving what he
asked, finding what he sought. the
opening of the doors through which he
purposed to pass!a
From the point Of view of human ex-
perience' there was nothing peculiar in
the earthly existence of Jesus Christ.
Tested1at all points as all humanity is
tested, Jesus found what all humanity
tnds7-the knowledge. that results from
experience. the understanding that ac-
companies knowledge. the power, the
faith. the love that come from under
standing. He came into this world q
baby cropping after power, with almost
ainiless hands. At,the end of his expe-
rience on earth he went out from his
cross the Goldman, imbued with all
power in earth and In heaven. Because
wegbelieye that the faith of Jesus in
the reality and the universally of the
lawfof desiring and obtaining was an
outgrowth from his experience and
that his experience was in no essential
particular peculiar to himself. we be-
it was for him, as real for ourselves
as II is for all others. More than this.
we ourselves grew into actual faith in
the. realltys.of the lazy, because we find
1t fulfilled in our own experience,
whether in the good which we have
deslred to do er iarthe mistakes which
we have undoubtedly made.
Whatever I'VE, may be doing. there
fore, wherever we may be doing it, we
will have faith that God gives to those
who ask and seek and knock. and that
if we desire them and seek them and
knock for them we shall receive in due
time tfrat is, iii Gods good time. all
good filings all the, knowledge, all the
undeAstaiidfags all fhe wisdom, all the
power. ali the, faith. and all the love
OF wfiieF irminanity-is capable!
lNSQCENcE NOT. ENoUGH.
81 BY Bishop Cheney
The orientals have a proycrb. DO
not sto1p down when passing through
your neighbours melon garden" The
attitude might involve an innocent
man in tho susRitioh OF picking his
neiglbor's .fttir 1'nis is warning
tar nc Christians need more than il.
nJcence. We need a manner Of doing
what IS good that shall keep 1t above
srSpieiols -'
The recent story that the oil wells
of he 4,eAas fiela had been Hood d
with g.tff xsf4 INA. great competing