Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1904-11-09
THE POWER OF VISION.
nv Rev Nathan

Ale III w LlIA vi lS1ONs
BY Rev. Nathan 4. Selgle.
Where there is no vision the people
perish.--Proyerbs, XXX, Is.
There seems TO be In the going
through of a definite. fixed routine day
after day and week after week some
thing which saps and robs life of that
which is best and noblest in it. Ger
tainly those who lead such a life have,
some more, some less, their vision Cb-
scured and their horizon contracted.
haps it is due to want of variety,
r ADS TO want of stimulus. What
eN, e cause, the fact remains. 1t
is generally admitted that one of the
dangers of our age is that in our large
use Of machinery we ourselves are liza
BILE to become too machinelike.
We have little regard for what is
known technically as the visionary
man." but what we really dislike is his
impracticable, not his visionary side.
Successful men are all more or less
visionary In fact, there is perhaps no
other quality so eminentiy essen
tfal to success as that faculty which
eudUIeS one W ibOh dnGbtl ~ LO1tSNC
and forecast the future. Where there
is no vision we fail.
There is, perhaps, no better example
of the power of vision than that of CO.
lumbus. History tells us how patient
ly and persistently he labored TO Sc
cure assistance to follow up his vision
and make it real to the world. He la
4 I. ~
to realize it. We wonder that such
glorious vision should have remained
so long unseen. The reason is appar-
ent. The worlds brightest visions are
reserved as rewards to persistent and
painstaking effort and to diligent and
untiring research.
1t is a mistake to think that all i'm
portant visions have already been seen
and realized There still are worlds to
discover and to con .uer. Brighter Wis
ions than those which are unfolding
themselves in our day and generation
the world has never seen. Those who
are catching glimpses of them we call
geniuses or wizards But they are in
reality thinkers, workers. 1t is thus
that they make their inspiration.
Visions indeed have played a mighty
part in the worlds history. They have
led the L Jst famous warriors to glo-
rious victory. They have given us,
from the pens of the most gifted poets
and men of letters, our choicest bits of
literature. They have advanced the
world and uplifted the church.
Our tall buildings, our great bridges.
our marvellous modern inventions of
machinery, ou' almost magic means of
travel and communication by land and
by sea. first existed in mind as visions
of future possibility. Before a shovel
was taken in hand or a stone upturned,
the great underground railway through
our city stood out as Il completed whole
before the vision of some mind or
minds. The objective real Is invaria-
bly, preceded by the subjective ideal.
Christs vision of the universal
brotherhood was of all visions the most
splendid and glorious. We are learning
more and more of it, but we do not be-
gin to appreciate it yet. He who
brushes and robs the poor cannot, by
putting money so gained into institu-
tons, however good, catch even
glimpse of the beautiful vision which
Christ saw in the brotherhood which
He came on earth to establish, and
which is to have its final and complete
contamination in heaven.
1t is fearful thing to have the
widows tears and the laborer's blood
crying out from the ground and reach
ing up to the very ear of God against
unriXhteousness and ill-gotten gain.
The rich man who has made his money
honestly and who is merciful and lib
eral need not fear when the time comes
to render an account of his steward
ship. Visions of a camel standing be-
fore the needles eye or of Dives call
ing to Abraham and Lazarus need not
trouble him.
Religion furnishes us higher ideals,
broaden or sympathies, uplifts our
minds gives us inspiration and
strength In our daily efforts, furnishes
Just that which the world cannot give.
In the spiritual life of that righteous
father and of that sanity mother (who,
perhaps, have passed to their blessed
reward we caught glimpses of visions
visions which revealed something of
the divine and which never have ceas
ed to beckon US heavenward.
We have no fear of perishing, be-
cause we have visions which lead us
onward and upward to that 'bui'd ding
az God. an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens"