The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-09-18

the life of any OF us on the
whole, would have been as happy if we
had been allowed in everything to have
bur own way. How often are bless
ings more abupdantly blessed because
or at some particular time,
we have been deprived of theml We
are often happier to-day because we
suffered yesterday. Freedom from
physical pain, health and vigor of body,
are often greater delight because yes
terday we felt SO poorly. 1t is the hard
labor which we sometimes deprecate
that converts rest into joy. The
shadows of yesterday make the sun
shine of to-day bright and sweet.
There would be little luxury in freedom
from anxiety and care, if that burden
never weighed upon the heart.
But, my friends, while this is COM
forting line of thought, we must not
carry it too far. There is deal Of I'M
pleasantness, deal that is disagreeable
and painful, which not only might be
avoided as well as not, but which
makes but the smallest contribution
to life compared 10 what it takes from
it, which is real waste of life; and
there are but few of us who are not
guilty of some prodigality of this kind.
My friends, we covet length of days.
We look with satisfaction upon the life
that finds its symbol in the sheaf of
grain golden in its ripeness. But do
we not sometimes forget that life is
not really measured by length Of years?
That he who dies at forty may have
lived more than he who goes beyond
the threescore and ten? That the sun
which is obscured at midday because
of its greater warmth and brightness,
may have brought out more and sweeter
flowers than that which has completed
the circle and sunk In the West? II
we cannot add to our number of days,
the most of US might add TO our life.
If we are not actually shortening our
days, the most of us really shorten life.
A great deal is said about the waste
of life which means waste of energy,
waste of strength, idle, purposeless
living. And there is certainly plenty
of this kind Of waste. We may wish
that most people were more economi-
cal Of this divine inheritance of body
and mind; that there was not so much
physical and intellectual wealth laid
in worse than useless sacrifice upon
the altar of dissipation. But there is
another and almost as disastrous a
waste of which we are all more or less
guilty. If he who does nothing for an
hour, has wasted that hour, what has
he done who has needlessly made him
self unhappy for the same length Of
time? When you brood in discomfort;
when you stand looking back into the
past with regret ranking in the heart,
or with fear and trembling before the
future, what is it but a waste of life?
But let US turn our attention for a
few moments to some special ways in
which we waste life. Do we not allow
the past to steal from the present?
When we turn our faces toward the
past, the most of us can see some un-
pleasant pictures. We can see where
if we had done differently, the result
would have been much better; where if
we had been more diligent, more punctu-
al or more cautious, we should lhave
been more prosperous; where if we had
paid greater respect to the laws of health,
life would have been of much greater
value. AS we cast backward glance
toward our youth, the most of us can
see where submission to older and wiser
heads would have resulted in our great
advantage where if we had been more
ambitious ana Encre stuIiona, we should
have been better fitted for our work in
life. We can see precious Oppor-
tunities now lost which we should like
to restore. Now, do we not sometimes
allow these shadows from the past to
stretch across the present? Standing
looking back into the past, do we not
overlook the good of the present? Are
we not sometimes like the traveller,
who having missed some beautiful
scene in his journey to which he can.
not return, stands gazing regretfully
back, and so overlooks the beauty
around him? Do we not all waste
something of life through the channel
Of regret? There is lesson in every
past mistake which may help to make
the present better than the past; but
he who stands locking regretfully back,
will miss the lesson and be robbed of
much of the good which the present
has in store. If l did that yesterday
which l ought not to have done, and
which was fruitful in unpleasantness,
l am only doubling its subtraction from
life by cherishing regret in regard to it.
Sometimes when we have made mis-
take or suffered an accident which can
not be helped, we worry about it and
fret about it. Now we are only making
it so much the worse. With respect to
what is done and cannot be undone, we
should do this. Seize the lesson and