Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va) 1886-1890, 1890-03-11

strate that the repetition OF our exist
ence would afford no improvement.
1t was green apples before and itwould
be green apples over again. AS soon
as q ship captain strikes rock in the
lake or sea he reports it and q buoy is
swung over that reef and ma
rines henceforth stand Oft from
that rock. And oil our mistakes
in the past ought to DO buoys
warming us to keep in the right chan
mel. There is no excuse for lis If we
split on the same rock where we split
before. Going along the sidewalk at
night where excavations are being
made, we frequently see lantern on
framework, and we turn aside, Tor
that lantern says, keep out Of this
hole. And oil along the pathway OF
life lanterns are set as warnings, and
by the time we come to mid-life we
ought to know where it is safe to walk
and where it is unsafe.
Beside that, we have all these years
been learning how to be useful, and III
the next decade we ought to accom-
plish more for God and the church
and the world than in any previous
four decades. The best way to atone
for past Incidence or past transgresslon
is by future assiduity. Yet you often
find Christian men who were not con-
verified until they were forty or fifty,
as old age comes on, saying: We'll,
my work is about done and it is time
for me to rest" They gave forty
years of their life to Satan and the
world, little fragment OF their life to
God, and now they want to rest.
Whether that belongs to comedy or
tragedy say not. The man who gave
one-half of his earthly existence to tho
world and of tho remaining two-quar-
tiers one to Christian work and the
Ieother to rest, would not / suppose,
get very brilliant reception in heaven.
If there are any dried leaves
in heaven they would be appro.
pirate for his garland; or if
there is any throne with broken steps
it would be appropriate for his coro,,
nation; or any harp with relaxed
string it would be appropriate for his
lingering, Ny brother, you give nine
tenths Of your life to sin and Satan
and then &c: converted and then rest
awhile in sanctifed laziness and then
60 up to get your heavenly reward,
aud [ warrant it will not take the
cashier of the royal banking house
great while 10 count out TO you all
your dues. He will not ask you
whether you will have it in bills OF
large denomination or small. would
like to put one sentence OF my sermon
in italics, and have it underscored, and
three exclamation points at the end OF
the sentence, and that sentence is this:
AS we cannot live our lives over again,
the nearest we can come to atone for
the past is by redoubled holiness and
industry in the future:
IT'S worth n wise mans past Of life,
Ills worth thousand years Of strife,
II thou canst lessen but BY one
The countless Ills beneath the sun.
Ii this rail train of life has been de-
tanned and switched off and is far
behind the time table, the engineer
for The rest of the way must put on
moro pressure Of steam and go mile
q minute in order to arrive at the right
time and place under the approval OF
conductor and diSectors.
As I supposed it would be, there are
nultitudes of young people listening
to this sermon on whom this subject
has acted with the force of galvanic
battery. Without my saying word
to them, they have soliloquized, say
Ing: "As one cannot live his life over
again, and l can make only one trip,
must look out and make no mistakes;
have butone chance and must make
the most of it." My young friends, ]
am glad you made this application of
the sermon yourself. When min
lister toward the close of his sermon
says: Now few words by way of
application" people begin to look
around for their hats and get their
arm through one sleeve Of their over
coats, and the sermonic application is
failure. 1 am glad you have made
your own application and that you
are resolved, like Quaker Of whom
I read years ago, who, in sub
stance, said: II shall be along
this path of life but once and
so must do all the kindness I can and
all the good 1 can" My hearers, the
mistakes of youth can never be cor
rected. Time gone is gone forever.
An opportunity passed the thousandth
part of a second has by one leap
reached the other side of great
eternity. In the autumn when the
birds migrate you look up and see the
sky black with wings and the Hocks
stretching out into many leagues of
air, and so today I look up and see two
large wings in full sweep. They are
the wings Of the flying year. That is
followed by q flock OF three hun
bred and sixty-fve, and they are
the flying days. Each of the fly
ing days is followed by twenty-four,
and they are the flying hours,
and each of these is followed by
sixty, and these are the flying min
utes. Where did this great flock start
from1 Eternity past. Where are they
bound2 Eternity to come. You might
as well 90 a-gunning for the quails that
whistled last year in the meadows or
the robins that last year caroled in
the sky as to try to fetch down and
bag one of the past opportunities of
your life. Do not say, II will lounge
now and make it up afterwards. "
Young men and boys, you can't make
it up. My observation is that those
who in youth soved wild oats, to the
end of their short life sowed wild oats,
and that those who start sowing Gen.
esee wheat always SOW Genesee
wheat. And then the reaping Of the
harvests is so different. There is
grandfather now. He has lived to
old age because his habits have been
good. His eyesight for this world has
got somewhat dim, but his eyesightf for
heaven is radiant. His hearing is not
SO acute as it once was, and he must
bend clear over to hear what his little
grandchild says when she asks him
what he has brought for her. But he
easily catches the music raised from
81