Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-03-21

would do almes. the same as he has
9one. IT a man eat green apples some
thrown into fearful cramps and says on
Thursday: Il wish 1 had been more
prudent in my diet; oh, if 1 could live
Wednesday over again." and then on
FRIDAY eats apples just as green, he
proves that it would have been no ad-
vantage for him to live Wednesday over
again. And it we, deploring our past
life and with the idea Of improvement,
long for an opportunity to try it over
again, yet go on making the same mis-
taxes and committing the same sins,
we only demonstrate that the repetition
OF existence would afford no inn
provement: 1t was green apples before
and 1t would be green apples over again.
AS soon as q ship captain strikes o rock
IN the lake or sea he reports it and a
buoy is swung over that reef and ma
flnes henceforth stand off from that
rock. And ali our mistakes in the past
ought to be buoys warning US to keep in
the right channel. There is no excuse
for us 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 a
lantern on q framework, and we turn
aside Tor that lantern says, keep out of
TINS hole. And all along the pathway
OF Ire lanterns are set as warnings, and
oy the time we come to mid-life we
ought to know where it is safe to walk
and where it is unsafe.
Besides that, we have all these wears
been learning how to be useful, and in
the next decade We ought to accomplish
N ore for God and the church and the
world than in any previous four
Inc best way to atone for past Incidence
or past transgression is by future ASST
duty. Yet you often find Christian
men who were not converted until they
were forty or fifty as old age comes on,
saying: We'll, my work is about done,
and 1t is time for nj to rest" They gave
forty years of their life to Satan and the
world, q little fragment of their life to
God, and now they want to rest.
Whether that belongs to comedy or
tragedy I say not. The man who gave
one-half of his earthly exercise to the
world and ofthe remaining two quarters
one to Christian work and the other to
rest, would not, l suppose, get a very
brilliant reception in Heaven. If there
are any dried lenves in Heaven they
would be appropriated for his garland;
or If there is any throne with broken
steps it would be appropriated for his
coronation; or any harp with relaxed
string it would be appropriated for his
lingering. My brother, you give nine
tenths of your life 20 sin and Satan and
then get converted and then rest awhile
IN sanctitied l%aziness and then go up to
get your heavenly reward, and l warrant
it will not take the cashier of the royal
banking house 20 great while to count
out to you all your dues. He will not
ask you whether you will have it in bills
OF large denomination orsmall. / would
like to put one sentence of my sermon
in italics, and have it undcrscored, 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 in
dustry in the future:
Ills worth a wise mans past of life,
"Ils worth IL thousand years of strife,
If thou canst lessen but by one
The countless ills beneath the sun.
If this rail train of life has been de-
tanned and switched off and is far behind
the time table, the engineer for the res,
of the way must put on more pressur,
of steam and go q mile q minute il
order to arrive ut the right time ant
|splace under the approval of conducto:
and directors.
As I supposed it would be, there are
multitudes of young people listening te
this sermon OH whom this subject has
acted with the force of a galvanic bat
terry. Without my saying a word to
them, they have so%liloquized, saying;
AS one canno live his life over again,
and l can make only one trip, 1 must
look out and make no mistakes; l have
but one chance and I must make the
most of it." My young friends, / am
glad you made this application of the
sermon yourself. When a minister to-
ward the close of his sermon says: Now
a few words by way of application, 7"
people begin to look around for their
hats and get their arm through one
sleeve of their overcoats, and the SER
monte application is q failure l am
glad you have made your VI applica-
ton and that you are resolved, like q
Quaker of whom I read years ago, who,
in substance, said: Il shall be along
this path of life but once and SO I must
do all the kindness L can and all the
good 1 can" My hearers, the mistakes
of youth can never be corrected. Time
gone is gone forever. An opportunity
passedthe thousandth part Of q second
has by one leapreached the other side OF
u StetI eGetulLN. LII Luo autulLu Wueu tuc
birds migrate you look up and see the
sky black with wings and the iocks
stretching out into many leagues of air,
and so to-day / look up and see two
large wings in full sweep. They are
the wings of the flying year. That is
followed by a flock ofthree hundred and
sixty-tive, and they are the flying days.
Each Of the flying 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
from? Eternity past. Where are they
bound? Eternity to come. You might as
well go 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, Il 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 sowed wild oats, to
tho end of their short life sowed wild
oats, and those who start sowing Gen
esee wheat always SOW Genesee wheat.
And then the reaping of the harvest is
SO different. There is grandfather now.