Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-01-04
NEW YEAR THOUGHTS
Embodied in a Sermon Preached By
Rev. c. E. Clark
At the Thomson NJ. E. Church
Last Night-A Thoughtful, Prac-
teal Discourse-Father Paquins
Series Of Special Sermons-Other
Religious Notes.

Series Of Special Sermons-Other
Religious Notes.
At the Thomson NJ. Z. Church last
night. the pastor, the Rev. C. E. Clark,
preached a sermon appropriate to the
New Year, containing many practical
thoughts and suggestions. His theme
was How to Grow Old Gracefully"
and he chose for his text $50 teach US
to number our days that we may apply
our hearts unto WISDOM Psalms, 80:
y. His remarks, in substance, are
given below:
The most appropriate greeting
could extend to this audience tonight
would be TO refer to you as a company
of people growing old. The infant
gives hints of approaching antiquity
with its first smile and under the pride
OF your heart as you caught the light
of that first smile you recognized tes
timony TO your own advancing age.
The little girl gives unmistakable signs
OF the coming woman, and the boy
amuses you by his effort to be manly
because he has just escaped from
dresses; while young men boast OF an
experience which qualities them for
responsible positions, and the men who
have bourne responsibilities are now
bearing the heavier weight OF white
hair, every one of which seems to
weigh a ton when first discovered rest
ing on their shoulders.
But winter time will come 70 us all,
and if We use the season properly we
need not be alone, for though we may
dwell in a house, the lane to which is
drifted so deep with the SHOWS OF jan
uary that the great outside world
will rush past us without travelling in
and cut the avenues of our dulled
senses, the spirits that soar and sing
will be our constant guests, always
coming with new songs from an IN
varying cline. The passing winters
may sprinkle our locks with many
white flakes, but our hearts may be
so werm as to gather no frost of age
which it does not melt. AS long as
there is growth there is youth, and
while we continue TO work we will
continue to grow. Thus all can con-
tinue to dc, and when death comes
all we need is time to change worlds
and take up the thread on the other
side. Hugo said: Il shall go to work
again in the morning.
No man meets old age with good
grace. without faith in God. Abraham,
the father of the faithful died in a
coed old age. Paul increased in faith
as he became more heroic and declar-
ed that though the outer man was
failing, the inner man grew stronger
day by day. All OF Gods heroes have
felt that the clouds that annoyed them
were affairs of this earth, and that
beyond them were a clear sky and a
cloudless sun. God is a reality after
which the tendrils of genuine faith
run" and if we stand by him as we
throughout cur measuring line life
must appear short. If we take our
stand by the Ephemera, being which
begins life. passes to maturity and into
the decripitude of age, all in day;
and from such an atr0fed standpoint
throw the measuring line over the
nine hundred and siXty-nine years OF
Nethnselah's life. or even our own
three score and ten years, human life
may then seem long. But if we stand
by the Eternal, to whom time is so
short that the ripple of an infants
life which flashes in the sunlight or
existance but for one moment. bears
a relation to the patriarch of nine nun
dred and siXty-nine. which is so I'M
portant that one scarcely seems longer
TO the Infinite than the other; we must
begin to see that the clearer the Iaitn
by which we grasp the Eternal the
shorter will appear our human ire,
and conversely we may conclude that
the shorter time appears to any Great
IRE. the nearer that individual ap-
proaches the Divine.
The brute thinks not OF the shortn"is o1
life because so far removed from DIVINITY.
ONLY man does. and he for the reason that
no hears the image OF GOD. II you would
have life longer. 10 less, love less. believe
less and as the day crecps on the ale
life will grow slower TO you; but to n be-
lever in. a worker for. a lover Of, immor-
talifv II is the browning glory that TINS
life is so short
ola age. viewed from this standpoint, IS
not tomb. poor and unmarked. with no
cIaroberina. vines TO hide its ghasslineSs'
with not n single fearful visitor, where I've
hurled all innocence. fervor and charms
Of vouth. but a splendid monument yea
moro q great treasure house wnere the
mast has emptied vast wealth and splen-
did Jewels Of thought. which wait for the
rising sun that they may sparkle IN the
li,,ht 81 an eternal morning.
i is also necessary to have falth N man
This is the outgrowth OF iai5n in Col.
.Ojd age is hopeless convict IN the power
o. q prosecuting avenger. Many crab
bod ard unpleasant Oh MAJ finds the
fountain Of his asorlziHg souine's IL rs
,,,co,-cious doubt oc man." but the mar
who has faith in his brethren viii feel the
renewal of hone day by day. Youth oil
soul Will he his forever and old age VIII
he an autumn tune N which nc may
c,,nor the fruit Of his faith And how
Inherently this thought should make Us
regard those abou, us in lie. II the time
is short. and he as much man IS l. let
rs understand one another. There may
have been suspicious and conceaimcnts
while we lived side by side. bur rs VIC see
th9t onl, Il few hours remain 10 continue
this relation. let these be cleared away
that we may know each other trust each
orber. think the best OF each other. Let
- r,ieeraflc misunderstanding run