The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-12-30
PASSING away.
A Few Thoughts e the Close az Il,

A Few Thoughts at the Close az the
: The year. is dying IN the night It was but
little while ago that we took stranger by
the hand and gave him hearty welcome at
the threshold, as parting guest left us who
should not return our way again. And now
the sometime stranger has become a
familiar, and lie, too, passes out, and we
shall see him no more. 1t carries with it
nothing OF sentimentality, but of a true and
lofty sentiment instead, that we should take
account OF these years as they pass, and
consider where they found us, and where
they have lett us. Astronomy would not
perhaps be thought to hold close relation to
the moral or to the religious life; but it is
the astronomical feature of the year that
gives 1t its most marked characteristic, and
enables US to appropriate wholesome
lesson. For cs it is to the position which
the Creator has given this whirling world
OF ours in its orbit that we owe the charms
and the changes of the seasons, which serve
TO mark the movement of the hands on the
dlal lace OF the year-now from sunlight to
shadow, and again from .withered leaves and
cold and snow to the bloom, the radiance
and warmth of srElmer-so it is, by these
ever-Varylng changes we mark the progress
OF the year; and it is by the recurrence of a
particular one, as that of the winter
solstice, that we note the completion of an.
other cycle. We look out during the day,
and we see snow and sleet and barrenness
on wood and field, which but few weeks
ago We're clothed in verdure or deckcd will,
the beauty ofsthe lilies. We look up to the
heavens at night, and I'VE miss the familiar
consultations that greeted our eyes but a
little while ago, and instead we see Orion.
who comes with tile cold and goes with it.
puncturing the west with his spear, while
Sirius flashes upon the glistening earth the
light Of a blazings sun thousandfold brighter
than our own. Astwe note these and other
changes we are also to realize, as otherwise
we should not, that anotheryear has passed.
and that we are brought SO much nearer the
gates of eternity. It is but natural. too. at
this time that tender memories of other
days should come before us, and that we
should think how one by one our friends
nave passed await seems So long ago!--
and lett us desolate. But to those of adj
vanced years there is great compensation in
<thc thought that every recurring year brings
US nearer to them, brings us nearer the end
OF our journey. The way has been hard and
weary at times, and as the loved ones have
fallen by the way it has become lonely
travelling. But it will not be long now:
some day not distant the gate will swing
open for us, and then: what meeting that
will be! Nor should we lament the swift
flying years. Well has the poet said:.
Heaventgives our years of fading strength
Indemhifying aeetness,
And those of youth seeming length
Proportioned to their sweetness
The young may well rejoice at the pass
ing away of the old year and the ushering in
Of the new with all it's possibilities; but the
Christian of maturer years is content, if he
does not as spontaneously rejoice, that it
brings him out Of the storm into the calm,
from out the shadows Of earth into the
radiance of eterrity.-Christian Work.