The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-08-05

far tolerably we'll. If nothing more than
tolerable. As for myself though my
life has been far from being as conse-
Grated to God as I would like to have
IT., l would not want to try 1t over
again, lest x time I would do worse.
FARTHER FROM HEAVEN.
Besides all this, do you know, IL you
could have your wish and live life over
again, 1t would put you 80 much further
from reunion with your friends in
heaven? II you are In the moor OF life
or the evening Of life, you are not very
Tar from the golden gate at which you
are to meet your transported and EN-
paradised ones. You are now, let US
say, twenty years, or ten years. or one
year on from the celestial conjunction.
Now suppose you went back in your
earshly NE thirty years, or forty years,
or fifty years, what an awful postpone
ment OF the time of reunion! It would
be as though O were going to San
Francisco to a great banquet and you
got to Oakland, four or five miles his
side Of 1t, and then came back to Balti-
more to get a better start; as though
you were going to England to be
crowned, and having come in sight Of
the mountains Of Wales you put back
to Sandy Hook in order to make a bet
ter voyage Would you like for many
years to adjourn the songs of heaven
to adjourn the thrones Of heaven, to
adjourn the companionship Of heaven,
to adjourn the rest of heaven. to ad-
journ the presence of Christ in heaven?
No; the wheel of time turns in the
right direction, and it is we'll it turns so
fast. Three hundred and sixty-hye rev.
buttons In a year and forward, rather
than 365 revolutions in q year and back
ward.
But hear We! hear We! while I tell you
how you may practically live your life
over again and be all the better for it.
You may put into the remaining years
of your life all you have learned Of wis
dom in your past life. You may make
the coming ten years worth the pre-
ceding forty or fifty years. When a
man says he would like to live his life
over again because he would do so
much better, and yet goes right on liy-
ing as he has always lived, do you not
see he stultiies himself? He proves
that If he could go back he would do
almost the same as he has done.
HOW WE ATONE.
Besides that we have all these years
been learning how to be useful. and in
the next decade we ought to accom-
plish more for God and the church and
the world than in n previous four
decades The best way to atone for
past Incidence or past transgressions
Is by future %assiduity. Yet we often
find Christian men who were not con-
verified until they were 40 or so. as old
age comes on, saying: well, my work
Is about done, and 1T is time for me to
rest They gave forty years of their
life to Satan n the world, a little frag-
ment of their life to God, and now they
want rest. Whether that belongs to
comedy or tragedy I say not.
The man who gave one-half of his
earthly existence to the world and of
the remaining tw~o-quarters one to
Christian work and the other to rest,
would not, l suppose, get q very bril-
liant reception In heaven. If there are
any dried leaves in heaven they would
be appropriate for his garland; or If
there is any throne with broken steps
1t would be appropriate for his corona
ton, or n harp with relaxed strings
it would be appropriate for his finger
ing. My brother, you give nine-tenths
Of your life to sin and Satan, and then
get converted, and then rest awhile in
sanctified l%aziness, n then go up to
get your heavenly reward, and I war
rant it will NOT take the cashier of the
royal banking house a 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 or small.
I would like to put one sentence, Of my
sermon in italics, and have it under
scored, and three exclamation points at
the end of the sentence, and that SEN
tence is this: AS we cannot live our
lives over again, the nearest we can
come to atone for the past is by re-
doubled holiness n industry in the
future. If this all rail train Of life has
been detained and switched of and is
far behind the time table, the engineer
for he rest of the way must put on
more pressure of steam and go a mile
a minute in order to arrive lat the right,
time and place, under the approval OF
conductor N directors. @Il no GGtI
CANNOT BE WIPED OUT.
My hearers the mistakes offyouth can
never be corrected. Time gone is gone
forever An opportunity passed the
thousandth part of q second has by one
eternity. In the autumn when the
birds migrate you look up and see the
sky black with wings, and the focks
stretching out into many leagues of air.
and so today I look up and see two
large wings in full sweep. They are
followed by a flock of 1865, and they are
flying days. Each of the flying days
is followed by twenty-four. and they
are the flying hours, INC each of these
Is followed by sixty, and these are the
flying minutes. Where did this great
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 oppor-
.tunities Of your life. Do not say: IT
will lounge now and make It up after
ware" Young men and boys, you
can't make it UP. My observation is
that those who in youth sowed. wild
oats, to the end Of their short life
sowed wild oats. and that those who
start sowing Genesee wheat always SOW
Genesee Wheat.
HARVESTS HIS OATS.