The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-08-07
THE SUNDAY PULPIT
ONE DAY AT A TIME.
New York Herald.)

81
Life is made up of innumerable 'pres-
ent moments" and if you attend to the
duty or bear the burden of each one as
il comes without borrowing trouble from
either the past or the future you are in
the best possible spiritual condition.
We needlessly add to our load the
memory of outlived sorrows or the anti
cipation of sorrows to come and make
life harder TO bear.
When Jesus declared that Sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof" He pro-
claimed philosophy of well being which
after fifty generations of continuous pro-
gress we still fail to comprehend.
We have discovered almost everything
else but do not even yet know how to
live at our best or to make the most of
our circumstances. We can make prepa-
rations to go to heaven. but do not
know how to bring heaven down to our
earthly homes. And yet that is the chief
object which true religion has in view.
When you see at a distance the evils
which threaten and which will come upon
YOU next week or next month. your
Imagination gives them the proportions
of giants. If you could lay aside all
thought of them and simply live in each
day, doing each days duty and bearing
each days burden as cheerfully as pos
sble, you would find when these dread
ed evils come either that you are strong
er than you thought to bear them or
that they are smaller than you expected
them TO be.
1t sometimes happens when You are
travelling along country road that
there is what seems to be n very steep.
almost an impossible hill half mile
ahead. But when Won are close to it
you discover that the road has only a
slight inclination after all. and that by
some law of optical illusion the road
looked as though it was almost perpen-
dicular.
So. brOoding over an evil or dreading
it for any length of time always enlarges
it The same thing happens that made
the country road seem sleeper than it
was. and you regard endurance as impos-
sible. But when you are in the midst
of the experience it is not as severe as
you thought it would be or else your
shoulders have been mysteriously broad
ened and YOU are able to bear it without
serious difficulty.
1t is q very severe injunction to give
no thought to the morrow, but to let
the morrow take care of itself while you
live happily in the present day. | con-
fess to being greatly puzzled by it. |
have not yet reached the spiritual alti-
tude ut which obedience to that inj june
ton seems even a possibility. Neverthe-
less, / am sure that under it is an un-
comprehended principle. the value of
which the world will some time discover.
If we were really to believe that this is
Gods world and that we are Gods
children, if we could convince ourselves
that there is Il Providence in the affairs
of life and that the statement that as
our day is so shall our strength be is
not poetic fiction. but practical fact.
we could then enjoy a degree of repose
to which we are now strangers.
And yet that is the only condition of
mind which can truly be called religious.
If you feel that everything is going
wrong: that it is impossible for you to
get things right and useless to ask the
Lord to do it, and that therefore you
are in very sorry plight, there can
be nothing in your heart that resembles
religious feeling-no praise, or worship,
or gratitude, or faith. or resignation.
lion. and you and religion are not within
sound of each others voices.
Now. I do not ignore the hardships
of life I know too much about them
to do that They are real, they are
serious. they are trying and perplexing.
Still, insist that it is neither prudent
nor wise, and | am sure it is not con-
ducive to health. to summon the regrets
Of hn cf en- hannt
and brighten you, or to ponder the posi-
bilities of the future until your present
is Swallowed and weakened. If what you
have to do now is done cheerfully you
will find yourself in good condition for
tomorrow, whatever it may bring. That
is practical and possible.
/ am not praising a careless life. but
am warning against needless anxiety.
believe man should plan for his future,
but he ought to live in his present. In
going down stairs you ought to give to
each successive step its due amount of
attention, for otherwise you may slip
and fall. In living your life you must
not ignore or despise any one day, but
must give to each its proper care.
This one hour is yours. therefore fill ii
to the brim with fidelity. When the
next hour comes do the same thing 1t
is a very simple rule, but it contains the
very spirit and essence of religion.
Cultivate the happier side Of your ma
ture; suppress the tendency to fret and
complain.
Never for n moment imagine that be-
cause you are gloomy you are therefore
pleasing to God
He made the birds to sing, and you
are to join in the chorus.
Get as much enjoyment out of life as
YOU can, and see that you contribute t.
the enjoyment of others.
Make the world brighter because YOU
are i'm it and because you have warn
heart and generous hand.
Make the most of each passing mo
ment. and when future moments come
bringing their sterner duties you vii
be ready for them.
SO long as God lives you VIII nave III
need to worry overmuch.
GEORGE H. HEPWORIH.