The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1900-01-17
BILL ARP DISCUSSES TIME
The STRANGE FIGURES 1000 +"

The STRANGE FIGURES 1000
;he Georgia phiio 4opher Tackles tn.
century Qurstion-He Thinks It i,
About Settled.
Ii man can dodge around the 2Ott
century question 1T Is fitting time for
him to consider the shrinkage Of time
since he was q boy, and to ponder upon
the reason why the years grow shorter
and shorter rs he grows older and wiser
and how the period Is surely coming
when there will be no years or months
and time Will be no more. According
to scripture this thing called time Is a
perishable, elastic and compressi5 Die
creation adapted to man In his state OF
probation aud not at all necessary to
the Creator who said "hefOre the world
was made am" God always speaks of
himself in the present teLse {" am
III Is one eternal now without Begin
ming OF years or end OF days. We can
not comprehend this, but AS we near
the goal We can almost catch glimpS e
OF it's possibility. That time is com
pressible and elastic all OF US have ex-
perienced for sometimes the hours
seem very long and sometimes very
short. In cur dreams we sometimes
|
few delirious moments. | never shall
forget the anxiety and agony of a long
effort to keep my brother from lighting
| duel and how | helped TO write all
the CORES spOndence between him anu
his adversary and how at the last the
duel could not be avoided anC how |
carefully selected and loaded his pistol
! and measured Off the distance and then
made another effort to pacfy and ad-
Just and prevent The duel, but all in
vain, and be stood to the mark
and fred and fell. The report uf
a gun that was fired at the back of our
house at a squirrel awaked me and it
was this report that condensed all the
long tratL Of thought and events into a
mome nts space. My wife was sitting
by my bedside with her hand upon nv
feverish brow and declared | had not
been asleep more than Is miuute-and
yet l remembered every line aud word
OF that correspondence, and when | re.
covered from my fever could repeat it.
The time OF hours was condensed into
moments just so those who were
thought to be drowned and were resus-
cttated tell us that q panorama of their
whole life came before them as the
lost consciousness. Every word and
thought and deed anG every scene they
had witnessed from their childhood
was as vivid and real if it were JUS,
transpiring. There can b. 70 doubt
about this experience OF many persons. |
1t is well confrmed.
We are just on the verge of know. |
ing wonderful things and my faith is |
that we will know when we put of this |
mortal coil and our souls are released |
and free. We have implanted with
in US spark OF divinity, but only
spark.
But all 5 how little we do know and |
how utterly helpless wc are. We know
not whence we come, nor whittier we
are going. We cannot make one hair |
white on black We cannot tell by what |
mysterious power we raise our hands |
or move our feet or wink cur eyelashes. |
We cannot add u day or an hour to our
iives, nor fOresce the accidents that |
may befall us as we move to and fro on ]
the land or sea. We cannot escape the |
pestilepce that walketh at MONDAY nor
make ourselves secure against fire and
Hood and famine. What pitiful crea-
lures wo are, and yet we see every
whore around us young men who are {
cOnceited and proud Of their manhood
OF their money and we see young girls
who are vain OF their beauty or their
dress when they played no part in the
tho other. A beautiful woman is close
kin TO the angels and she should be
thankful that God made her 80, but
she has no excuse In the world for
being vain. Humility Is her lOveliest
ornament. AS for these conceited aud
naughty young men who strut around
In fine clothes that they never earned
or that they got by short cuts and dis
honorable means, they tx site only pity
or contempt. When we look upon them
we can but exclaim with David, Lord
what is man that thou art mindful OF
him?' Young men, why don't you hum
bic yourselves under the mighty hand
OF God who made you, you have not the
remOtest idea who you ie today AID
you don't care If yo,, haven't You
have travelled 300, ,O00,0 600 Of miles since
the last year and got back to the came
place you started from. Yon travel
80 900 miles an hour and everyday
turn suLnmersauit 25, 900 miles round
and don't know 1T, and you don't care
| II you don't. Fhe Creator Is your en-.
giGeer an ] runs your train Without IL
run-OT or a collision and you never
think Of Him or thank Him. You seem
to think that you are doing it,
reckon the 20th century problem is
about settle6. H. Is an old problem and
perplexed mankind away back ia the
agee. The question used to bs whether
the year prior to tho birth OF Christ
was l, b. c., or B c., and the mathe-
maticians and astronomers settled it
down st B. c., and begun the new
era with ], a. D., and 1t remained 1, a
d. for 800 days. But aside from this
the problem is purely mathematical
one, for II 1T takes 100 years to make a
century it will take 1900 years to max G
10 centuries, and they will not have
Dnssed until next January comes.
What world of confusion those Old
popes and monks and kings got our
chronology into. With some OF them
the year began with 25:h OF March,
With others lst OF January, and Christ
mas and Easter. Ole time the year
was set back three months and ut
another time IL days. The year was
divided into months and 10 months
and II months and at the last into II
months. They treated old father Time
| according to their WhimS Julius Cp