The Greenville times., 1903-10-03

| word hnoulu po anu hi"H' w
word Of gratitude to the Maker oi
all opportunities, to the Giyer OF all
good gifts, for the enrichment and
blessedness to my life that these years
have yielded up.
1t happens often that when man
reaches the end of some definite time
portion of his existence, he is Inclined
TO question the wisdom that possessed
him at the beginning of it; to con-
slider with himself whether it would
not have been better if he had not
taken the step that was the first upon
the pathway he was compelled to
travel thereafter. And often, too, it
happens that man confesses bluntly
enough to himself that life would
have been happier, more blessed, itch
er every way, for him, if he had
never taken the step on one of several
pathways that lay open before him
Men re. ret often and make no secret
of their regret, that they can not go
back to the beginning of some definite
time-period and live it over different
lv.-in other circum tances and SUI
roundings. They have not gotten out
of life, they feel, what they might
have gotten, if they had been able to
make choice of "a career and a place,
with the wisdom that five, or ten. or
fifteen, or twenty years, has endowed
them with.
deem myself fortunate, that as |
look back across the years to the be-
ginning of the period of my rector
ship of this parish, l am conscious of
no doubt whatever concerning the
wisdom which directed me at the be-
ginning, and tempted to no lament
that the course of my life was not
ordered differently during any OF the
years that lie between it and the pres
ent moment. The blessings that might
have come to me, the things that l
might have done and m light have had,
in some other sphere, ministered to
by other circumstances, greeted by
other opportunities, these ! know
nothing of they have never taken
for rue the tangible shape CT reality,
and I have no inclination to body
them forth in fancy and dream a
brightness and glory for them can
opied over by any shadow of regret.
I choose to believe that here / have
dwelt during the past eight years. be-
cause here 1 have belonged in the
Providence Of God aud here know
that has come into M life, that been
added to my soul, that entrusted to
my heart, which the longest lifetime
were all too short to confess in words
or emotions of Thanksgiving: l am
content to believe that the eight-year
time period Of my existence IN this
place has bestowed upon me what-if
remain--I must keep my heart and
soul kneeling in gratitude throughout
eternity; and take no room in my
thought for the question whether OF
not ne same time-period in another
place, among other people, would
have put me under obligation great
CT than that of which I am conscious
today.
1 may thank God, and l do, look
ing back over the years of my sojourn
here, among you, for the tenderest,
deepest, highest experiences of my
life SO far, lacking which there
were darkness in my soul where now
is brightness and GOODNESS in my heart
where now is warmGh. thank Him
for the friends whom stand facing
at this momentt, for their many
deeds of kindness, for their many
words of sympathy and good cheer,
which had and have now and must
ever have value all their own. l
thank Him for those other friends
whom do not stand facing now in
the light of this day, for those other
friends who greeted me in their
homes with a welcome that seems of
yesteday; who knelt with me here in
this church, and met with me at that
altar whose unreasonable debtor I re-
joice to be,-whom I stand facing
forever in the unfading days light of
the soul.
thank Him that with some Of you
1 have been privileged to rejoice in
your joy, for joy as we'll as suffering
must be wrought into the structure of
that eternal kingdom for which the
Great Master prayed, and by the JOY
with which you and l have rejoiced