The Penn's Grove record., 1904-05-27

mental fancy. Twelve hours in the day,
and how many lost in foolish dreaming?
Think, too. what waste i'll gossip. in
needless, thoughtless talk: 1T Is not that
we are deliberate scdudai-mongerS. snt
simply. that to pass he time We indulge in
d kind of talk about O"r neighbors and
friends; the results of which for evil are
greater than we may ever know. VINO cah
estimate the populations that have been
wrecked; the, lites IF promise that have
been crippled, the useftlness for good IN
the world that has been checked by the
retailing of evil SANDER throughout tile
twelve hours of the day?
Once more, think of the hours consumed
in the pursuit of merely selfish pleasure.
Indifferent to the bitter cry of outcast hui
manity, c%allous to the great moral needs of
the hour that come knocking at our doors,
how many of It's Use up the twelve hours
in the pursuit Of schemes whose one pur-
pose is for self and sell alone. Busy we
may be, but so busy with the affairs of self
that I've have no time to spend for the COM
mon good. for the needs of man, or the
glory Of God. Twelve hours! and all OF
them ~strangled upon the altar of self-not
one given up to God, to wing its way up.
ward like incense Before the eternal throne!
Look back upo+ the week lat is gone.
with it's treasury Of Eours, and what record
have they left upon the tablets OF the soul?
Tow many hours of last week wi messed
you on your knees before God? How manJ
hours did you give to prayer? How many
hours did you give to studying the Bible!
How many to thinking thoughts of love
and translating them into deeds of kind.
ness? How many to crucifying self and
en%throning Christ? How many? Perhaps
not even one. And yet on these hours we
are building character for eternity; out OF
these hours is growing that immortal sell
with. which at last we must stand before
the judgment seat Of God. Twelve hours
in the day to work out your salvation, and
how many men are using these twelve
hours Id working out their perdition!
How, then; are We going to redeem our
days, make the host Of those twelve hours,
so that at last no upbraiding memory shall
recall them with sorrow md shame?
I would not be so foolish as to say that
this power to use time aright means that
we are to fill I'm each separate hour with
some determined, conscious effort. That
would be impossible, and, even if it were
possible, it would turn US into self-con.
scious prigs anG moral pedants. You cam
not detach every hour and say, az Franklin
said in his diary, that this hour will be de.
voted to such an such a duty, that he :
to some other duty, and SO on. That would
destroy a great deal of the inspiration OF
life and would turn existence into a grind.
ing macl inc. No, the hours IRE to be re.
deemed, not so much by what We do IN
them as by the spirit we bring to them, by
the temper in which we use them. Let
every day be begun with its season of spe'
cial prayer. Let it nave its moments shut
off for communion with God. And then
these moments, however brief, of conse.
Grated prayer, will give a tonic to the rest
of the day --hich will make impossible that
aippant dissipation of time which is so
ruinous to character.
There are two things that this spirit Of
prayer will produce in our use of the
twelve hours in the day. First, prayet
produces a sense of urgency, a spirit OF
haste, if you like, but not a spirit of hurry
1t intensiies the thought that time is short
and yet enough for each one of us to dc
something for God. 1t is that feeling OF
urgency in regard to each day as it comes
that it should leave the record of some.
thing attempted, something given for God
and our fellow men, that gives richness to
life, a beauty to character, a sunny ra'
dance to the soul, that makes earth the
threshold of heaven. Nothing is more dis
gushing than to meet people who simply
loaf through life, without any sense of ur.
gency. As the saying goes, they do not
care whether school keeps or not. They
are not worried about the 'orld's necessi.
ties. What we want is this sense of III.
gency. Time is short, and yet long enough
with prayer to do something that will
abide when we nave passed away. That is
the first thing that prayer brings to the
twelve hours of the day.
The second thing is a sense of calmness,
a spirit of serenity. How often We fret
and WORRY beneath the pressure of life!
The friction of care reduces the effective.
ness of our energy. Many men are wearing
themselves out before their time, simply
because they have this Authorization that
there is not time enough. They get into a
fever of worry because the days are too
short. But prayer brings to us the thought
that God has given us time enough, and all
He asks from us is to live and work by the
day. In His service we are onl!- day labor
ers. With tomorrow we lave nothing to
do. The command is, go, work to-day"
and the promise is. Il will pay you a penny
a day." Gods wages are paid, not by the
month nor the week, but by the day. Each
day brings its duty, but each day brings
it's grace and strength and blessing as well:
"Build a little fence of trust
Around to-day.
Fill the pace with loving work,
And therein stay.
Look not through the sheltering bars
Upon tomorrow;
God will help thee lear what comes
Of JOY or sorrow"
With some of us here this evening the
day of life is young. The morning light
still lends freshness to your youthful ar
dor. But with othe"s Of Is it is already
the eleventh how, the eleventh hour in
life's busy day. Although we know it not,
the dusk of time IS falling ia :. The twi-
light of our years S deepening and high up
in the belfry of the soul
"The curfew tolls the knell of passing day."
And yet through the silence of this elev-
enth hour, throug- the Swallowed market
place of your life's activities, you may hear
tonight the voice of infinite love and ten
derness calling, and calling yet again:
"Why stand We here all he day idle?" 1t
is the eleventh hour, and Christ claims that
eleventh hour. Redeem the time in His
service. Consecrate it to His glory, and
you will in nowise lose your reward. To-
day if We will hea1 His voice-and remem-
Der, There are twelve hours in the day."