Newport weekly independent., 1904-01-22

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 Mk Al-)Ei similate the lessons N & and experiences of h e. yesterdays. Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom" That is, the yesterdays should speak their mes- sage of admonition. of encouragement, of hope to the to-days; they should
 bring of their stores of wisdom which have been gathered as the fruitage of years and give instruction to the young to-days. The words of our text are the words of Elihu, the young man who speaks after Jobs three aged friends have concluded their long harangues to the afflicted man. Elihu was modest, or at least affected to be, and with becom- ing deference, of which he is conscious ly proud, he waits until the men of gray hairs have spoken. We'll would it be if young men of to-day were as modest and deferential in the presence of their elders. Men of mature years and vener- able age should speak first, says Elihu But in his words there is an implied re- buke which is suggestive. 1t is as though he said to these three aged phil osophers: The days and multitude of years of your observation and experi- ence and learning should have enabled you to speak and teach wisdom, but, he goes on to say in the ninth verse, great men are not always wise; neither do the aged understand judgment" Years do not always bring wisdom, nor do they always qualify man to speak profitably and wisely. Days should however, speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom" Each day should bring forth it's treasure to add to the life, and each year should teach its lessons and bestow the wealth of wisdom with which
 1t has been endowed. But too often the days melt into weeks, and the weeks are swallowed up of the months, and the months are soon lost in the years as they glide swiftly by, and thoughtlessness | and heedlessness, worldliness and self seeking rob the days and weeks and months and years of their offerings of true wisdom and enduring blessing.
 CUSTOM has marked the first day of " the New Year as the occasion for noting i'll an especial way the flight of time. From the most ancient times the beginning of years as marked by the calendars of the different nations and peoples has been characterized by ceremonies and observations of special recognition. The Jews, the Egyptians. the Chinese, the Romans, the Mohasn- medans and other nations, although differing as to the time from which they reckoned the commencement of the year, all regarded it as day of spe- cial interest. Americans in the larser cities of the country where the Chi nese are found in any numbers are reminded at the present day of the difference between the calendar com monly in use among the principal na- tions of the world and that of China. by the elaborate celebration of the Chi nese New Year. It is the great day in the Chinaman's year, and the day is given over to festivities and religious ceremonies of various kinds. The Jews to this day observe the New Years day of their own Jewish calendar with great faithfulness and solemnity. The celebration of New Years day is of pa gan origin. The early Christian fa- thers-Augustine, Ambrose and others forbade in Christian use all festive celebration of the day, because of the immoral and superstitious observances of the pagan festival. The Christians
 however were directed to open the year with day of prayer, fasting and
 humiliation. But New Years day is not religious or church day, except in the Roman Catholic church, where 1t is observed as a holiday of strict observance and religious ceremony. Upon the Christian of the Protestant denominations 1t has no direct claims. and yet there is scarcely an organized
 body of Christians in the world but in some manner and to some degree gives recognition to the day. It may be m watch night service, in which the closing hours of the Old Year and the dawn of the New Year are passed in songs of praise and worship, in prayer, Scripture reading and testimony. It may be prayer service or other man. ner of religious exercises on New
 Years day. It may be a New Years dinner or social, or it may be only thought and reference to the day at the regular religious services preceding it's dawn. It is time of accounting, summing up of days past and thought
 for the days which the New Year will
 count off day by day, and only give up the secrets of those days as they are revealed by the days unfoldines.
 Days should speak," and the New
 Years day is the time when the days of the year which has gone should have