Newport weekly independent., 1904-01-22

behind he did not mean that he locked the past in the chamber of impenetra- ble oblivion and rushed heedlessly on- ward in hope of winning the prize. No; but he did mean that the failures and sins and mistakes of the past were not to handicap and discourage him in the race which lay before him. But those same failures and mistakes and sins were to be the helpful signposts to him by which he would avoid those same pitfalls again. The runner circling the track stumbles because of unevenness of ground. When next he comes to that place he would be foolish indeed IT he forgot all about the dangerous Spot. He must remember 1t SO that Re may avoid stumbling there sec tbnd time. But on the other hand he must forget the failure He must not let the impression prevail that he stumbled there once and must there fore stumble there again
 DAYS do speak of failures and sins.
 D but their true message Is not one of Encouragement, but encouragement. The Devil points to the days of failure and says: See how you failed; of course you will fail again. But God points to the days of failure only that He may point out the cause of failure and help to vic- tory at another time It is not mans fault that he cannot blot out or rewrite the past, but it is mans fault If he does not learn the lessons of the past as a help to the living in the present. Lord Melville, the noted English statesman of one hundred years ago, when on New Years day he was wished a Happy New Year. exclaimed: 'I hope this year will be happier than the last, for scarcely recollect having spent one happy day In the whole of it." He could not recall the year and live it over again. For this he was not to blame, but he was to be cen sured that he did not search out the req son or reasons for the unhappiness of that year, and prevent their recurrence in the New Year The New Year brings with it the worthy impulse to do better. and from this impulse is formed the New Years resolutions-resolutions hastily formed and easily broken. This is al- ways the comedy and tragedy of the New Year. And wherein does the trouble lie? Not in the making of the resolution, but in failure to listen while the days of the past speak their message for the future.
 Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom" and espe- cially should this be true as one year draws to it's close and the other. bright and fresh and untarnished, begins to un- fold.
 X ND in the speech of the days of the
 H past is found prophecy of the fu- ture. No one who stands upon the threshold of the New Year but wonders what is hidden within it's bundle of days. Man never possesses more than the pres ent; God is the custodian of the future But the days of the past may furnish of what the future will be. The sowing of the past brings the reaping of the fu- ture. Do you fear to let the days of the past speak because they may prophecy of an unhappy fruitage to be garnered from the days of sowing gone by? Per- haps but will foolish blindness and re- fusal to hear the message of the days of the past avert the undesirable reaping of the future? Nay, verify! Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom" And if we patiently and humbly receive their message we may be able to change defeat into victory, and failure into success. And what is the supreme message of the days and the years? It is not of man and his doings, but it is of Christ and what He has done for man. The days of Christ upon earth have not ceased to speak Christ the Son of God, Christ the perfect man, Christ the sacrifice for sin, Christ the Saviour of the world And every day since Christ wrought out the redemption of man from sin has been laden with the message of the Christ.
 I T is the presence of Christ in our days
 which makes them worth living, even though we fail to recognize that Christ and yield to Him obedience. It is the certainty of Christ in the days to come which fills them full of hope It is Christ Who can help you interpret the days of the past, and it is Christ Who is able to help you enter the days of the New Year hopefully, victoriously and successfully. Retrospection without Christ to interpret and reveal the lessons of the past is failure. Prospection without Christ to cheer and encourage is discouraging and perilous. New Years resolutions without the Christ as the inspiration and the dynamic force to execute are sooner or later sad and dismal failure Samuel Johnson gave expression to this truth when he said: T have now spent 55 years in resolving; having. from the earliest times almost that can remember, been forming schemes of better life. I have dSue nothing" What an admission for a great man. But we all have to make the same distressing confession where we