The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1904-05-26
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN INTERESTING DISCOURSE BY THE
REV. DONALD SAGE MRcKAY.
Subject: "The Value of . Day We
Should Not Waste Effort in Talking
PIatitudes About the Shsrtness OF
Time-Let Us Be Up and Doing.

1
New YORK CrTy.-A sermon preached
Sunday evening hy the Rev. Dr.. Donaid
Sage MacKay. in Collegiate Churcn. Fnt!
avenue and Forty-eignth street. had toi
its subject The Value Of Day. The
text was from John Xi:9: Are there not
twelve hours in the day. Dr.. Mackay
said:
NV text this evening Is Christ's defni'
ton OF day: "Are there not twelve hours
in the day." And what of it? you ask;
This much at least: The day is great deal
longer than some people seem to imagine
one of the oldest OF moral reflections,
which forever dwells upon the shortness
of time and the swiftness of its flight;
More mournful ,eloquence and doleful
poetry have been inspired by that one
theme than by any other in the catalogue
of human thought. OF course, time Is
short, and its fight is swift. but are there
not twelve hours in the day.. To each
man sufficient time has been given to dc
the task assigned to him. That is the sol
emn practical truth emphasized by our
| Saviour here, and it is one that perhaps
We hardly ever think of; not the shortness
of time, but its sufficiency for the tasks oi
life. Are there not twelve hours in the
day? That is our subject, the value, OF
day, abundance of time to do the duties
which must be done, to bear the burdens
which must be borne, to face the trials
which God sends
| At the outset want to see how these
words of Christ rebuke two very opposite
but very common, tempers which men as
sumo in regard to time and its opportunl
ties. On the one hand, Christ rebuke>
here that morbid spirit which IN hopeless
| impotence is forever bewailing the short
ness of time, its loss of opportunities IN the
past and its smallness of opportunities II
| the present. 80, if l had only done SO ano
so twenty years ago, how much better OH
had been o-day," one man exclaims, anC
he sits down in sort of sentimental fatal
ism, bewailing his unhappy lot, making nc
| real effort to better it. To such mar
Christ says in effect, Never mind the past
| it is gone; you cannot recall It,; but are
there not twelve hours in the day? Do the
best you can with this day and its preclou:
hours" Vain regrets for the past are the
worst kind of dissipation OF the present.
But, on the other hand, these words moi
less strongly rebuke that opposite spirit
which, because life seems to stretch through
q long vista of seventy or eighty years, !:
prodigal of its time, thinks that the dutie:
OF the present can well enough be mort
gagged on the opportunities OF the future
"What Goes it matter, after all, if young
man squanders few years In sowing nj:
wild oats? Nature is generous. You car
bank on her resources. A few years o.
mis-spent time-well,. it wont matter TWEEN
ty years after this" So in effect many
men argue. So they stake life and immor
tality on the chances Of the future. Ano
to that temper Christ says: care there no
twelve hours in the day." Only twelve
Steal ten OF them for sin to-day and yol
cannot give twenty-five of them for Goc
tomorrow. Only twelve hours! Sufficient
to do life's duties in, but not sufficient t
serve God and the devil in. Twelve hours
! Abundance of time, but not moment too
much. not a second too many.
[ "Are there not twelve hours in the day.
| It was Jesus Christ who asked that ques
ton. Have you never been struck will
what I must call the frugality of Christ
not only in respect OF time, but OF every
thing else! Christ was pre-eminently
frugal man. not prodigal with bis re
sources. not spendthrift with His powers
He bad the riches of the universe IN Hl
grasp. No millionaire that ever llvet
could command such resources. and ye
when out of these resources He had fed |
multitude of 5000 people, what was it HI
said to His disciples? Gather up the frag
ments, that nothing be lost" He was anx
ious for the crumbs. Frugal, not parsimo
nious. He realized the value OF the httl'
things in life.
So. too, in this m tier of time. From
everlasting to everlasting He is God. BE
fore Abraham was, am" the heir of al
| the ages. And yet He counts life by IT
hours. twelve hours in the day, while We
the frail, helpless children of day, pre-
sumo to measure life by its years. How
old are you? And the young man in th'
exrberance of his vitality counts life by IT
wears, and replies: Twenty, thirty year
old" How old art thou" said Pharaoh
to the aged Jacob. And the patriarch
though he was l37 years old at the time
counted his life by its days, and Jacol
said unto Pharaoh: Few and evil have tn.
days Of the years OF my pilgrimage been;
1t was by its days that the old man reei
oned life.
So, too, you remember the prayer o
Moses: 80 teach US to number, not ouI
years, but ''our days, that We may appl!
our hearts unto wisdom.
Have YOU ever noticed how much more
keenly this sense of the value of day Il
| forced home upon US the nearer we com'
to eternity? 1t is when the soul stand
upon the shore of boundless eternity
that it begins to think of how much day
an hour, moment means. "A million o
money for an inch of time" cried the grea
English queen, after six long years on
throne. A million OF money for an inch o
time! The nearer we get to eternity th'
more precious the moments become. AnC
| Christ, who lived in the atmosphere o
eternity and who alone hath Immortality
counted life by its hours, twelve hours II
the day-enough, but not enough and t.
,spare.
! I want, of course this evening to EN-
phasize especially the spiritual aspect o
this subject, and yet it cannot be out o
place altogether to remember that thu
power Of using the hours OF day an(
| gathering up these precious fragments o
time. frequently called odd moments" L
really the secret of some of the most sue
cessful lives. One of the striking testimo
nials of biography. indeed, is this. that,
great many enduring regulations IN th
world have been built out OF the odd mo
ments" of life. Men otherwise long sine
forgotten are remembered to-day for wha
they achieved in odd moments, in .:th'
twelve hours OF the day. One OF the hes
TRANSACTIONS of Lucret!us. the great Latin
writer, was the work of busy Londor
doctor while going his daily round anon!
his patients A great musician Learned
i n 4 To-. Il, trnn nFl