The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-05-25

we are uellDefate scanual mOnRerS. DUt
simply that to pass The time we indulge in
kind of talk about orr neighbors and
friends, the results OF which for evil are
greater than we may ever know. VINO can
estimate the regulations that have been
wrecked, the lives of promise that have
been crippled. the usefulness for good in
the word that has been checked 10y the
retailing OF evil sander throughout the
twelve hours OF the day?
Once more, thinl; OF the hours consumed
in the pursuit of merely selfish Pleasure
Indifferent to the bitter cry of outcaSt lu.
manity, callous to the great mora needs oi
the hour that come knocking at our doors,
how many of us use up the twelve hours
in the pursuit of schemes whose one pur.
pose is for self and sci. alone. Busy we
may be, but so busy with the affairs of sell
, that we 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 sef-not
one given up to God, to wing its way up.
ward like incense before the eternal throne.
Look back upo- the week t.Iat is gone.
with its treasury OF hours, and what record
have they LETT upon the tablets of the soul;
Eow many hours of last week wi messed
YOU on your knees before God; How man.
hours did you give to prayer How many
hours did YOU give to studying the Bible:
How many to thinking thoughts of love
ness! How many to crucifying self and
cnthroning 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
t.c judgment seat OF God. Twelve hours
in the day to work out your salvation. and
how many men are using these twelve
hours in working out their perdtion.
How, then, are we gong to redeem our
days make the most OF those twelve hours,
so that at last no upbraidng memory shall
recall them with sorrow cnd shame
| would not be so foolish as to say that
this power to use time Alright 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 prgs anG moral pedants You can.
not detach every hour and sa;, as Franklin
said in his diary, that this hour will be de.
voted to such an such duty, that he
to some other duty, and so on. That would
destroy Il great deal OF tn, inspiration OF
life and would turn existence into grind.
ing machine. No, the hours &C 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 have its moments shut
off for communion with God. And then
these moments, however brief, of conse-
Grated prayer, will give tonic to the rest
OF the day "'hich will make impossible that
hippant 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, prayer
produces sense of urgency, a spirit OF
haste, if you like, but not "A spirit OF hurry.
1t intensifies the thought that time is snort
and yet enough for each one of us to do
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, beauty to character, sunny ra'
dance to the soul, that makes earth the
threshold of heaven. Nothing is NEE dis
gusting 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 'ord's necessi.
ties. What we want is this sense of ur'
gency. Time is short, and yet long enough
with prayer to do something that will
abide when we have passed lway. 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 hallucnaton that
I. there is not time enough. They get into
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 have nothing to
L. ~ /
and the promise is, Il will pay you penny
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
its grace and strength and blessing as well:
Build little fence of trust
Around to-day.
Fill the pace with loving work,
And therein stay.
Look not through the shetering bars
Upon tomorrow;
God will help thee bear 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 1t is already
the eleventh hour, the eleventh hour in
lifes busy day. Although we know it not,
the dusk of time IS falling ia :. The tw
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 eev
enth hour, throug.. the shadowed 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 ye 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 il We will heac His voice-and remem.
ber, There are twelve hours in the day."