The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-05-25
"THE VALUE OF A DAY"
A Brilliant Sunday Discourse By Rev.
Donald Sage Mackay.
We Should Not Waste Efforts In Talking Piatl'
tudes About the Shortness Of Time.


its subject "The Value Of Day The
text was from John xi:0: "Are there not
twelve hours in the day." DIR. MacKay,
said:
My text this evening is Chrst'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.
1t is indeed one of the dreariest, as it is
one OF the oldest OF moral reflections,
which forever dwells upon the shortness
of time and the swiftness of its fight.
More mournful eloqucnce 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 flight is swift. but are there
not twelve hours in the day? To each
man sufficient time has been given to do
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 suftciency for the tasks Of
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 rebulSe two very opposite
but very common. tempers which men as
sumo in regard to time and its opportuni.
ties. On the one hand, Christ rebukes
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 smaness OF opportunities in
the present. 80, If j had only done so and
go twenty years ago. how much better of
had been to-day one man cXclains, and
he sits down in sort of sentimental fatal.
ism, bewailing his unhappy lot, making no
effort ma N
Christ says in effect, Never mind the past;
1t 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 precious
hours Vain regrets for the past are the
worst kind of dissipation of the present.
But, on the other hand, these words not
less strongly rebuke that opposite spirit,
which, because life seems to stretch through
long vista of seventy or eighty years, is
prodigal of its time, thinks that the duties
of the present can well enough be mort.
gagged on the opportunities of the future,
What does it matter, after all, If young
man squanders few years in sowing his
wild oats? Nature is generous. You can
bank on her resources. A few years OF
mis-spent time-wel, it won't matter twen.
ty years after this" So in effect many
men argue. So they stake life and immor.
tality on the chances of the future. And
TO that temper Christ says: care there not
twelve hours in the day" Only twelve!
Steal ten OF them for sin to-day and you
cannot give twenty-five of them for God
tomorrow. Only twelve hours! Sufficient
to do life's duties in, but not sufficient to
serve God and the devil in. Twelve hours!
Abundance of time, but not a moment too
much, not a second too many.
Are there not twelve hours in the day"
1t was Jesus Christ who asked that Ques-
tion. Have you never been struck with
what ! must call the frugality of Christ,
not only in respect of time, but of every
thing else? Christ was preeminenty
frugal man, not prodigal with His re.
sources, not spendthrift with His powers.
He had the riches of the universe in His
grasp. No millionaire that ever lived
could command such resources; and vet
when out of these resources He had fed a
multitude of 5000 people, what was it He
said to His disciples? Gather up the frag-
ments that nothing be lost" He was anx-
aous for the crumbs. Frugal, not parsimo-
nious, He realized the value of the little
things in life.
So, too, in this m tier of time From
everlasting to everlasting He is God. "Bee,,
fore Abraham was, ] am" the heir of all
the ages. And yet He counts life by its
hours, twelve hours in the day, while we,
the frail, helpless children of a day. pre-.
sumo to measure life by its years. How
old are you? And the young man in the
exuberance of his vitality counts life by its
old" "How old art thou?d said Pharaoh
to the aged Jacob. And the patriarch,
though lie was 1877 years old at the time,
counted his life by its days, and Jacob
said unto Pharaoh: Few and evil have the
days of the years of my pilgrimage been"
1t was by its days that the old man reck-
oned life.
So, too, you remember the prayer of
Moses: 80 teach us to number" not our
years, but "our days, that we may apply
our hearts unto wisdom"
Have you ever noticed how much more
keenly this sense of the value of a day is
forced home upon us the nearer we come
to eternity, 1t is. when the soul stands
upon the shore of boundless eternity
that it begins to think of how much day,
an hour, moment means. "A million of
money for an inch of time" cried the great
English queen, after six long years on
throne. A million of money for an inch of
time! The nearer we get to eternity the
more precious the moments become. And
Christ, who lived in the atmosphere of
eternity and who alone hath immortality,
counted life by its hours, twelve hours in
the day-enough, but not enough and to
spare.
| want, of course, this evening to EN-.
phasize especially the spiritual aspect OF
this subject, and yet it cannot be out OF
place altogether to- remember that this
power of using the hours of day and
gathering up these precious fragments of
time, frequently called "odd moments" is
really the secret of some of the most sue.
cessful lives. One of the striking testmo-
malls of biography. indeed, is this. that a
great many enduring regulations in the
world have been built out of the odd .no-
ments" of life. Men otherwise long since
forgotten are remembered to-day for what
they achieved in odd moments, in the
twelve hours of the day. One of the best
translations OF Lucretius, the great Latin
writer, was the work of a busy London
doctor while going his daily round among
his patients. A great musician learned
French and Italian while riding from one
musical pupil to another. Kirke White
learned Greek while walking to and from
lawyers Office, so thet he was enabled to
graduate with honors in the university.
One of the ablest legal treatises in the
French language was written by man in
the somewhat depressing interval which
precedes the serving OF the evening meal,
after he had come home from his Office.
Elihu Burrtt taught himself eighteen an.
rient languages and twenty-five European
languages while waiting for the horses to
be shod in his blacksmith shop. Such ex.
amples teach us forcbly enough how abun.
dant are the hours OF the day for the no.
blest tasks of life, ii we would but seek
grace to use them Alright. "Redeeming the
time" says the apostle. How many of US
ask Gods grace each day we rise, to use
the twelve hours Alright, for His glory and
for the benefit of our fellow men?
Do we realize this privilege OF twelve
hours day sufficiently? l am quite sure
" we did we should not say so often as we
do that we have no time. We should not
r.ufa in fal MI