The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-01-10

Sern1On
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talrnage, d. D.

Los Angeles, Cal, Jan. S.-The day
lost by solar reckoning in westerly
voyage around the world furnishes the
preacher in this sermon with an illus
tration by which, as he shows, days
are continually being lost In the voy
age Of life; text, Ecclesiastes TX, 10
whatsoever thy hand fndeth to do
do 1t with thy might"
What tragic significance there may
be in that little word "Lostr' We hear
it In the despairing cry Of the miners
starving in the Death valley Of the
Mojave desert. We hear it In the bit
ter cry Of the travellers bewildered in
midwinter on the Montana prairies. 1t
is shrek Of horror on the lips of the
poor children on the General Slocum
burning on the sound Of New York.
1t is cry Of dismay from the crew of
the Royal Charter wrecked on the
Irish coast. 1t Is a cry of agony from
the man in the upper story of the
Windsor hotel in New York, whose
body with suppliant arms stretched in
entreaty to the iremen falls into the
seething furnace "He is lostw we
cry as one of our number slides over
the edge Of the Alpine glacier. Gle is
lost" we said in sorrow when our
friend, the Rev. DR.. Robert B. Taylor
of San Diego, made a false step from
the deck. Of the sailboat and sank to
rise no more. LOST" cries the mother
frantically pacing the streets looking
for her wandering child. '.Lostp' cries
the gambler who has ventured his last
coin on the turn Of the wheel. Horror
and dismay and agony and despair are
heard in that thrilling word.
There is another kind of loss Of which
I want to speak to you today. At the
beginning Of new year it is impressed
upon us with solemn import. Looking
over the year that is gone,
how sad is the thought of our lost
days! Days there have been in which
we might have done work for God
which we have suffered to pass away
In idleness, days which can never be
recalled which we have frittered away
uselessly. ~ =.--..
We all know the old adage that "time
Is money" We are all ready to grant
that this axiom Is true. eff a man has
no regard for the time of other men, Z
wrote Horace Greeley. why should he
nave for their money? What is the diff
ference between stealing mans hour
Ind stealing his So? There are many
men to whom each hour of the business
lay Is worth more than SIS. ;" But, though
line means money to most Of us, time
Ihould mean more than that. It is a
Iacred trust committed to us, for. the
light use Of which we shall have to
i've account. Little enough is the por-
ion we can devote to our Masters serv-
&c. IF we waste it we defraud God.
Losing the Minutes.
We waste these days simply by vast
ng here a minute and there minute.
This thought was brought home to NE
n my tour around the world In 1893
ny father and left our homes In the
asst and started on our journey. We
ollowed the course OF the setting sun
Ne travelled from New York to Pitts
'urg. from Pittsburg to Chicago, from
,hicago to st. Louis, from ST. Louis to
)enver, and then to San Francisco. We
igzagged up and down, but always
ept pushing toward the west. At San
francisco we set sail for the Sandwich
stands. Then we went on to Samoa.
|Ometimes we would stop two or three
ays In town, sometimes full week.
+ took US seven long months to encirs
le the globe. Each day, as rule, was
or us not twenty-four hours, but TWEEN
v-four hours and ten or fifteen or even
nirty minutes long. OF course you
rasp my meaning. We were 1engthen-
Is orr days, because we were travel
Is westward. How were we to straight
q ont our calendar This was the way
re did It. One night we went to bed ON
Wednesday. The next morning when
q awoke It was Friday. There, In the
,iddle OF the Pacific ocean, we lost
nj day. How did that day disappear?
Al sat that Friday morning, after
thursday was dropped out OF my cal.
ndar, I said to myself: Yes, yes. This
the way many days are lost for
hrist IN our great journey Of life
[ere Il is q few minutes wasted for
hrist IN the morning There it Is d
- hinutes. wasted at noon or at
ventS1e Of zlt night These few min
tee do not seem TO amount to much at /
le time, but IN the aggregate they
IKE up whole days. weeks, months
ID perhaps whole years Of wasted
me that might have been spent I'm
.rvice for the Master. =
How many days that might have
cen given to Christ have we lost?
low do we lose theml First, by not
:arting the work Of each day prompt
and theoretically as we ought to do,
I oversleeping ID the morning or by {
lMdlin9 through our dressing. by lin
sring too long at the breakfast table, .
/ yaFning and stretching and idly
ufding air castles III bed after the
hing bell has rung, by ignoring the
ret up" call which King solomon In
Q sixth chapter Of Proverbs pounds
pom every bedroom door when he .
Ills: "How long wilt thou sleep, O
n1U.arl39 Whou ssriIf ffnu arisor mt