The Penn's Grove record., 1909-05-21
Theme: To-day.

~a --
Text, Psalm e5:7. @To-day." In
that entertaining and stimulating
volume Orthodoxy" Mr.. Gilbert
Chesterton delivers himself of this
pungent remark: "All Christianity
concentrates on the man az the cross
roads" For, says he, "The true phil
losophy is concerned with the In.
slant. The instant is really awful"
Nothing Is truer, nothing more vi.
tai.
What a multitude of rmo ara
preached to hetheme, Where wfllyou
spend eternity?" What a host there
Is looking toward the hereafter. How
many there are who are hoping for
tomorrow and planningfor the years
to come. Far be it from me to mini.
mize the value or the need for
thought and talk about the life of
that undiscovered country from
whose bourne the traveller no more,
entering, returns. We can not too
much direct the attention Of men
and the times to eternity. Would
that we might be as strenuously alb.
stract and spiritual and ~forethought-
full in our thinking and preaching az
we are coldly practical. The king
dom of heaven truly is here or no.
where, but for us it is more there
than here. This life is but a seq.
ment Of that wonderful and illimit-
able eternity to which God ever calls
us on. AS Keats SO beautifully sings:
4The One remains, the many change and
pass;
Heavens light forever shines, earth's
shadows fly;
Life, like a dome Of many colored glass,
Stains the white radiance of eternity,
Until death tramples it to fragments"
Longer shall we live there than
here. Here we sojourn, there in the
providence of God we shall abide.
To-day is important none the less.
The measure of our living here con-
ditions our living there. Our talent
using in this life indicates our value
IN the next. How we see God here
determines our vision of Him in the
heavenly abodes. To-day is impor.
tant. The instant is impressive.
Nov" is indeed noteworthy. "To-
day." says the Psalmist, "if ye willt
hear His voice"
BE wise to-day; It's madness to defer;
4NCAt QuJ Il 1dtdl pISC6ueut VIII D1ed0s
Thus on, till wisdom is pushed out Of life.
REPRESENTATION is the thief of time;
Year after year it steals, till ell are fled,
And to the mercies of 2 moment leaves
The vast concerns of an eternal scene"
May we, as Edward Young, per-
ceive the wonder and the awfulness
Of the divine responsibility that rests
on us momentarily to be careful to-
ward the concerns of the ages.
The future depends on to-day.
Defer not tillto-morrowto be wise"
Eternity rests upon our present
choice. There can be no tomorrow
till there has been to-day. The char-
acter Of tomorrow lies helpless in
the grasp of to-day. The sins and
progress Of the men who are alive
will mar OF make the future of the
generations yet unborn.
The day that Esau sold his birth
right to assuage the gnawing of his
hunger that day he marked his char
acter forever, and Jacob left an ever
lasting explanation to be made.
When Moses set his face s~teadfastly
away from the leeks and garlics and
the honors of an alien court in that
moment the face of history was
changed. When Abraham Lincoln
came up out of the valley of decision
the slave was free.
Every choice is decisive. Each
moment is momentous.
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call to-day his own;
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow, do thy worst, for l have lived
to-day"
God and the thoughtful know the
value of to-day. It's use is a fine
art. Its value is Unreasonable. Its
possibilities are infinite. Its appeal
Is heart-searching. Its misuse Is q
crime and a %grievous sin.
We ought to utilize to-day with
care. 1t means much how we face
Satan and stand firm for God. Weak
and unimportant as We may judge
ourselves to be alone, yet our aggre-
gated decisions are impelling and our
compounded use of time has an ever
lasting bearing. Perchance the ac-
lions of one of US may determine the
course of the onward march of men.
Most important is to-day in the
life of the soul. To-day alone Is
ours. The future, as the past, Is With
God. Let us say with Wesley:
"Lol on a narrow neck of land,
Twixt two unbounded seas I stand =
Let us decide for eternity. Let u
use to-day for the good of tie days
that are to be, for the happiness Of
our hearts forever.