Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1909-02-26
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/./1TSI@/NH 1911
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WANTS DOOR KEPT OPEN.
By Rev. Guy Arthur ]

By Rev. Guy Arthur Jameson.
And the door was shut.-Matthew
XIV, 10.
The foolish virgins did not expect to
find the door closed upon them. 1t was
their own foolishness that resulted in
this keen disappointment and in the
story Of their humiliation is suggested
to US as a sad truth-that we may I'M
consciously, unwittingly have the door
to all that is best and worthiest closed
on US.
l think very few people purposely
refuse TO seek the best things Of life.
But Indifference and neglect may be-
come sin, and close the door to LIES
best blessings. But these same persons
may close the door on Christ, but there
are lines Of conduct that we may fol
low, and we never dream that we are
raising barriers between ourselves and
the best. There are certain things that
We may do until We will no longer re-
spond to the best thoughts and feel
ings.
Darwin tells rs that in early life he
was fond of music; found great pleas
ure in reading Shakespeare. But IN
after years he so concentrated his mind
and soul on the investigation and study
Of nature that he lost his taste for
music, no longer cared for Shake
speare. The great poet no longer made
ali appeal; the faculty Of music became
atrophied. He had no quarrel with
Shakespeare or music; they had not
changed. He still knew the one to be
the greatest poetical genius of the cen
turtles the other one Of Gods avenues
Of speaking to man some Of his best
emotions and aspirations, and yet there
was no longer anything IN the soul Of
Darwin that responded to their appeal.
Unwittingly he had closed the door on
Shakespeare and music.
1t may not be serious matter to
close the door for q time on music and
poetry, but there are things which we
dare not shut out Of our lives even
for a day, Every influence that makes
for development, the uplifting, the no
BILE, the Christ-llke, the ideal, we must
be careful that we do not Intentionally
or thoughtlessly shut out. And every
day as we go forth to meet life we are
consciously or unconsciously opening
or shutting the door to life's best things
in our thought, in our emotions, in
our acts, in our friends, in our amuse-
ments, in all our habits
We may think lightly of these things
until some day when we have an i1l-
DOrtant choice to make, a critical temp
tation to face, an undertaking to carry
through, that may affect our whole
destiny. And If we have not been liv-
Ing in the way that will enable us to
make the right choice, meet the temp
tation or succeed in the undertaking,
We like the foolish virgins, will find
the door shut.
Our whole life is concerned In every
choice we make, in every temptation
we master, in every undertaking we
accomplish. Perhaps we never meant
to shut the door on purity and power,
on character and success, but somehow
they have escaped into the dim dis
lance. We never meant to grow indif-
ferent to the appeals made upon the
soul by higher things, nor to grow hard
toward our fellow, nor to let life's best
opportunities slip, but suddenly our
eyes are open and we find that the
door is shut Like the foolish virgins,
thoughtlessly we have shut the door
on the Master.