Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1912-06-27
SATURDAY NIGHT
~ SERMONS
! wv BY
Z s sSSAMuE Il
"MANANA.

Text, This people say, The time Is not
yet come."-Hag. !, q
1t was 10 in the morning. Michael"
said to the owner of the Mexican
mule team, Il must get started at once
4 toward Fort Yuma. Can engage your
team?" Certainly. senor." well, 1t
will take me about half an hour to get
ready How soon can you start"
Whew! | was evidently In haste. He
shrugged his shoulders. tilted back his
sombrero, rolled his eyes-also q fresh
cigarette-and responded with half
sigh. "Manana, maybe. senoy." And
that is one of the great reasons why In
the most profusely productive country
in the world Mexico is poor "Manana"
--tomorrow-is not only Mexican. how
ever; 1t Is human. We put eff doing
things as long as re can. Il was jest
a-goin' to git that barn insured said
one of my first parishioners as we stood
at daybreak looking at the smolder-
ing ruins of grain. farming implements
4 and Give stock" now dead He has
neighbor who was Just goin' to- pay
q note when it went to protest. reduce
his debt when his creditors closed on
him. close a deal when his competitor
snapped the order. When it il too late
men are frantic to take the needed
step. The Western Union Telegraph
company sells time to thousands Of Gus
toners. / do not mean that one can
buy a day or year of extra time from
them. The company would be fabu-
lousy rich If they could. Queen Eliza
beth is said to have exclaimed In her
dying moments, millions of money for
an inch Of timer and did not get 1t.
Yesterday.
Yesterday is over. 20 God, turn
terday." cried the Count Of Monte
Cristo No. not even God could do
that The iron doors of midnight
snapped last night and closed yester-
day for all eternity Yes. 1T might
have BEEN" but it Is too late to mend
1t now If the milk Is spilled you may
| figure out now you came to do 1t. but
do it on the way for more milk. And
neither boast nor dream Of the record
of yesterday. You've crossed the.
dead line in your job when you go
around telling what you used to do.
The blue envelope isn't far off-you're
a "hasbeen' The only use for yes
| terday is warning and inspiration for
today. Delays have dangerous ends"
Caesars delay to read message cost
his life when he crossed the senate
house. Colonel Rail. the Hessian
commander. was playing cards at
Trenton when a messenger brought
letter stating chat Washington was
crossing the Delaware. He put the
letter In his pocket. He would read
| it when the game was over" He raj
lied his men only to die just before
his troops were taken prisoners. Only
/ a few minutes delay over q card
game, but it cost honor. liberty. life.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow" is the mirage of life 1t
Is the day on which idle men work and
foolish men reform. 1t is the harvest
time OF good intentions. The sinner ex-
poets to be saint-tomorrow. The dis
honest man will be honest-tomorrow
The drunkard will be sober-tomorrow
Bad habits will be overcome evil tenn
pers conquered, wrong desires ban
lished-tomorrow. What a wonderful
land is tomorrow! But tomorrow never
comes or, when It does come 1t Is to-
day, and today we find our nerve Of
initiative cut by yesterdays habit!
All, tomorrow! What you are going to
do tomorrow! The air is heavy with
the incense Of tomorrow; you lull your
self to sleep with the songs of the
mighty deeds you are going to do. the
great fame you are going to win. the
sweeping influence you are going to
have-tomorrow-in the sunlit hours of
tomorrow! Wake up. Do you expect
| harvest without seed time? An end
without a beginning? You did live yes
terday; you are living today: tomorrow
isn't yours.
Today.
Now is the great word of God. Nov"
is the only treasure we have, yet we
| squander it as If 1t were no value.
| When a person says they have been
killing time" they have been killing
| life, for life is time. You can do more
with five minutes now than you can
with a thousand years after you are
dead. What we did yesterday and what
we will do tomorrow sink into insig-
nifcance with what we may do today.
Two forces striving within us-one is
action. the other is delay. Action is a
severe taskmaster. but is rich in re-
| ward, while, as some one has said, de-
lay 'is an easy boss. but poor pay
master" Shakespeare declares in his
| familiar but ever true lines:
There is tide in the affairs OF men
| Which. taken at the flood. leads on to for
tune.
And ovvoI1 rim OfpOIu rroclofync.