Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1913-09-25
BRIGHT DAYS
AND DARK
b REV. DONALD SAGE nAcKAY
D. D., LID.

But where sin aboundsd, grace did
much moro abound.-Rom. $40.
How much the counterbalance plays
it's part In the activities Of human lifei
Our bright days are counterbalanosd
by dark days. Our times OF prosper
ity are Offset by times Of Adversely.
For every sorrow there Is In the d.
vine providence, . corresponding gain,
and at the heart Of every defeat there
is for the. man Of faith the
prophecy Of new victory. Go
where we will in the great universe
OF love and we md everywhere the
working Of this divine law Of counter
poise-the divine love compromising
OF every earthly loss. Where sin
abounds grace doth much more
abound" Where death walks with
insolent feet life triumphs In exultant
song. When earthly joys wither heav-
emily hope blooms in eternal beauty.
When time wears out. its venture into
threadbare decay eternity robes her>
self in immortal splendor.
We want to realize, Of u that
these bright days and dark in life
which alternate In such swift success
sion are all part Of a divine plan.
These deeting changes Of prosperity
and adversely. Joy and sorrow, life
and death, are not haphazard. They
are not the chance happenings Of q
cruel and needless fate. Nor are they
ebullitions fickleness in God. or for
Eetfulness Of his children. Not to
t~antali1e and tease the soul, not that
we may take u joys with trembling
and u sorrows with cringing does
our Heavenly Father set the dark days
over against the bright days in life.
God sends these reasons for the
growth Of what 10 worthless and best
within us. The dark days and the
bright days are as necessary to the
poise of your character MS the counter!
balance is necessary to the equilibri.
UNI OF the wheel. It needs no pro-
found thinking to realize what q grind.
ing monotony life would be II there
were no shadows to Offset Its sunlight
What an insipid thing Joy would be.
come-a surfeit in the banquet Of life
If there were no bitters to cleanse
the palate of the soul.
These bright days and dark days
in life as they como and 60, some;
times In rhythmic cadence and some.
times in bewildering confusion, are al.
10 part Of a divine revelation. They
are days of revealing as we'll as days
Of discipline. God sends these alter
mating seasons into your life to reveal
certain qualities within you, to call
into play certain capacities, to make
vital certain possibilities In your ma
ture which the monotony Of an un.
broken experience could never bring.
The changing days of life unmask the
reserves Of character. It Is, Of course,
q truism that q man never knows how
much he can endure until the day OF
adversely comes. It has been pointed
out that Walter Scott became great a.
Ia man and realized the highest 81.
preston OF his genius, not untl the
wave Of adversely swept over his life.
A writer has pointed out the common.
place character of Scott's personal
Journal up to the time before the fail.
ure OF his publishers took place. But
after that failure a new note became
vocal. in the great writer's journal, Z
new personality emerged. One r.,
members in this connection the letter
which upon the day succeeding the
news Of the disaster Scott wrote t.
an intimate friend: II have walked
Tor the las. time In these halls which
I have built. looked for the last time
In all probability 1T the domain which
I have planted, but death would have
taken these things from me II mis-
fortune had not" The letter concluded
with the words. .Adversity b 10 me-
. tonic and q bracer." Look at thai
manuscript" says Ruskin. referring L
Scots novel Of "Woodstock' which
u In course Of writing ct the time
written in the very maelstrom a that
adversely and not BY the CULVER Of I
hair stroke, not BY the suggestion oi
q single tremor In the hand, not By q
erasure OF change, not BY any falling
OF In the creative interest Of the storJ
could any one detect that whom Scott
wrote the second part of that novs'
he did 70 under . cloud Of bitter a
'versity."
And biography = fun Of sudh IN
maskings Of the pressure Of the darl
days succeeding the bright days Il
life. Milton's personality became 1
Il ---GE8t ~ = AaS~