Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1913-12-04
BRIGHT DAYS
AND DARK
D REv. DONALD SAGE MAcKAY
D. D., LID.

But where sin abounded, grace did
much moro abound.-Rom. $40.
How much the counterbalance plays
its part In the activities Of human life!
Our bright days are counterbalanoed
BY dark days. Our times Of prosper.
ity are Offset by times Of adversely.
Fol every sorrow there is In the d.
vine providence. . corresponding gain.
and 1T the heart Of every defeat there
- for the man Of faith the
prophecy Of new victory. Go
whore We will In the great universe
Of love and We ind everywhere the
working Of this divine law Of counter
podse-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 course, that
these bright days and dark in life
which alternate in such swift success
sion IRE all part Of a divine plan.
These neeting changes Of prosperity
and adversely. Joy and sorrow, life
and death. are not haphazard. They
are not the chance happenings of a
cruel and needless fate. Nor are they
ebullitions fckleness in God. or for
%getfulness Of his children. Not to
tantalixe and tease the soul, not that
We may take M joys with trembling
and our sorrows with cringing does
our Heavenly Father set the dark days
. against the bright days In life.
God sends these seasons for the
growth OF what is worthless and best
within us. The dark days and the
bright days are 10 necessary to the
poise Of your character as the counters
balance Is necessary to the equilfbri:
UNI OF the wheel. It needs no pro.
found thinking to realize what a grind.
Ing monotony life would be If there
were no shadows to Offset its sunlight
What an insipid thing Joy would be.
come-a surfeit in the banquet of life
III there we're no bitters to cleanse
the palate Of the soul.
These bright days and dark days
In life as they come and 60, some.
times In rhythmic cadence and some.
times in b%ewildering confusion. are al
20 part Of q divine revelation. They
are days Of revealing as well 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
tu1e which the monotony Of an I'm.
broken experience oouiI never bring.
Tho changing days Of life unmask the
reserves OF character. It is, Of course,
. truism that q man never knows how
much he can endure until the day Of
adversity comes. It has been pointed
out that Walter Scott became great a.
man and realized the highest e1.
pression Of his genius not until the
ave 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
SA0S - A0W AOS0 USC6xAo
vocal In the great writer's journal, q
new personality emerged. One 70,
members in this connection the letter
which upon tho day succeeding the
news Of the disaster Scott wrote ia
An intimate friend: II have walked
for the las. time IN these halls which
I have built, looked for the last time
in all probability Ut the domain which
! have planted, but death would have
taken these things from me II mis-
fortune had not" The letter concluded
With the words. .Adversity ID to me-
q tonic and q bracsr." Look 1T that
manuscript" says Ruakin. referring t.
SCOTS novel Of woodstock" which
was In course Of writing ct the time,
written In the very maslstrom OF that
adversely and not by the CULVER Of 4
hair stroke, not BY the suggestion d
~ single tremor In the hand. not BY IN
srasure or change. not BY any failing
OF In the creative interest Of the story
could any one detect thst when scott
wrote the second part q that novel
~ did 70 under . eiouA Of bittsr "a
vsrsity."
And biography Il fun Of such IN
maskings Of the pressure Of the darl
days succeeding the bright days n
LIE Milton's psrsonality became 1
FIR more potent influence aftsr blind
ness had stricken him. The loss d
physical sight Intensified the keennssi
q spiritual vision. Had Bunyan nsvel
laan n HnAford fail5 h haA nAwe,