Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1913-05-01
BRIGHT DAYS
AND DARK
D REV. DONALD SAGE AlAcKAY
D. D., LID.

But where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound.-Rom. $40.
How much the counterbalance plays
It's part In the activities Of human life!
Our bright days are counterbalanced
by dark days. Our times Of prosper
lty 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
IL for the man of faith the
prophecy Of new victory. Go
whore 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 It's 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 are all part Of divine plan.
These heeting 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 our joys with trembling
and our sorrows with cringing does
our Heavenly Father set the dark days
over 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 as necessary to the
poise Of your character as the counter.
balance Is necessary to the equilibri.
um Of the Wheel It needs no pro-
found thinking to realize what grind.
Ing monotony life would be II there
were no shadows to Offset It's sunlight.
What an insipid thing Joy would be-.
come-a surfeit in the banquet Of life
'.-f there were no bitters to cleanse
the palate Of the soul.
These bright days and dark days
In life as they come and go, some:
! times in rhythmic cadence and some
times in bewildering confusion, are al.
10 part. Of 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
J 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 man never knows how
much he can endure until the day Of
j adversely comes. It has been pointed
Iout that Walter Scott became great as
10 man and realized the highest ex-
llpression Of his genius not until the
wave of adversely swept over his life.
1 a writer has pointed out the common
place character Of Scott's personal
Journal up to the time before the fail
lure Of his publishers took place. But
y after that failure new note became
/ vocal n the great writer's journal. q
new personality emerged. One re.
members In this connection the letter
/, which upon the day succeeding the
news Of the disaster Scott wrote to
ian intimate friend: II have walked
for the las. time In these halls which
II have built, looked for the last time
In all probability at the domain which
Il have planted. but death would have
taken these things from me II mis-
fortune had not" The letter concludea
with the words. Adversely 10 to me
. tonic and bracer." Look at that
manuscript" says Ruskin, referring to
SCOTS novel Of eeeWoodstock" which
was In course Of writing at the time
written N the very maelstrom Of that
,adversity and not by the CULVER Of /
hair stroke. not By the suggestion Of
q single tremor In the hand. not by On
srasure OF change. not BY any falling
on Ia tho creative interest Of the story
lItcould any one detect that when Scott
wrote the second part Of that novel
The did % under : cloud Of bitter ad
|!vsrsity. :
IS: And biography = full Of such I'M
| maskings Of the pressure Of the darl
days succeeding. the bright days Il
life. Millions personality became !
Lar more potent influence after blind