Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1918-01-03
Life's Definition - Message
For the Year Now Ushered IN.


(Synopsis Of Sunday morning ser
mon by Rev. Gay c. White.)
For me to live is Christ" Phillip
ians 1, 81.
We are thinking about the respon-
sibilities of the new year. All decent
people desire to begin the year right,
good resolutions are made and the
purposes of the soul are unselish. III
we begin right and keep at it through
out the year we will close the year
with many things well done. AS
Christian people we must know and
honor the supernatural. Otherwise,
So its3e. Our message, our expert
ences, are no other than those of the
sarla.
Shall we live with Christ or Bar
rabas this new year? Which shall
dominate the life,-the soul or the
stomach, the physical or the spiritual?
Are we to be victorious or merely.
successful? Do we earn wages or at
tain unto the recompense Of the re-
ward of the Gospel of Christ?
"A mans Life consistent not in the
abundance of the things which he pos
sesseth"1these words of Jesus come
in striking support of the morning
text. In the moral and spiritual in
voice at the close of the year, what
remains worth keeping? We cannot
undo or ven repair the past; it is
gone forever. But it is, right that we
should enquire concerning progress
made. When we separate the wheat
from the chaff, which is the larger
pile?
An Everlasting Debt.
Life is not a matter of wages but of
returns upon the investment of daily
service. Wages are important, and
under u present economic system a
living wage is the minimum every
person should receive who is capable
of earning his living. Society owes
no man a living, except those who are
insane II incapacitated through ill
ness or accident, and even then, some
one has to pay the bills. Society does
not W us a penny, except in return
for service rendered. You and | are
in debt for all the multiplied benefits
and achievements of past centuries.
That we do not have to begin where
the men of the stone age began, puts
us in everlasting debt to Palestine and
Greece and Rome.
But wages are unsatisfactory, at
best. Some day every man will be a
partner in the business in which he
is engaged, receiving direct proper
tionate dividends upon his investment.
of labor and capital. Money is not
all that we get out of our work.
A Divine Opportunity.
We are creators together with God.
Each day is a divine opportunity for
the doing of three things. First, the
doing of good. Second, the enjoyment
of life and life's companionships with
a clear conscience. Third, personal
development of mind and soul. What
else is there to live for? These three
things should make up the more album
.dant life Of the new year. Your laun-
dry woman may have this abundant
life as truly as the merchant or the
banker. I have not mentioned money,
social position, nor advancement:
these are not essential to the more
abundant life.
Is the day stormy? People need
your cheer. Is the day beautiful?
People need the contagion of your
happiness, lest the beauty of the day
be married for someone. is the day
sad? Bring comfort to those who sit
in the shadows of mourning. Each
day is a God-given challenge to our
best, u b~ravest, u happiest en-
deavor. We may not seem to have
succeeded, but we will have achieved
the true Christian life. worth infin-
itely more than the temporal success
such as the world gives and takes.
away.
What Constitutes Achievement.
To work steadily and without .hurs
ry,-that is achievement. To have
faith in God and folks, without worry,
that is achievement. To enjoy the
little that we possess as though it
were a kingdom, and without envy
that is achievements. To say our daily
prayers in confidence that God hears
and cares,-that is achievement. To
give generously and not g~rudgingIy.
to put the shoulder to the wheel where
the mud is deepest, to see the sunny
side Of every shadow, just to live the
Christ life,-that is achievement.
This new year! Think! 1t may
bring Gethsemane but after Gethsem-
ane cometh Easter. It may bring our
thousands slain on foreign soil but it
will bring new spiritual heights of ex-
altation to fathers and mothers thus
privileged to give their Sons upon the
altar Of their country. The new year
may bring America to her knees in
mourning but America on her knees
reaches higher than America stand
iny In her selfish pride.
The Broader Vision.
This new year peace may come.
An honest peace, not q patchwork Of
geography, the temporary ~expediency
Of war wearied rulers, q breathing
space between halves, but an endlr
ing peace that shall contain Justice
and blessing for all peoples This
new year will surely contain SO much
OF discovery and achievement that
the daily newspaper becomes mar
velous romance of the crusades Of
men. Our churches must hayea z