The Holbrook news., 1920-12-31
The Old Year and
 the New A Sermon for New Years Eve REV. STEPHEN PAULSoN

My Times are in Thy hand.-Psalm s1:15. CAD and solemn are the last hours of the dying year. Only few
 months ago a New Year was given unto us, fresh and pure from Gods great storehouse of time. It has spent its life upon the earth, and Its footprints will never be effaced. The departing year has brought to us Gods numberless blessings; 1t has seen many noble deeds done, and 1t has seen progress in many depart ments of life.
 ! The passing of another year must emphasize to every thoughtful person the swift flight of time. Looking backward over the past years of our life they seem to shrink to the size bf beads strung around child's neck. Seeking an image of mans career, the prophet sees his days swifter than a Eweaver's shuttle; his years swifter than an arrow, curving as 1t rises to It's fall. What is mans life? he asks. It is a cloud dissolving in the sun shine. It is a summer brook swollen by sudden rains, but soon running out and leaving the stones bare again. 1t is a tale that is soon told.
 k These last days of the old year urge us to husband well the time that is stin given us. To a shrub a year means only a leaf to the vine, clus- ter; to the tree, a new ring of wood. But to a man a year means a large portion of his life which has been used or wasted. Youth often unthink- Ingly throws all responsibilities on the years to come. To him everything seems possible in the future. Then he thinks to have time for education Then he will practice economy and thrift, let the present be prodigal as 1t may. The morrow will suffice for the forming of habits and the building of character. So dazzled by the fu- ture the youth allows the years to slip through his hands, and the result Is a man who Is an intellectual infant and a moral feebling. As you pause now and think over the past, you must realize that the morrow holds no harvests which the laborers called yesterdays did not SOW and cultivate. There was an ancient custom of put ting an hourglass into the coffin of the dead to signify that their time had run out-a useless notification to them. Better put the hOurglass into the hand of every living man to show him how swiftly the sands of life do flow. But, after all, time Is of value only as we make the best use of 1t. We live in deeds. not years; in thoughts. not breaths;
 Tn feelings, not in figures on dial We should court time by heart-rhrobs He most lives
 Who thinks most. feels the noblest, acts
 the best.
 The old year may hold our many failures, many disappointments, many bitter regrets. The New Year holds out to us hope and promise. for my dimes are in Thy hand, O Lord. It should comfort us when we think of the brevity of our years, to realize by contrast the length of Gods years. We have but a short time to work, and it is well to remember that in order that we may be dilligent. But God has a whole eternity in which to work, and 1t is well to remember that also, so that we may cease from fretfulness and impatience at the slow progress of His kingdom among us. Jesus Christ has not ceased from His redemption of the world, nor has God been defeated in His plans for hu- manity, for the times of men and nations are in His hand.
 For most of us the memory of the past is a chamber of discontent. Let therefore the old year bury from sight its story of sin and sorrow and failure. Let there be sincere repent ance for the follies of the past, and then let a new man step forth to meet with hope and determination the glad New Year which God desires shall be a blessed year for every child of earth. When God forgives, He for gives utterly. He casts mans sins ~into the depths of the sea-" Why then should memory thrust its hooked pole into the sea to dredge the bot tom and bring up by the locks some