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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1907.
“WhyStand Ye Here Idle”!
Why stand ye here all day
Idle? • • • <Jo ye also into the
vineyard, and whatsoever fa right
■ *.i u® 1 ! 3 I® 1 !!
By REV. RICHARD ORME FLINN,
Pastor North Avenue Presbyterian Church
IHHHMMW
One of the most dazzling minds that |
ever thriled men by Its brilliant scin
tillations, one of the most richly en- |
d'owed men that England ever gave
the world, was Lord Bryon. His was
a splendid opportunity. He had riches. I
Influence, and station. But, living j
by caprice, and wasting his glorious
privileges, when little more than thir
ty years of ago. a broken, sin-aged,
lonely and disappointed man, he wrote |
out of his heart's emptiness, as might
have written a man of seventy, the
following lines which come Uke a sob
from a burdened breast:
"My days are In the yellow leaf;
The flower and fruits of love ore gone.
The worm, the ranker, and the grief
Are mine alone.
The Are that on my bosom preys
In lone as some volcanic isle;
No torch Is kindled at Its blaze
A funeral pile."
Oh, the barrenness of such a look
backward, when life has been used for
selfish or for sensual ends. Oh, the
bitterness of the look Inward, the hope
lessness of the look forward,, when lift
has been purposeless and undirected
toward any great spiritual attainment;
when there has been nothing but a
planting of weeds, and. when there ettn
be therefore no anticipation of a golden
harvest to be garnered In but only the
fear of the reaping of the follies sown
through wasted years. How. this is
the question I want to ark:
Is there any hope for a man like that?
Thank God; there Is. The Master comes
to such a man as this and says: "I
will even receive you also; go ye Into
the vineyard, and whatever Is right
that shall ye receive.”
In the passage from which our text
Is taken God Is reoresented as a hus
bandman seeking for laborers who will
serve at harvest time. In the early
ua«n he has gone to tne inurKer place,
and all whom he has found .who are
willing he ha» enlisted in his work.
And then ns the periods of the day
liass, hour by hour, ho goes again and
again, and as fie finds others he urges
them to enter Into his service. But
now the day Is well nigh done, the
night Is drawing on; the hourglass of
opportunity Is almost empty; within
a brief time the sun that Is slipping
down the western slope will dip be
neath the rim and the 'day will be
dead. He goes ngaln to the market
place, and finds there still others stand
ing Idle. To them he speaks, and to
them he gives the Invitation—'''Even
now, qt eventide, go ye also Into the
vineyard.”
Are there some of you who have been
idle all the while that others have
tolled, who have been trifling when
there was need of earnestness and of
action, who have wasted your lives, and
have del the golden sands of oppor
tunity slip through your fingers until
only a few grains now are left, and 1o
you now, as dusk Is about to fall, ap
preciate what this waste of life and of
Its energies Imports? Then, my broth
er, there Is hope for you In the Invita
tion of the text. An aimless, careless
life may satisfy In the early hours, but
ns the time draws nigh when we must
pass beyond and meet with God, there
1s scant comfort to be gotten from the
consciousness of spiritual frultlessness,
even though our career before the
world may have been a stainless one.
Tou may forget God and the fu
ture while you are having your fling
ut the world, while you are pampering
the flesh and accumulating merely for
time, but when you approach the sol
emn hour of dissolution and verge the
shore where you must launch out Into
REV. RICHARD ORME FLINN.
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tho unknown deep, for which you have
made no pri-iiuratiiin, there cun tie
little comfort In the memoriae of the
paltry triumphs of your past or In
whatever of temporal oggredizement
and worldly gain the present moment
may yield. -
And It Is to Just such a disappointed
soul, awakening to Its real condition,
when It seems almost too late, that this
glorious message of our Lord appeals—
"Go ye also Into the vineyard, and
whatsoever Is right I will give you."
There Is In our text not only the blessed
assurance that God Is willing to for
give and to receive such an one, but
He Is able to give them the chance at
least In some measure to retrieve the
mortifying disgrace of a wasted past.
It Is told of Napoleon that during an
engagement, as a courier came from
the front he brought news that the
day was well-nigh lost and awaited
the orders of his commander. Turning
to an ofllccr the emperor asked: "What
time Is It?" The answer was, "Sire, it
is 3 o'clock." Napoleon replied. "They
say we are defeated: so let It be. But
the day is not over yet; there Is time to
tight another battle, and win tt” And
so Instead of a retreat a charge was
sounded; tho reserves who had been
held Inactive were hurried to the
front: the lines re-formed, and rein
forced advanced, and before the sun
had set the flcld wae won.
And so. please God, It may yet be for
us. We have failed? Tea, we admit It.
But God loves us, and forglvea us, and
by Ills gracious Invitation, even now
we may take courage and go forward.
"I will restore the years that tho cater
pillar hath destroyed” Is His pledge,
and broken though we be, and brief
though be tho time, God helping us
we will now enlist and give to His
service right heartily all that In us Is.
I recently heard of a splendid wom
an whose saintly life and splendid min
istry were known to all. who stated
that after years of nominal member
ship of a church during which she
trilled with the great work to which she
should have given her best endeavors,
she was aroused and genuinely con
verted. She said "Stung by my past
neglect. I was well-nigh overwhelmed
until I read those words of Joel where
God promises to restore tho years that
the caterpillar hath destroyed. 1 said
nothing to any man about It, but cried
out In the agony of my.soul, "Oh God!
that Is what I want—the restoration of
my past, the chance to retrieve those
lust years, the opportunity to redeem
the privileges with which I have trilled
In the past; and though the hour Is
late, oh, give me yet a chance!” And
this was her testimony that one after
another each of those opportunities
which she hod let slip hod come bock
to her, and os they came she had em
braced them, and had served-with a
passion intensified by the memories of
wasted years; and though she enlisted
late, I testify as one who knew her,
that she labored well.
Deathbed Repentance.
There may be some of you who are
making no pretence at serving Christ,
who yet In your heart of hearts mean
to begin to serve Him before the end.
Some time, somewhere, somehow, you
expect to get right with God before you
die. Hut let me ask you: Suppose in
God's mercy you are forgiven, and at
last are saved, will you be satisfied to
go empty-handed?
"Must I go, and empty-handed?
Thus my dear Redeemer meet?
Not one day of service- give Him?
Lay no trophy at His feet?”
Mr. Bsnkey. In his Story of the Gos
pel Hymns, tells the following Incident:
"About fifteen years ago a man who
as living a reckless. Godless life, went
to a Sunday morning sendee In a mis
sion hall In Bases. England. This
hymn was used in the service, qnd as
the third verse was rendered: - j
"Oh, the years of sinning wasted.
Could I but recall them now,
I would give them to my Savior,
To His will I'd gladly bow."
tho man was so forcibly Impressed
that he could not take part In the sing
ing. He went home miserable and was
unable to eat any dinner. In the aft
ernoon he went to a Bible class for
working men, conducted at the other
end of the village, and as he entered
the same hymn was being sung that
had made him so miserable In the
morning. The man was so moved by
the words of the hymn, and so Im
pressed bv the coincidence of Us being
sung at both places where he had at
tended that It resulted In his conver
sion. He lived a consistent life there*
utter, showing a real change of heart,
and a strong desire to no longer waste
his years in sinning."
• "^he Thler on the Cross.
The lesson from .the conversion of
the dying thief, I fear. Is often misap
plied. He Is thought of as one who
had no chance to work for Christ, but
was saved. There Is no doubt about
his being saved, and there Is no doubt
that his salvation was due to no merit
of his own; there Is no doubt that he
had no claim upon Christ and could
not hope for reward upon the basis
of what he had done. But neither ran
any other man, for that. Yet. notice
this: When he was saved by grace he
did not go empty-handed Into glory, it
was, Indeed, to him the last call. All
of his active years had been spent In
doing that which was wrong, and now.
by his own confession, os he hung
upon the rross In the agony of death,
he was but suffering what was Justly
Ills due ns n malefactor. . Ills had been
an utterly wasted life, and there was
no hope for a retrieve, no opportunity
for another chance: he wAs already
suffering the paroxysms and excrucia
ting tortures' of a lingering but certain
death. His conversion nnteceded his
death but a few moments, yet In this
brief space consider What he tilth • At
a time when Peter and all the other
disciples had deserted Christ, or were
silent, at a time when those who had
been nearest stood aloof, jind when the
multitude was Jeering and scorning,
when they mocked Him, and when the
other thief. Joining with them, hurled
maledictions at Him, this man who, at
the very setting of the sun, received his
Invitation, in the face of the howling
mob, rebuked those that scoffed, de-.
clarcd himself for Christ, confessed
Him as his Lord, and left one of tho
noblest ami most tlirillin-' testimonies
to a sublime fnith and courageous al
legiance that the world records. He
entered the service late, but he lubnreil
well. He doubtless hail never come
In touch with Christ before. Ills sin
and outlawry had kept him away from
the places where Christ was wont to
be. and now, at the last, the place or
meeting was most Inauspicious, but
bile ns w:ts tbe hour. In -:i<-< epteil Hie
Invitation, embraced his chance, made
good, and went not empty-handed Into
glory.
A Long Service Better Than Short One.
We shall never forgive ourselves If
we decline God's Invitation of the
morning, or the noontide, and waste
the day and wait until the evening hour
before we enter His service. Nor would
we by what we say suggest that wo
can afford to wait. The comfort of
our text Is not Intended to encourago
anyone to postpone the hour of enlist
ment, but instead to give faith to those
who. like the dying thief, have some
how never seemed to have a chance or
come face to face with Christ and their
duty until the life Is nigh Its close. It
Is to these we bring this word of cheer.
But listen! If, after this, you should
decline 1o live for God your sin wlli
be Indeed without excuse; for, know
ing now the neew of action and of
God’s willingness and love, to trifle
longer would bo two-fold sin.
The flcld Is white unto the harvest;
the laborers are few; your life, what
ever It may have been, enn yet be used.
God Is seeking thoso who will servo,
and your life Is needed and will be
used If you will but give God a chance.
Will you not today and now yield
yonrseir to Ood?
O, slumberer, rouse thee! Despise not
the truth,
give thy
thy youth
Why standest thou Idle? The day
ilawneth! Bee!
The Lord of the harvest stands
waiting for thee.
Holy Spirit by thy power, grant me
yet another hour;
Earthly pleasures I would prove;
earthly Joys, and earthly love.
Hardly yet hath dawned the
day.
Holy Spirit, wait, I pray.
O, loiterer, speed thee! The day wears
apace,
Then squander no longer thy mo-
men's of grace;
But haste, while there's time with thy
Master agree:
The Lord of the vineyard stands
waiting for thee.
Gentle Spirit stny, oil stay; brightly
beams this earthly day; .
Let me linger 'mid these bowers; God
shall have my noonday hours.
Chide me not for my delay.
Holy Spirit, wait, I pray.
O. sinner, ‘rouse thee! The morning
Is post,
Already the shadows are lengthen
ing fast.
Then flee for thy life; from the dark'
mountains, flee!
The Lord of the Vineyard atill
wolteth for thee.
Spirit, cease thy mourful toy; leave
me to myself, I pray,
Eurtli hat thrown Its spell around me;
pleasure's silken cords have
bound me
When the sun Its course has
trod,
Eplrit, then HI turn to God.
Hark! On tho winds comes the bell’s
solemn toll.
Mournfully pealing the knell of tho
soul.
Tho Spirit’s sad strivings and plead
ings are o'er.
The Lord of the vineyard stands
waiting no more.
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