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portuuity. "What opportunities are these that
times," then the clays in which we live are the
better times, and the (lavs of the future are the
best times of all. Jacob lamented thus to
Pharaoh, "Few and evil have the days of the
years of my life been, ant) have not attained
unto the days of the years of the life of my
fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." The
burden of the message of the prophets was a
cry against the wickedness of the times, and a
call to repentance on the part of the people.
The greatest of them all stood on the threshold
of this better age, and cried, "Repent ye; ex
act no more than that which is appointed you ;
do violence to no man, neither accuse any false
ly; and be content with your wages." In the
Apostolic Age mon had "changed the truth of
God into a lie, and worshipped and served the
creature more than the Creator."
The Gallic presbyter, Salvianus, who wrote
about the middle of the fifth century after
Christ, said of his time, "How unlike itself
Christianity has now become as we look upon
it; how deeply Ave have sunken!" Agobard. the
archbishop of Lyons in the first half of the
ninth century, exclaimed, "The Church is
growing old; and how decrepit she is becom
ing!" Bernard, of Clairvaux, living during
the first half of the twelfth eentuij, said, "The
apostles cast their nets to catch men, not as we
do, to gain gold and silver." Martin Luther,
the hero of the Reformation, found the Church
trafficking in indulgences and teaching that as
soon as the purchaser's money clinked in the
bottom of the chest the souls of his departed
friends immediately went up to heaven. Thus
it has ever been that the "olden times" were
anything else but "good times."
Some of us love to think of the early years
of American history as the heyday of religion
in this country. But one hunderd years ago
the rankest sort of infidelity was being im
ported into this country from France, in the
name of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The
Presbyterian General Assembly of 1798 issued
a pastoral letter in which it brought a dread
ful indictment against the age, "charging it
with corruption of manners, prevailing impie
ty, horrible profanation of the Lord's Day,
contempt for religion, and abounding infidel
ity." Following this there were doctrinal and
ecclesiastical differences that split the Pres
byterian Church from end to end like a log
with a wedge driven into it. And so through
out the years that we love to call "the good
olden times" there was sin and unbelief with
all their evil consequences of strife and trouble
and sorrow.
Ours is the better time. We are living in an
age when there is probably more goodness in
the world than ever before. There are more
people serving Christ to-day than ever before
at any one time. There is more love, more
sympathy, more helpfulness, more genuine
Christianity than ever in any one age. The
brotherhood of man is becoming a reality in
our day, despite the fact that the greatest war
the world has ever seen is raging on the other
side of the sea. And not only so, but God has
given us more of the good things of this world
to satisfy our needs than ever before. We
have new inventions, new discoveries, new
means of transportation and communication
that the people of the "good olden times" nev
er dreamed of. We have conveniences by
which one man to-day can do as much work
in a day as half a dozen men used to do. We
have better schools, we have better churches,
we have better homes, we have better people,
yes, we have better everything than the peo
ple of the "olden times" had. We are living
in the better time. Why not be happy? Why
not be useful? WThy not be good? Oh, let
us resolve this morning that we are going to
let these better times make us a better people
than those who have gone before.
But while ours is a better time than the old,
yet the best is still to come. At the marriage
of Caua in (jalilee Christ kept the best wine
uutil the last. So it is iu life, the best, the
most stimulating, the most enjoyable part of
the ages is the last. You and I have something
to live for, something to strive to attain, some
thing to clieerish, something to enjoy. Some
thing higher and more noble in the way of
Christian faith, Christian love, and Christian
service must be attained. It behooves us,
therefore, to strive for the best, to live for the
years that are yet to come, to conquer them
for ourselves and our posterity. Thus it shall
be that we shall ''lay up treasures in heaven
where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through and steal."
Finally, I would urge you to seek to find
out what God's plan for this age is, and then
thrust yourself with earnestness into that plan.
There have been points in the development of
God's plan of the ages about which longer
periods of history seemed to turn. They are
the pivots in history. The greatest pivotal
point of all was the Advent of Christ into the
world, but there are others of less significance
to which 1 would call your attention. The
departure of Abram from Ur of the Chaldecs
was one. The conquering of Palestine by the
Romans under Pompey, B. C. 63, was another.
The nailing of the Ninety-Five Theses to the
door of the Church in Wittenberg by Martin
Luther was another. The discovery of Ameri
ca by Christopher Columbus was still another.
These have been points about which great pe
riods of history have turned, and from which
God has developed His plan for the ages in
the most marvelous way.
We are living to-day at another great pivotal
point in the history of the world. The part that
America plays in settling world affairs at the
termination of the European war is going to
be the means of determining the history of
mankind for years to come. It is needless to
say that these great pivotal points in histoi'y
afford opportunities for men and women to do
great things. God has given you and me our
lives at this time for a great purpose. It has
been His method in the past, when He had a
great work to be done, to raise up and qualify
the men to do it. He might have caused that
you and I should have been born a thousand
years ago, or He might have caused that we
should have been born a thousand years hence.
But He didn't do it. lie put us in the world
at this pivotal time for the purpose of embrac
ing a great opportunity. lie has raised us up
just now to play an important part in helping
to form the life of the times in which we live.
And if we want to become great in the real
sense of serving, now is the time to do it.
lie is a bold prophet who ventures to declare
what God's purpose in this age is beyond what
is revealed. But if we can learn anything
from the history of the past it is that out of
this great pivotal point in history there is go
ing to be a great forward movement in the
welfare of mankind. In other words, God's
plan is to make this world a better world to
live in, to make it a happier world, to make it
a more Christian world. If that be God's plan
for this age, then it behooves every one of us .
to fall in line with that plan. We should bend
every effort to further the great purpose of the
age, to make the world better, happier, and
more glorious. The pathway to greatness is
through service. Christ himself said, "Who
soever will be great among you, let him be
your servant."
It behooves us again to leave behind us, as
we enter the new year, all the failures and
mistakes and grievances which would dangle as
impediments about our feet while we go to
the task. No man can do his best, no man
can attain the highest, as long as he is haunted
by thoughts of the misfortunes of the past and
apprehensions of troubles in the future. If
we are determined to make the most of this
new year we dare not put the new wine of
hope and ambition into the old non-elastic bot
tles of by-gone failures and mistakes. Let it
be our purpose to put the new wine of hope and
good cheer into the new bottles of life and
service as we enter this new year of grace
1917.
We are standing just now on the great di
vide between the old and the new year. On
the one hand there is the cloudy past that
moves itself right up to the crcst of the ridge
that lies between. But over on the sunny side
of the new year, the song birds are singing
the notes of good cheer while brightness and
happiness fill with a glorious beauty the days
that stretch out before. So instead of saying
"good-bye" to the old year, let's give three
cheers for the new. My heart's desire and
prayer for you all is that you may be led by
"the Star of Eternal Hope" into every good
blessing the Lord has promised to those who
serve him.
Newton, N. C.
EVENING PRAYER.
By Mrs. Nettie Mayers Allemong.
Eternal Love! fast fades the light
From out another day;
As to thy peaceful breast I turn
My weary head to lay.
These eyes with tears of penitence
Look up into Thy face;
Their speech contritions humble prayer
For Thy forgiving grace.
With gratitude I own the gifts
Thy heart of love bestows;
Thy goodness, like a living spring.
My daily cup o'erflows.
Guard Thou my life, O Mighty Power,
As shadows round me fall!
For dangers lurk, and feara surround,
As on Thy heart I call.
Should lights of other days arise,
New strength and will I ask;
That unto those who need my aid,
1 may perform some task.
Lord, keep me sweet, and true, and kind
To those I love the best;
?That in my life and home Thy love
May be my constant guest.
\
Oli! teach me patience, brother-love.
And that true charity.
Which from my heart to hearts should flow
In tides of sympathy!
Lord, keep me'free from evil thoughts,
From pride and secret wrong;
That sunward I may keep my face,
And dally sing a song.
Give me the courage, purpose true,
To ever do my best,
That Thy sweet peace may be the lodge
Wherein this heart shall rest.
Keep Thou my feet when tempted, tried
To leave the path of right; ^
May cross and crown as magnets shine
Before my clouded sight.
And when earth's flickering lights shall fail,
Love's last goodnight* be said.