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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 13, 1874

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 43, No. 5.

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No Time.

By R. F. Cottrell

No time to search for truth and the path of duty; no time to investigate the prophecies and the signs of the times; no time to hear a course of lectures; no time to read and study in search of the truth for the times. This is the excuse in these times, and it is thought to be sufficient. The world is exceedingly busy. “Hurry up” is the word everywhere. Men are driving for money; and in the eager chase after riches they are diligent. The world, the world they must have. Hence there is no time to prepare for the world to come—no time in which to secure eternal life.
The wealthy farmer has no time to read, to meditate, to pray. It is all hurry, hurry, hurry; “from early dawn to dewy eve.” He has a competency; but he wants more. So with a few hands, hired as cheaply as possible, he undertakes to do a vast amount of work; and neither he nor his hired help have any time to devote to any other object but the never-ending routine of labor. All the day, till late in the evening, is occupied in work, when, with utter exhaustion, they sink to slumber without a thought of God, of future retribution, or a world to come; and at early dawn, the same battle is to be renewed; so that no time is left for anything but work, work, work, and that continually. The mind and hands are full. Nothing more can be grasped.
The business man is still more absorbed, if possible. His mind is filled with his business, so that no room is left. Business is the first thing to employ the waking thoughts; it is business all day till late in the evening; and business is the dream of the night. Care and anxiety leave their impress upon his brow, and mark him the early victim of the grave. Thoughts of Heaven are excluded. The mind is full; it can hold no more. He has no time to think of the future. His whole being is absorbed in the present. Every power of his being is devoted to making money. And when his brief life is ended, he goes down to death a poor man. For he brought nothing into the world, and it is certain that he can carry nothing out. Heaven is lost, bartered for sordid gain. Life is spent in anxious toil and care, and no foundation laid against the time to come, and no hold upon eternal life secured.
Is this profitable? We hear of men driving a profitable business; but what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world at the loss of eternal life? Oh! that men might see. But
“The mote of earthly interest fills the eye, And hides from view the worlds of bliss on high.”
Is there not a better way? Is it a necessity that man is doomed to incessant toil for the present world to the infinite loss of the future? We think not. Men are voluntary slaves. This chase for wealth is delusive. The imaginary wants are more than the real. As the poet says,
“Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long.”
But the general response is,
“With me ’tis not exactly so, Though ’tis so in the song.”
Some may imagine, while they strain every nerve to acquire wealth, that they are doing so to help forward the cause of God. This is delusive. A proper diligence may be used to acquire, and God be glorified in the use of the means acquired. But God is not straitened for the want of means. All that labor for him have time to pray. This excessive anxiety is for self, and not for God. Those who have health and willing hearts can do something for his cause. Those who give their minds to gain, defer their great deeds of benevolence to a future time; and that time never comes. Like other worldlings, they have no time to serve God.
Our conclusion is, since all have so little time, that little should be devoted to God and the future eternal salvation of men.
R. F. COTTRELL.