PRESENTLY

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 3, 1875

Never say you will do presently what your conscience tells you should be done now. No man ever shaped his own destiny, or the destiny of others, wisely and well, who dealt much in presentlies. Look at nature; she never postpones. When the time arrives for the buds to open, they open—for the leaves to fall, they fall. Look upward; the shining worlds never put off their rising or their settings. The comets, even, erratic as they are, keep their appointments, and eclipses are always punctual to the minute. There are no delays in any of the movements of the universe which have been predetermined by the absolute fiat of the Creator. Procrastination among the stars might involve the destruction of innumerable systems; procrastination in the operations of nature on this earth might result in famine, pestilence, and the blotting out of the human race.

Man, however, being a free agent, can postpone the performance of his duty—and he does so, too, frequently to his own destruction. The drafts drawn by indolence upon the future are pretty sure to be dishonored. Make now your banker. Do not say you will economize presently, for presently you may be bankrupt; nor that you will repent or make atonement presently, for presently you may be judged. Bear in mind the important fact, taught alike by the history of nations, rulers, and private individuals, that in at least three cases out of five, presently is too late!