WHAT TIME IS IT?

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 20, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 16.

TIME to give up that old grudge. It is a fearful thing to go through life carrying the seed of hatred in the heart. "Forgive and forget" is a noble motto. Try it, and learn the blessedness of true living.

What time is it?—Ah, time to forget that all-important personage "I"! "If we could only lose sight of the big 'I,'" said one. To know happiness and peaceful contentment, we must think less of self and more of Christ. Oh, we would be kept so constantly busy for the blessed Master that no time for thoughts of self dare creep in to mar the happiness of the hour! It is time, is it not, to learn, when the hour strikes, and we pass from time to eternity, that there is many another here who can fill our place, perhaps more worthily; and after a few short months or years our name shall have been forgotten where once it was known and loved. But what matter if it be written in the Lamb's book of life? Let earthly friends forget, and earthly hopes crumble beneath our feet; let worldly wealth depart, aye, even sweet dreams of fame vanish before our sight; what matter if heaven is still a sweet reality? Homage and love and wealth and glory can never save a soul. It is time to look after our eternal interest.

What time?—Time to recall that bitter, cutting speech. Oh, life is so brief and full of care, why need we add more by uttering harsh words? The charity which thinketh no evil is that which belongs to the child of God. "But this was only a trifle, and our spirits were wrought upon."

"A trifle is it? Take thou heed! Thou knowest not what depth it may reach, That lightly uttered, careless speech, What fruit may ripen from the seed."

And who was it that rebuked not again, but forgave his enemies, and blessed even those who cursed him? Was it not the Master, "whose we are and whom we serve"?

What time?—Time to see that our hope of heaven is secure. We know all about our worldly standing; we carefully count our dollars, and count ourselves rich or poor accordingly. If we are popular or not, we know it. We also know the extent of our capacity, and if we can do a thing well we are justly proud of the fact. O soul, is it not high time to carefully look after our hope of heaven, and secure a standing before which we need not blush to meet the Redeemer?—The Observer.