p. 35 | Presently

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 23, 1859

Presently.

NEVER say you will do presently, what your reason or your conscience tells you, you should do now. No man ever shaped his own destiny, or the destinies of others, wisely and well and dealt much in presentlies. Look at nature. If she never hurries, 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 risings 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 pre-determined by the absolute fiat of the Creator. 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.—Sel.