I'd forgotten that Ware had been ordained on New Years day, just as I'd forgotten he made a habit in later years of preaching an annual New Years Eve sermon on "The Duty of Improvement." Here's an excerpt from his 1822 message:
What is it that occupies your life, and is an equivalent for the hazard of eternity? Your business? Your pleasures? Your pursuit of wealth? Is it these, that take the place with you of the God who made, and is the Savior who redeemed you, and the happiness that is everlasting? Is it these, that you are giving in exchange for your soul? Miserable men! madly choosing time instead of eternity, earth instead of heaven, when, by a wise obedience to the gospel, you might insure all! satisfied with the life which now is, when you might also have that which is to come! -- content with what you know will perish, when there lies within your reach what shall endure forever! Listen, I beseech you, to the admonitions of this solemn night. Lay not your head upon your pillows, give no slumber to your eyelids, till you have devoted one hour to thought....[I}n the stillness of its awful midnight, prostrate yourselves penitently before your Maker, and let the morrow's sun rise upon you, thoughtful and serious man, beginning a new life with the new year.
I always enjoy it when you feature one of the Ware's in your blog. It inspires me about working a little more diligently about preparing my doctoral dissertation for publication, and then finding a publisher willing to put it into print.
2 comments:
I'd forgotten that Ware had been ordained on New Years day, just as I'd forgotten he made a habit in later years of preaching an annual New Years Eve sermon on "The Duty of Improvement." Here's an excerpt from his 1822 message:
What is it that occupies your life, and is an equivalent for the hazard of eternity? Your business? Your pleasures? Your pursuit of wealth? Is it these, that take the place with you of the God who made, and is the Savior who redeemed you, and the happiness that is everlasting? Is it these, that you are giving in exchange for your soul? Miserable men! madly choosing time instead of eternity, earth instead of heaven, when, by a wise obedience to the gospel, you might insure all! satisfied with the life which now is, when you might also have that which is to come! -- content with what you know will perish, when there lies within your reach what shall endure forever! Listen, I beseech you, to the admonitions of this solemn night. Lay not your head upon your pillows, give no slumber to your eyelids, till you have devoted one hour to thought....[I}n the stillness of its awful midnight, prostrate yourselves penitently before your Maker, and let the morrow's sun rise upon you, thoughtful and serious man, beginning a new life with the new year.
I always enjoy it when you feature one of the Ware's in your blog. It inspires me about working a little more diligently about preparing my doctoral dissertation for publication, and then finding a publisher willing to put it into print.
Many Thanks!
I for one am very much looking forward to seeing your work on Ware on the shelves.
Blessings for a wonderful new year. BU
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