Bible Truths Illustrated by J. C. Ferdinand Pittman

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BIBLE TRUTHS ILLUSTRATED
amongst men of gaiety and spirit, and sold at its highest rate
when it is sacrificed to a frolic or a jest."
708. "Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw
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away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while
you live and it is in
»>
your power
709. I much wish you to acquire a habit of punctuality with
respect to time, as the want of this is very inconvenient in the
person who fails, and gives trouble to others. If you follow
my example, you will find the advantage long before you are
as old as I am. I began to aim at this almost fifty years ago,
and I have seldom, if ever, been five minutes behind my time,
unless unavoidably prevented, for nearly fifty years past.
John Newton.
710. A singular mischance has occurred to some of our
friends. At the instant when He ushered them on existence, God
gave them a work to do, and He also gave them a competency
of time ; so much time, that if they began at the right moment,
and wrought with sufficient vigour, their time and their work
would end together. But, a good many years ago, a strange
misfortune befell them. A fragment of their allotted time was
lost. They cannot tell what became of it, but sure enough it
has dropped out of existence ; for, just like two measuring-lines
laid alongside, the one an inch shorter than the other, their
work is always ten minutes in advance of the time. They are
not irregular. They are never too soon. Their letters are
posted the very minute after the mail is shut; they arrive at
the wharf just in time to see the steamboat off; they come in
sight of the terminus precisely as the station gates are closing.
They do not break any engagement nor neglect any duty; but
they systematically go about it too late, and usually too late by
about the same fatal interval. Dr. /. Hamilton.
711. A woman who always used to attend public worship
with great punctuality, and took care always to be in time, being
asked h.ow it was she could always come so early, answered
"that it was part of her religion never to disturb the religion
of
others."
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