But here is an anomaly. Is old age the time for reflexion? But by that time it is already too late to cultivate the habit. You cannot spend your life in a round of frivolous excitements and then at agi time become a contemplative saint. 'There is no mechanical device by which such a change can be brought about. The mood cannot be turned on by a tap, Some are born contemplative, some achieve contemplation, but few if any have contemplation' thrust' upon. them. It is a growth, an accomplishment, attainment, an art. And the art must be practised ili youth. Some days ago you read an article "North-China Daily News" on "Retirement," in which it was pointed out how dull and monotony cus the long looked for leisure often turns out to be and how many people die in the first year of th eagerly anticipated rest. They had not learned the art of spending their leisure profitably. It is so with reflexion, The fullest opportunities for its use may only come with age, but the liable. must. be formed in youth. Itis by the Wi use of the evenings of the ordinary days that we make the best pre-aration for the evening of life, And towards this end we trust our quiet evening services are not unhelpful.
But reflexion has a backward look. The material on which it works belongs to the past. Has evening no relation to the future? The question leads us to a second statement and one that is not quite obvious as the first.
IL. The evening is @ time of. prospect, and of preparation: In the: book of Genesis there is.a series worses in which the true onder..of. day.and. might seems to, he tran-Sposed and they read: "the evening andthe morning were the tst day and so on through the days of week, It is as though the evening' preceded the morning,. Now..I do not wish, to give any faneifu) interpretation of the but, zee tit something. to be. said for 5t?' We think of. time ae' circle beginning or end to a circle, we may make an arbitrary beginning end to a circle, we may make an arbitrary. beginning wherever we like. We may think of night am following day or of day as follow. ing night, for both are true, We may look' either backward or forward from any point of time, In the evening we may think either of the day that is past or of the one that is to come. Shall' we think for a little while of evening ae a new beginning, as having a forward look, We sometimes sing of To serve my God when I awake!"
Yes, that is it: The evening is preparation for the morning, Tt is the prelude to a now activity, The closing of one day is the open ing of another, "The evening and the morning" ig a true order of sequence, even if it is not the only one. We have already pointed out that the evening depends upon the morning.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.