In Business...

The merchant takes advantage of various sales and replenishes his stock when prices are low. The sailor takes advantage of wind and tide to carry his perishable goods to a foreign port. The farmer takes advantage of the warm days of spring to prepare for seeding and planting, for he knows very well that to neglect to sow would preclude a harvest and in the end mean great loss. When I was in Ontario, Canada, a friend pointed out to me the very place where two men while rowing across the great Niagara River broke an oar, and having neglected to take an extra one, as was the custom, were soon carried into the swiftly flowing catatact and on over the Horseshoe Falls. It was neglect that caused their untimely death. To neglect to wind a watch will result in its stopping.

With Respect to Health...

If a person fails to observe the laws of hygiene and sanitation and the requirements of nature, he'll surely suffer a loss commensurate with the seriousness of the neglect. A person may ignore the dictates of Nature for awhile and go into rebellion against her commands, but one day she'll call the violation into account for every violation and infraction of her laws. God has vested Nature with power to punish any and all infringements of her mandates; and she'll not forgive, neither accept penance, whether the crimes be wilful or of neglect. Through a series of violations and petit larcenies, parents have ofttimes robbed their offspring of a robust physique and balanced mentality, which would have been a richer and more lasting legacy than a million dollars in gold. Children have a right to be well born, but many indeed enter into life in a state of physical, mental, and moral bankruptcy. Neglect of parents has caused many a person to go through life carrying a scar upon the face, mind, and soul. Neglect will always produce loss. A noted doctor told me that the great mortality during the influenza plague of 1919 was caused principally by neglect, either by patient or nurse.

Neglect in Youth...

Youth sows the seed, old age must reap. The Bible in one place states, "While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares." Parents ofttimes neglect to inform their sons and daughters of the many evils rampant in the world today, and of the awful penalties that follow in the wake of the various forms of wrong habits and evil practices against nature. Because of such neglect by parents and the neglect of those who fail to put away evil thoughts and temptations, our homes for imbeciles are rapidly being filled. Some imbeciles are allowed to roam at large, marry, and propagate their kind. Neither segregation nor sterilization will meet the need; but education and action only will put man in harmony with God, the state, the home, and nature. Neglect would in time lead to barbarian and infidelity. The tendency of human nature is to follow the line of least resistance---like water---and thus in youth, the formative period may neglect to form right habits of thinking and of living, and the results of neglect along these lines are seen upon every side. The estrangement in so many homes, the first cause of so may divorces, the beginning of so may triangular love affairs which end in suicide and murder, have their primary cause in neglect. Thus we find that neglect is like rust in the soul, which destroys our best resolves. "I neglected to put on the brakes," was the only excuse a man gave when he found his three-thousand-dollar car a wreck at the bolttom of the hill. A hunter neglected to take the loaded shell our of his gun, and as a result his little son accidentally killed his little sister. It was an accident caused by neglect.

He Fell Upon the Street...

It'd been raining and freezing all day, and the street was a sheet of ice. People were hurring along to their several places of work. Suddenly a man in front of me slipped and went sprawling, and his suitcases, hat, etc., were scattered in every direction. Some laughed at him. He arose and said, "Others passed over that place safely, and I thought I could do the same." That circumstance taught me a lesson I'll never forget. That man din't aim to fall down. It wasn't his purpose or motive to lose his balance; but the reason he fell was because he walked on a slippery place, he neglected to look out for himself. People don't form character in posse; don't get saved by the regiment; men and women don't rise and fall by the hundreds; but individually, each for himself. Sometimes we forget that life's a personal matter. You can't hold a good man down; nor can you hold a bad man up. It all depends upon the man himself. To neglect this fundamental law of self-effort is to suffer loss.

Neglect Lessens the Probability of Performance...

Many times in life, in fact every day, we have promptings to do a kindly deed or say a loving word; but so many times we put it off, perhaps thinking we'll do it tomorrow. Unless such acts are quickly performed, the probabilities are they'll never be done. A friend of mine said to himself one morning, "I will yield myself to God." But he neglected it that day, and it'll be undone forever; for he was accidentally killed the following night. In pioneer days, when mail was carried over mountain upon horseback, attention was called by an onlooker to a nail that was loose in one shoe of a horse the mail-man was to ride. Thanking the one who thus informed him, the man went busily on with his work and neglected to have the nail attended to. As a result, while climbing the flinty hills with a heavy load, the horse loosened its shoe and had to have it taken off. Soon the horse became lame, and couldn't carry its load. A band of outlaws stole the mail, and the man almost lost his life---all this through simply neglecting a nail.

Neglect Incurs Great Danger...

Some years ago a man moved his family into the country where th savage mountain-lion made its home. His four-year-old boy would accompany him to his work in the woods near by. The wife often warned her husband to keep watch of the little one, lest he wander away and be caught by one of these fierce beasts. The father said he would take care of his boy and didn't much need to be bothered with a gun. Time passed on, and seeing no signs of the animals he relaxed his vigilance and seemingly forgot that great danger lurked about. One day little Charles came smiling to his papa and said, "See these pretty flowers! I'll take them to mamma," and started off for home. No sooner had he disappeared from sight then he was pounced upon by one of these sly mountain beasts that had been watching him. Charles screamed, "Papa, oh, papa!" but the destracted father only saw the brute bounding off carrying his darling in his jaws. Frantically the father screamed, and endeavored to overtake the lion, but soon the trail was lost. He hurried home, organized a posse, and four days later they found a few little white bones beside a large rock---all that was left of their dear little boy. The mother nearly lost her mind, and until this day they mourn the loss of that darling child. The father has never forgiven himself for neglecting to take his gun and for neglecting to carefully watch his child. The father committed no positive crime. He simply neglected to do his duty, and the child was lost.

It's the same old story with respect to sin. The person does nothing wrong in a general way; he's kind to his associates, pays all his debts, treats everybody courteously, etc. But that's not enough. Suppose that a man's rowing down the stream of the great Niagara and is only a few miles from the falls. Someone shouts to him from the bank of the river that he's hastening to his death. It wouldn't be enough to simply stop rowing and rest upon his oars; he must pull hard for the shore, or some other place of safety. Simply to stop rowing downward wouldnt' save him; for the current, which is ever growing swifter, would, if he neglected to pull against it, soon carry him to certain death. The sinner must not only awake to his awful danger, and try to stop his downward career, but he must not neglect to make a mighty effort to reach a place of safety. The gravitation of sin in the soul ever increases in momentum, and, unless checked by a higher power, will cause the soul to sink like a stone into hell.

Neglect Means Death and Hell...

The story's told of a man who accidently took poison and was at the point of death. When the doctor went to give him the only antidote for that particular poison, the man coughed and the medicine was spilled. Before more could be procured, the poison had done its terrible work, and the man was dead. The lesson we wish to make is this: It was by accident that the poison was first taken, and it was also by accident that the antidote was spilled, but nevertheless the result was death. Suppose that he'd promised to take the antidote the next day, the effects would have been the same. It wouldn't matter whether the poisoned man had spilled the medicine accidently, positively refused to take it, or said he would take it and yet neglected, the final result would have been the same---death. The same's true with respect to sin. The Bible declares that the "wages of sin is death." There's only one remedy for sin, and that's repentance and forgiveness through Christ. There's not enough water in all the oceans of earth to wash away one guilty stain of sin. There are not enough chemicals compoinded in all the laboratories of earth to remove the stain of sin from one human soul.

"What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus."

A sinner might refuse Christ with an oath and reject the Bible in words of blasphemy, he might acknowledge Christ as the Son of God and the Bible as a divine revelation to man, or he might go father and state that he would accept Christ as his personal Savior, and simply neglect to do so, and die, and in each case go to the same place. To neglect to become a Christian is to be lost forever.

He Waited Too Long...

Once while standing at the depot in a large city watching the last section of an excursion train pulling out, we saw a man hurrying as though his life depended upon his catching that train. In spite of his hurrying, he missed it; and, oh, the look of disappointment that was stamped upon his face. He said, "I promised wife and daughter that I'd meet them at Denver, CO; but I missed the last train of that excursion." While we were pitying him, a boy rather abruptly cried out, "Stranger, you didn't run fast enough." The disappointed man replied: "Boy, you're mistaken, I ran fast enough, but I didn't start soon enough." So many in life have waited too long---have put off their return to God until racked with pain, or tormented, and then have tried to call upon God with their last fleeting breath. Millions will be lost throughout all eternity, simply because they neglected to do that which was right. Reader, beward of the thief NEGLECT.

To Late...

His life on earth was ebbing very fast,
And soon the sun of day
Would sink behind the western hills, and cast
Its lingering shadows o'er him as it passed,
And then speed swiftly onlward.

Once in his youthful days, that had gone by,
He walked with Christ alone;
Undaunted, stood life's storms without a sigh;
Hastened his Lord's return, with him to fly;
But now his heart was lifeless.

He left the pleasant paths of peace to plod
In tempting fields of sin.
In paths of pleasure and of lust he stood,
Forgetful of his friends, his vows his God;
But now he calls for comfort.

In manhood's days he sowed no golden grain,
Supposing life would last;
Refused the blood of Christ, for earthly gain;
He has no sheaves; he weeps, but weeps in vain;
For subtle sin deceived him.

The sun sinks noislessly behind the hill;
"Tis night and all is dark.
Loved ones look on, and pray for mercy still;
His eyes look up, they gaze with dreadful chill;
"Too late," his cold lips utter.