Harry Emerson Fosdick was born in Buffalo, N. Y., May 28, 1878. He received his education at Colgate University and Union Theological Seminary. In 1903 he was ordained a Baptist minister and in 1904 he began his eleven-year pastorate at the First Baptist Church, Montclair, N. J. In 1908, Dr. Fosdick was made Instructor in Homiletics at Union Theological Seminary and in 1915, Professor of Practical Theology. Since January, 1919, he has acted in the capacity of Special Preacher of First Presbyterian Church, New York. During the summer of 1921, Dr. Fosdick addressed conventions of missionaries in China and Japan. In his present pulpit he preaches to one of the most influential audiences to be found anywhere in America. Among Dr. Fosdick's exceedingly popular books must be mentioned: The Meaning of Prayer, The Meaning of Faith, The Meaning of Service, and Christianity and Progress. IV PROCRASTINATION "When I have a convenient season, I will call thee unto me."-ACTS 24:25. W E are to think this morning about the homely and familiar matter of procrastination. Instead of letting our thoughts dwell upon that abstract noun let us from the beginning have in our mind's eye a concrete picture from the life of Paul. Paul had been mobbed and nearly killed by his fellow countrymen in Jerusalem; and, saved only by the intervention of the Roman soldiery, he soon found himself in prison in Cæsarea, where he had been taken to escape lynching. There Felix, the governor, was alike his jailer and his judge. One night when the governor's wife, Drusilla, wished to hear and see this tempestuous and troublesome Jew, Felix had Paul brought before him, and allowed him freedom to speak. One might have thought that Paul's spirit would have been tamed by his perilous experience; but Paul was always like a fire that is not blown out but fanned to a fiercer heat when the hard winds blow. Let the twenty-fourth chapter of the book of Acts tell us the simple narrative: "After certain days, Felix came with Drusilla, his wife, who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ Jesus. And as he reasoned of righteousness, and self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and answered, Go thy way for this time; and when I have a convenient season, I will call thee unto me." Felix is one of the most unlovely characters in Scripture, and all that we know of him outside of Scripture simply deepens our distaste for him. Yet it is apparent from this experience of his with Paul that like all the rest of us he was a strange combination of good and bad, that deep in his heart he had chords that the fine, strong fingers of a personality like Paul persuasively could play upon. Bad as he was, let us remember that there was one time when he heard the Gospel of Jesus and was stirred by it, when he heard great words about righteousness and self-control, and felt their appeal, when he looked upon his life and the end to which it was tending, and shrank back from it. He was not all bad. This morning we are going to think of the way he dealt with this significant hour with the apostle. You will notice that he was not abusive and discourteous; he was not blasphemous and sceptical. He merely procrastinated. He simply postponed decision; he politely waved the matter aside, and said, "When I have a convenient season, I will call thee unto me." And so he lost the supreme opportunity of his life. Is it not so that we are continually making failures of our lives? Here in this church, where through another winter we have so repeatedly pre- . sented appeals for the Master, for the type and quality of spirit which He represents, for the concrete opportunities of service which His cause offers, one does not suspect that there has been much brusque and deliberate rejection, much scornful and contemptuous scepticism; but one does suspect that among all the people who have gathered here there must have been a great deal of procrastination. It is so popular a method of avoidance. It can be indulged in so easily and without offense. How many times in this church do you suppose these words have in effect been spoken in the hearts of men: "Go thy way for this time; and when I have a convenient season, I will call thee unto me"? We are all perfectly familiar with this habit of procrastination in practical details. We do not decide not to answer a letter from a friend. We simply postpone answering it. We take it up, and dally with it, and lay it aside for a more convenient time. We do not decide not to make a call that ought to be made. We merely postpone making it. We let the days and weeks pass; and ever, as we postpone it, it becomes easier to postpone it still, until at last the call is never made at all. We never decide not to hear the best music and read the best books. We |