The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1859-03-17


ten has there sounded on this floor the touch of
your step! Times without number YOU have
passed up the aises into your pew. There is
no records on the cold floor; it took no impres.
sion; another aud another came after you and
the moist outline you may have stamped died
away almost Instantly But God has noticed
those times, their fewness or their frequency. -
Every one OF your steps left the print he has
set upon the heels of your feet behind it.
Aud now he can tell from that f otprint how
you came and how YOU lett the holy sanctuary
He noted all this with reference to your rcspou-
sibility, noted il for eternity. The motive and
the manner, our meaning and our intention, in
the foot print of each Sabbath, lie eau read.
All! doubt not we have forgotten many care
less, unmeOnng, foolish visits which We have
made here, the many seasons we have tasted
these precious means Of grace with unthankful
hearts, and touched them with unhallowed hands!
We have walked here, some OF us, prihaps us
we would elSewh re, to the gathering of men, or
TO theatre,or to a concert or to the ceremonies
OF earth, with no thought, no reverence, no inn
preston Of the presence Of God, no heart wor.
ships to offer. oh the footprints-the foot
prints which even have left behind me on these
pulpit stairs, and the footprints you have left
behind you, my dear hearers on those sisles
Foot prints may, we cannot see them. We
can have no recollection now of the busy
thoughts in our hearts when we made them
They are all before God; all full of the history
OF self at the moment when We stopped, all,
with the record OF our responsibilities, cared,
or uncared for, realized or neglected, all before
the eye of God.
Now, the case have supposed may sufficient
ly illustrate the text. Could we watcn,my hear
ers, the movements of each other for single day.
movements watched unknown, those movements
--conneced as they would be, with our habits
and the expression Of our spirits-woud tell,even
to each other, much of our religious history. They
would be descriptive of the inward man, expires
sve of what we really are. There is not a mo-
ment in which Gods eye does not nOirr Il 3; there
is not thought or II secret JOY passing Within
but His eye does mcasu e. Al Our IN ements
in cousrqu nee of their rcla iopshp to our
| thoughts anl intentions, leave buhiad them the
impress OF the pint whica he put Ia IA heels Of
our feet Let us, then, just remember that waerev-
cr We 90 We arr r,SpO isihln creatures; that We
pass into all the scenes and Circumstances OF life
with christian Obligations upon rs with reference
| to the day OF solemn account: tJat We leave ev-
erywhcre priIt which God has put upon our
steps to sli)w the place we left. the direction in
which we walked before Hin, aAi the history Of
our hcaris-to show all this that the deduction
of our character aud the destiny OF our souls in
consequence, may be detctmin.d forever.
III. Then, again, We are so constituted as to
exert a relative influence upon each other. There
is no member of the human family who does not
sustain some relation, either original or acquired
either public or private, either pcrmar ent,.or tenn
porary; nor is there any relation which does not
invest the person sus aiming it with some dsgrce
ofinhucnc'. The particle Of dust which we heed
lcssly tread beneath feet has its part to bear
in an influence felt beyond the remotest planet
yea, through all space. The tiny arm of the lit
tie infant, who seems in his folly anxious to grasp
the moon as his plaything, that tiny arm doth
tell upon her courses and her laws. And though
man may be on the uttermost range Of the so
cla system, he forms vital link in the great chain
of dependence which runs through the universe
linking man to man. and age to age. And not
only in these relationships of life is man bound
but everywhere he must exert an influence over
o her beings for evil or for good. No man car
t live to himself He must touch upon, and touch
ing upon, he must give some virtue Of some kind
( unto others, Now, my brethren, | believe thi.
to be our responsibility. Good or evil, in others
is, in some measure within our own determine
lion. We receive moral impression from the
, sphere in which we move; and we also commun
cate moral impression. Now, the christian feels
and knows this. He knows that he never walk
amongst his fellow-men but he leaves prin
: which God hast set upon the heels OF his feet i
record of responsibility and Of opportunity 70
| good, most duiiully or most carelcSsly employed
: Now, do we as christian men think OF this?--
: Do We ever remember, whenever we pass through
the path OF each days necessary contact with ou
| fellows, or when we travel abroad for profit o.
, for pleasure, mixing with men, and meeting a
4 we mix with opportunities for christian influence
= do we ever remember, say, that we ought &c
9 have at heart aud III hand a work for God, anC
r leave everywhere behind US the foot marks of
Il christian step? Suppose the omnicicnt eye o
: Col passing along the track we leave behind u
each day--suppose it passes on the course w
= take in long journey either for pleasure or prof
e what could that omniscient eye note? wher
shall it fall upon the spot where we leave behino
o the track of a christian the result of religion
influence, the print ofearnest enLeayor savingly t
r benefit Others All! many steps have we takel
l. there, for ourselves, and, perhaps not in one o
i these steps HAS there been the print on the heel
e a christian. DO we pass among men in the cours
t OF life and never seek to scatter anything Of tha
e grace we ourselves have received from God d.
d we, whenever we come in contact with our felloN
t creatures whether it he constantly or occasion
, atty, endcavor to show not for self display, bu
t for their good, that we are christians Do W
e seek to guide the minds of others TO God ID
r we ever crop the pious remark Do we eve
: place within the reach OF another. silently, bu
u prayerfully, the little book2 Do we enlcavor L
e exert, in word, influence for Christ Have W
d any work or plan for Him in the midst Of on
S earthly engagements oh if we are only leay
u ing Dcnlnu US everywhere the ioOtpHnVS oil Rofl
= dly men--men set upon our own int rests and on
d own pleasures, men only in haste and selis
= earnestness upon our own buisness--if when her
u we move or there We step, we show no mar
i that We have made any attempt at exerting inhu
u ence for Christ, how--how will the prints whic
God has set upon the heels of feet utter word
II Of condemnation and Of judgement against us a
y the great day How many journeys, how man
X changes of place have there been in which "
lon, ln For calf f,r haV Il
o business, and never thought of what we could d
II for Christ3 And yet every step we took wa
e taken as professed christians, as men under obi
T. cations, as men bound to live for Him, who CAV
y His life for us
s My bretheren, these are solemn thoughts =
e And may these thoughts be deeply written upo
n all our minds--that we may have each in OF