Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-07-11
A d PRINCIPLE.

If all men would constantly bear in
mind the fact that acts once committed
can never be undone, and words once
spoken can never be recalled, it would
have q powerful influence upon their
conduct. 1t would save hundreds from
untimely deaths, and it would preserve
the good name of thousands who go
down to disgrace because they do not
reflect upon the changelessness of the
past.
If the criminal, ere he contaminated
his unlawful act, had paused to think
that his crime must remain forever a
dark. indelible blot in his history,
doubtless he would have left the deed
undone. There a be no greater mis-
cry in the autumn time of life, when
the hair has grown gray and the eye has
grown dim, than the memory Of a life
of s%infulness and crime. The thought
that the blooming season of youth, and
the ripe strong years OF manhood,
which might have been full of words
and deeds of beauty. purity and useful
ness, were spent in idleness, dissipation
and sin carries with it q sting akin to
the torments of that fire which shall
never be quenched. When once an act
of sin has been done, the fact will al
ways be a stain on the record, and in
mems eyes no tears OF penitence can
| ever wash that stain away.
King David desired earnestly to build
q house unto the name OF the Lord his
God, but though that desire was unset
fish and true, he was not permitted to
perform the work, because he had .'shed
blood abundantly in the earth" He
had been deeply penitent for his sins,
and was even "a man after Gods own
heart" but there was no power to
change that record, and another must
have the honor Of building the temple
of God. st. Paul was earnest and holy
and faithful, and long years of life were
efficiently spent in the service of Christ;
but he could never recall his acts of
persecution, nor blot from his memory
the thought that when the blessed
Stephen was stoned he stood by consent
ing.
If we knew that sonae mysterious pen
recorded infinitely our every act, word
and thought, and that at some future
day the volume was to be opened to
those whose good opinion we most
highly prize, how carefully should we
strive not merely to avoid what is
wrong, but to possess our minds with
thoughts Of purity and virtue, and to
fill our lives with words and deeds of
charity and goodness. And such in re-
ality is the fact. Eachpassing moment
carries away into the great past
thoughts, words and deeds which we
a never recall, and which will form
the record upon which men and angels
will gaze at the dreadful day of Judg-
ment.
Happy will it be for us, then, if our
names are found written in the Book of
Life, and we meet the approving smile
of him who is ''the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sins of the world"
Then should we know that our record
of sin has been Cancelled, and our efforts
to walk i'll the footsteps of Christ have
been pleasing in His sight. But until
that time shall come, strictly and con-
stantly do we need to watch ourselves.
and daily u prayer shall be: keep
the door of my lips" ''Show me the
way that 1 should walk in" ..Pre-
serve my going out and my coming in
from this time forth forevermore.''-
GOZf7el RaZo