The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-11-11
Rev. Wallace Nutting to
Young Men.
Controlled and. UncOntrOlla-
bic Sources of Power
EVIL or S~hiftlessness Not the way to
Success.

Wtth VI prayer " J01ss ~
out the world. He called his address
sSources Of Power" and his text WAS
Acts iv:10: "Be II known unto you all
that in tina name of Jesus Christ OF Naz-
areth doth this Man stand before you
whole"
The address in full follows:
God has made men so That they do
certain things easily and automatically.
The heartbeat, the breathing and perspt-
ration belong to the automatic or even
the involuntary exercised powers OF the
man. Over his stomach he has some con-
troll; over his eyelid still more, though
there are times when the strongest VIII
power cannot prevent the closing OF tho
eye. The power OF locomotion Is princi-
pally voluntary.
The mind also has its powers some
under control, others mechanically or
automatically exercised. We cannot, for
instance, cease our thinking, but we can
generally direct our thought. We cannot
perhaps deliver ourselves from q certain
line OF thoughts while the object that
suggests them is near US. Blu we can re-
move from the object. Our environment
is sometimes. necessary, sometimes capa bic
of change.
The Question what the powers of a
mind are is a very curious one, and diff
cult to answer. How far the merely in
ternal lowers extend unassisted by out
side agency, might appear by Imagining
a soul entirely shut away from the com
munications of the outside world. We
speak Of persons possessing great mental
p)wers. We mean that they have wisely
adapted the communications that have
come to them from the world at large,
and that they can bring forth from the
TREASURE OF THEIR THOUGHT
things new and Old.
We have TO confess that practically all
our power is derived through the assimi-
lation OF ideas. Originality is only pos
afkfa IL. the ana tho hnun ham nhln
TO adapt to new forms the materials that
have come to US. Take, for instance, the
case of the lame man cured through means
OF the apostles. Here extrinsic power
came to their aid so completely that they
may be said to have been only the beck
oners. Yet there was something in the
men that made their reckoning effoctual.
~ can call spirits from the Vastly Deep
but will they come? The conditions of
power ere subtle, exacting, largely undis-
covered. Ii has taken us how many thou
sand years TO learn how to manage light
ming?
All partsof Gods world are governed by
Iaw-tne spiritul as well as what is CAL
led the natural. The miracle goes by law
as truly as the usual. When you stop a
machine TO correct its work by hand you
are still acting according 10 law. When
God does a thing in q new way we are
not to understand that He has made
new law.
rev Ol US nave u proper SENSE OF pOWct
in it's applications through the human
being. When Beecher reached the climax
OF his influence over the people,, on q
theme of large import, ii would be hard
TO define the combinations that gave the
power. Apparently slight
TOUCHES CIV A TREMENDOUS RES
to human hearts, so that a word has been
enough, uttered not as but
as'mere moral s%uasion, to precipitate a
revolution in private character, and in
nations.
In averaffge men whom we call weak,
certain combinations, certain touches and
adaptations are possible, that give tre-
mendous energy. Either it was pent mp
and a little thing releases ii as a spark lg-
mites powder, or ii was lacking one minor
element, so that, so far as you know, your
neignbor may be set of some day, and
break forth into a brilliant light. The
occasion makes the man. The inspira-
tion ignites the dull soul. The light of a
truth, new To him, gives a unity and a
power to character and ehold he is
transformed. This question becomes OF
the most intense interest 10 young men
because the bodies that they are to
move in the world demand large energies
TO attack them. A young person finds
a vast inertia all about him. To make
himself felt as an agent to be counted
on in the world is his laudab BILE and eager
ambition, and IL there Is any question
Il ai6VtA W WhA1it iii11 tlDNth0Ao
1t is this: How did you do 1t?
Now, the mere attracting OF notice is
easy enough. 1t is only necessary TO take
a sign on ones back and walk through
the streets. Let the animal passion have
sway FOR five minutes and somebody Is
notorious across the country for murder.
There is given to every man the power
over the life of his brother-ft r. easy to
destroy 1t, it is a labor TO enhance it.
BY a merely cursory glance at the words
OF such men as
LUTHER AND JOHN THE BAPTIST
II is evident that something surrounded
their words TO give them power. There
Is an atmosphere about n word. just as
about a world, a tongue OF fame envelop-
ing it when IL comes Immediately forth
from a white and Travelling mind. The
thing that you do has an influence accord
ing to what you are. The wise deliver
ance OF an unknown man would attract
very little attention, while the same words
in the mouth OF one known as having keen
Judgment might be cabled under the sea
and published at length with extended
comment by next days papers. Power,
therefore, in its large applications rests
primarily on character. Righteous
thought sways the motives OF men and
changes them to something better. 1t
takes up its reign in minds ages removed
from its first home. 1t Is the .irst thing
that a man must learn. Power %belongeth
unto bou, Dut TX ~ 1elegnted TO MINDS
like God. III you want money and have
no security but character. you NAV often
obtain money. III you want love your
character can command IL. IL you want
to influence men 10 live better Ii Is your
self that will weigh with them. The
words, the acts, derive their weight from
their source, not from anything remark
able in themselvs. For instance, water,
when 1t comes through a nozzle for
hydraulic mining derives power from the
height OF its fall and the vehicle that APP
plies IL.
Millions OF voices utter the Lori's
prayer daily. But should He, returning
10 us, ask with intensity that the king
dom might come Immediately, 1t would
come. IL becomes important for young
men to recognize this
POWER DERIVED FROM CHARACTER,
for they are in danger of 'mistsking the