The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1896-01-27
BY THY WORDS.

thy words thou shalt By condemned.
Life Is without moral significance II
there Is never to be a just Judgment OF
man. Every sane moral conscience is con-
scious OF the moral necessity OF moral
Judgment. The fact of Judgment Is In
disputable unless you disregard both the
teachings OF Revelation and the unreal
soned ASSUMPTIONS of the universal moral
Instincts, I assume tina. you are
convinced Of the moral responsi-
bility of humanity. and that some
day you Will be called upon 10
render an account for the way IN wnlcn
you have used your moral powers and
your oppor,uniiies-"for all these things
God will bring thee into Judgment"
may assume also that however i'm
possible 1t IL for us 10 imagine q theory
and plan Of Judgment by which justice
VIII take coFniEance OF all Circumstances.
give due weight TO every eStennation
and be absolutely and divinely fair to
every human being among the tens 81
millions who Will be hrough, into judy
rent. I'VE know that the Judgment c.
God is according TO truth"
1t becomes us then 20 study carefully
the words Of Jesus Christ when he touches
the matter Of the divine Judgment Of man
10 learn II We can. wHat goes to make
the material and constitute the criterion
OF judsment. With Paul. all Of US are sat.
isfied thar the deeds done in the body"
must be answered for-"For we must ali
lie made manifest before the judgment
seat OF Christ; that each one may receive
the things done In the body, according
TO what he hath done. whether II be Coo1
or bad But We have never taken due
notice Of the impressive warning Of our
Lord in the passage from which the .ex,
IS taken:
say unto you. that every idle ward
that men shall speak they shall give ne.
count thereof in the day OF judgment
for by thy words thou shalt be justified
ana by thy words thou shall, be con-
mense Significance.
Inc power to use words is power that
separates and distinguishes nan from
every other order of creation and must
nave possessed vast significance in the
mind OF the Creator So wonderful is this
I exclusive power of man that nothing has
so mnch staggered faith In the verbal
/ inspiration OF the Holy Scriptures as the
representation that Balaam's ass ,nra
used human words IN warn his foolish
master against his foolish course. And
yet because this power is SO common
/ among us we lose sight of the fact that II
! - pcrhaps the principal sign of that
moral quality by which our Creator dis
iingnishes US from all His other creatures.
words must be OF the highest importance
/ II the all-wise God endowed man only
3 Win power to use them, and accompanied
! that endowment with tire gift Of moral
B quality which gives character TO words
{ as to every other expression of neral
being. and Involves mans responsibility
! TO God.
And as matter Of fact words are
/ among the most important agents man
! possesses and uses in working out his
/ destiny. They are the vehicles that con-
Fey and the torres that treasure his
/ thought Without words otatory would
I be impossible and literature cCull pot te
I HOW poor the world would be today II II
! did not possess tho wisdom of tho an
; clients, Let alone the vast literature of
the mighty past. which has educated the
! modern Wor.i IN much Of it's most useful
! knowledge and which We possess in manu-
| scripts ana books the world win never
| let die, without words we could not have
even so much as an oral tradition Of the
/ mighty thoughts Cf the mighty men who
OF old advanced the standard of rlviliza-
/ non without words We could not ross 20
Homer and Hcrodotus Vergil and Cicero
Hegel ana Goethe, Milton and Carlyle.
Without words Deuostnenes could never
lave moved Athens 10 it, immortal strug.
gle. and Patrick Henry could never have
stirred the infant colonies 10 assert their
independence and establish this Republic
Without words the sermon on the noun
could not have been preached and thu
Christian religion would have been stlll-
out hope In the world.
IL IL iml ossable t. exagEerate the i'm
rortance 81 words. Tor having so much
power TO be used for good or evil, there
s both vast responsibility ANA a vast
danger attached 20 their possession
Being passionate and sinful. man. pos.
sessing the power Of words, is open t.
the tempiation OF abusing that power
This has been recognized from Of old. IN
Apostle James, IN hiss brief cplste. en-
halmed IN the canon of inspired Scripture
SAYS Of tho tongue that it Is "a fire
tho world Of lu!qu.ty among our member
IN the tongue, which dehleth the whole
body. and setteth on fire the wheel OF
nature. and Is set on FIRE by hell" Anc
he adds that while man has tanned every
Kind OF VIVID birds and beasts no mar
cpn tame the tongue: 1T IS a res,leS,
evil; 1t IS fun Of deadly poison" He urge
men 20 be "swift TO hear. slow TO speak,
for 80 any man thinketh himself 10 b'
religious while he brldleth not 3 l. tongue
but deceiveth hts heart, this mans rel,g
I'm fs vain" For the chief moral use a
tho tongue Is the power to use words
4 The danger In mans possession Of tni'
power is further seen II you consiler M
utterance Of Jesus about tho sin agans
rho HOLY Ghost Many have been th'
! efforts 10 define the sin. against the HOLY
Ghost Not one has proven a sat!sfac
tory effort But " you viii look cicse
into what our Lord says about II you Wi
see that whatever It Is II Is n sin OF tn
! mouth, sin which words are used l.
: commit Every sin and blnspaem'
, shall be forgiven unto man; but the hla'
pherny against the Spirit shall not h
forgiven. And whosoever shah speak
! word agalns; the Son OF man. 1t shall b
r forgiven him; but whos0ever shall speal
againat the Holy Ghost u shall not b
forgiven him. neither In this world. no
tr that which is 70 come
Viewed IA both aspects, their benefcen
and rnalcfccnt power. It IL well nigh i'm
= rossbie to give too much emphasis 4
The Importance OF words as the ev!denc
: OF character
We have tho inspired declaration tina
- "out or the abundance of the heart ma
spcaketh." aud both our experience an
c observation confirm the declaration. II
]. not only the most natural thing In IN
I world for Wa TO give expression 10 wha
I chiefly occurleS the heart and thought
u but II Is very difficult not 70 speak OF tina
: OF which our hearts are full. It. require
J, great care not to DO Il, and we look uro
y one able not 10 do Il as man OF rar
y | self-copmand.
l. o., an artt,ta Ia the ot,rrer. CnptnuNnf