The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-11-20
You resolve that YOU will do what GOOD

vited me to Christ; accepted the ot1er.
You see that church with two towers yon.
der" Yes" You say. He says, ".That is
where preach" Or, do YOU see that gov.
ernor's house? That is where live"
Ore day man comes to You and says
Good morning" You look at him and
say, "Why. you have the advantage of me;
I cannot place YOU" He says. Don't YOU
remember thirty years ago giving me let.
fer OF introduction to Young mana let.
ter of introduction to William E. Dodge ="
eyes, yes, I do" He says, 81 am the
man. That was my first step toward
fortune. But have retired from business
now and em giving my time to philanthro.
pies and public interests. Come up to my
house and see me-
Or man comes to YOU and says: II
want to introduce myself to you. went
into prayer meeting some years ago.
sat back by the door. You arose to make
an exhortation. That talk changed the
course CT my life, and ii l ever get to
heaven under God I will owe my salvation
to YOU" In only ten, twenty or thirty
years the circle swept out and swept back
again to your own grateful heart.
But sometimes it is a wider circle and
does not return for great while. / saw
bill of exnenses for burning Latimer
and Ridley. The bill of expenses has these
items among Others:
Shillincs. Pence:
One load of fire fagots. .........2 4
Carriage for four loads Of wood..i
Item, post. ...................i
Item, two chains. s................s
Item, two staples. s................
Item, for laborars. rs...............2
making in all 25s. 3d. That was cheap
fire, considering all the circumstances, but
- l.. Ill EoI,t h:oh oil
the world and aroused the martyr spirit,
and out from that burning OF Latimer
and Ridley rolled the circle wider and
wider, starting other circles, convoluting,
overrunning, circumscribing, overreaching
ali heaven-a circle.
But what is true of the good is just as
true of the bad. You utter SANDER
against your neighbor. 1t has gone forth
from your teeth. It will never come back,
The The mischief YOU can. You rejoice to see
him vince. You say, Didn't give it to
him." That word has gone out, that
slanderous word, on its poisonous and
blasted way. You think it will never do
YOU any harm. But I am watching that
word, and I see it beginning. to curve and
it curves around. and it is aiming at your
heart. You had better dodge l.. You can.
not dodge it. It rolls into .y:ur bosom,
ana a1ter IL Tolls III u NoEu "! dii Viu oooA
rolls in after it, saying: "IVlth what meas-
ure We mete it shall be measured to you
again"
You maltreated an aged pa-snt. You
begrudge him the room in your house.
You are impatient with his whimsicalities
and garrulity. It makes You mad to hear
him tell the same story twice. You give
him food he cannot masticat7. You WISE
he was away. You wonder if he is going
to live forever. He will be gone very soon.
His steps are shorter and shorter. He is
going to stop. But God has an account to
settle with you on that subject After
awhile your eye will be dim, and your gait
will halt, and the sound OF the grinding
story twice, and your children will wonder
if you will never be taken away: They
YOU the "old man" If you live few
years longer they will call you the "old
chap" What are those rough words with
which your children are accosting, you!
They are the echo Of the very words. you
used in the ear of your old father forty
years ago: :,
A gentleman passing along the avenue
saw q son dragging his father into the
Street by the hair of the head. The gentle.
man, outraged at this brutal conduct, was
about to punish the offender, when the
old man arose and said Don't hurt him.
It's all right. Forty years ago this very
morning I dragged out my father by the
hair of his head" 1t is circle. Other
sins may be adjourned to the next world,
but maltreatment of parents is punished IN
this world. That circle is made quickly,
ve:y quickly.
should not like to see the countenanco
of Voltaire when his influence comes to
full orb When the fatal hemorrhage
seized him at eishty-three years Of age his
Influence did not cease. The most bril-.
liant man of his century. he had used all
his faculties for assaulting Christianity,
his bad influence widening through France,
widening out through Germany, widening
through all Europe, widening through
America, widening through the 1923 years
that have gone since he died, widening
through earth, widening through the great
future, until at last the accumulated lntu'
ence Of his baleful teachirr' and dissoiute
life will beat against h ;zmayed spirit,
and at that moment it Il be enough to
turn white with horror. No one can tell
how that bad mans influence girdled the
earth save the one who is seated on the
circle of the carth-ths Lord Almighty.
"Well, now" say some, this in some re-
spec.s is a very glad theory ard in Others
a very sad one. We would like to have
the good we have done come back to US,
but the thought that all the sins we have
ever committed will come back to us MIS-
us with alright. My brother; l have to to
tell YOU God can break that circle. and will
do so at your call. I can bring twenty
passages Of Scripture to prove that when
God, for Christ's sake. forgivcs man the
sins of his past life never come back. Inc
wheel may roll on and on. but you take
your position behind the cross, and the
wheel strikes the cross and is shattered
forever. The sins fly off from the circle
and fall at right ANGLES with complete oo'
livion. Forgiven! Forgiven!
The meancst thing man ca? GO is after
some difficulty has been settled to Dring
it up again. and God will not co anything
like that. Gods memory is mighty enough
to hold all the events of the ages. nut
there is one thing that is sure to slip His
memory, one thing He is sure to forget,
and that is pardoned traEsgressioa.
How do l know it? I will prove it.
"Their sins and their iniquit!es will ! re-
member no more" Blessed is he whose
trapsgression is forgiven.
But do not make the mistake OF think
ing that this doctrine OF the circle stops
with this life. 1t rolls on through heaven.
You might quote in opposition to me what
St. John says about the city, Of heaven.
lie says it "iieth four square,, That does
seem t) initiate against this idea OF cir
Gle. But do you no. know. there is many
square house that has family circle iac'
.ns ns facn 0,rer nrevc @ that this is 50 in regard
TO heaven. St. John says, Il heard the
voice OF mary angels round about the
throne and the beasts and the elders
And again he says. i saw round about
the throne four and twenty seats" And
again he SAYS, There vas rainbow round
about the throne
The two former imply a circle; the last.