The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1904-05-27

way prepared for the coming ~ tn
'e blessed Savior. there might nav
y been, up this time. no Jesus, and n
IA Christian civilization,
G SO. we plainly see that the histoI,
a of the world might have been. prob
; ably would have been, very different
u but for the influence of single act OF
e the most ordinary kind such as YOU
: and | are daily performing.
Il But, You young people of the grad
q uatlng class, with life before You, will
ask, is ii possible that any of my
D words and deeds can ever result in
such tremendous issues as these?' The
answer must. of course, be, We do not
know about the ultimate extent and
Importance of the influence of our acts
) any more than the certain man could
know about his We do not, however.
see why good act should be of less
Importance TO the world now than it
was four thousand years ago.
1T is indeed true that the chain of
circumstances which prepared the way
for the Blessed Savior's coming is
complete since His advent. OF course,
we cannot by anything we say or do
add link to the chain in which the
influence of this certain man formed
so conspicuous link; but there is
chain of almost, if not quite, equal
Importance to which we, by our
humble words and deeds, may and
should add links-IT Is THE CHAIN
| OF CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH is TO
| LEAD THE WORLD TO CHRIST! |
The influence of this certain man
wonderfully helped in preparing the
way for the coming of Christ the |
influence of each one of us may, for
all we know, help as wonderfully in
preparing the way for the coming of
the world to Christ
And as Christ might not have come
yet, had this certain man passed
or misdirected Joseph, SOFT is a
dreadful thought. beneath which the
mind and heart sink oppressed with
the awful responsibility connected with
the inestimable privilege of living =.
our words and deeds may prevent the
millennium for thousands of years.
There is, therefore, no reason c
why an act may not be now as y
productive of good or evil as it was l
four thousand years ago-a good act {
may be, and every such will probably t
prove to be, worth as much to the I
world now as it ever was. a
Two Important Lessons. q
Having considered the far-reaching il
influence of such words and deeds as Il
are being said and done by each .one of n
us, whether we will or not, let us note N
briefly two important lessons which W
are naturally suggested: ~ The q
importance of having our influence +,
IN the right direction; (2) The in h
,erest which God and Man have in us Il
First, then, how transcendently 81
important it is that the influence of V,
what we do or say be In the right m
Erection. Let me impress upon you Al
he palpable, but too often forgotten,
act that it is not so important that
vou should say and do great things, as
hat you should say and do right things,
according to your opportunity. For .
he influence of your words and deeds e.
nay as we have seen from the study
# the certain mans, influence, be fifty
ompared to well-known spring in i.
he Allegheny Mountains. The spring
s SO small that single OK could drain TT
dry on a summers day. 1t steals -
is unObtrusive way among the hills
ntil it spreads out into the beautiful
)hio; then 1t stretches away thous- g
nd miles, leaving on its banks more
han hundred villages and cities,
nd many thousands of cultivated
arms and bearing on it's bosom more Fl
han half thousand steamboats,; then,
)ining the Mississippi, it stretches
n and on some twelve hundred miles
lore, until it. falls into the great
mblem of eternity. SO it is with the
lfuence of your words and deeds
our influence is now a tiny rivulet.
ut in the course of ages, and before Al
nat day when He shall come in His
lolious majesty to judge both the
lick and the dead and we shall be
nown as we are known by Him WHO
noweth all things, even the remotest
feet of what we do and say, your III
hence will surely have become grei t
yer, yea, mighty ocean, boundless co,
I'd fathomless as eternity itself. da
BE- therefore. awfully concerned to ct
ave your influence flow toward the IF
'ean of good and not towards the Wv;
can of evil: for remember there is 70
w of judgement coming when you NJ,
i'd l shall receive our reward with an an an
founding accumulation of compound IN,
terest for our good or bad words and tbs
eds ana thoughts. God has said by ~ a.;
e mouth of jeremiah: L give to j.; in
ery man according to the fruit of on,
nj.
say: That which man sowerh, isn
at shall he also reap Now, as we f fol
know we do not reap that which ooo
. SOW, but the increase of 1T, some nm nm
irty, some sixty, some an hundred we
Id. This being the basis of the Judg- loo
ent we shall receive. considering the tba
smendous influence for good or bad the
lich we inevitably exert what man ano
l of men and women and children
ght we to be May God in His
Unite mercy help us from this on to r
and say only those things which II
ght to be done and said, and to eav "
done and unsaid only those things
lich ought not to be done and said.
And finally, let us learn from our
dy of the unconscious influence OF
certain man that God and man
We deep interest in us OF. in other rh,
rds, thgt on matter how humble our CIV
or circumscrihed our opportunl-
s. we are yet of considerable Inn
\ ,.k.,4 20 x#.Nrsls