The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-10-16
WILL HEAR AND OBEY
THE P0STAUM0US VOICE
Striking Sermon Is Delivered by DR..
Maclachlan mt seventh
Street.
TELLS OF LIVING DEAD MAN
Abel, Amos, Moses and Others Who
lived Great Ideas Continue Their
InfiucaHce Over World-Anothcr
Immortality.


the Seventh-Street Christian Church,
delivered striking sermon in that
church last night on the subject OF
"A Living Dead Man" In part, DR.
Maclachlan said:
Leaving Christian immortality-the
death--out of account, there is an
other Kind of immortality which,
though II cannot take its place nor
satisfy as our Christian immortality
does the deepest long1ngs OF our
hearts, does contribute an element of
supreme worth to our life---I mean
the Immortality of influence. the Pc
rennial eloquence Of lips that have
long ago crumbled into dust.
The lives OF evil men are like the
trenches at Cold Farbor or Seven
Pines-fifty years ago they were deep
scars across the landscape--today 1t
needs a practiced eye to detect them
at all. The lives OF the good in the
other land are like springs away up
on the mountainside which are con-
tinually gathering to themselves
other good things until they become
broad rivers of goodness. fertilizing
the world.
Abel. the First Martyr.
This was so with Abel, the first
martyr. Dying for his fidelity to the
will Of God, he has become the type
for all time of those who stand ready
to give up all for truth. Many a
martyr since his day has caught the
inspiration OF his life. And as with
Abel. so with all good men. Their
memories may die. but the thing they
did. the thing they were, can never
die
The prophet Amos died 1850 years
ago, but he being dead yet speaks to
us in every Christian temple which
witnesses to the unity and moral
character of Jehovah. the God of all
the earth Moses lies In his lonely
grave on Nebo's summit, but there is
not code of laws in all the Western
world but is based on the statutes
which he delivered to Israel in the
wilderness, In that recent furry
about Sunday observance It was that
dead mans voice that was speaking
to the conscience of the city-whether
we heard 1t or not ! do not care 10
decide.
Ideas Live After.
But why labor to prove what is
selfevident More to the point Is II
to insist on the practical truth that
tho ideas to which we devote our
lives VIII I'VE after uS-Ii IHtE ne
true ideas. There is no doubt about
It. Our voices may he stilled in death.
but the thought, the cause we live
for, will survive and plead more elo-
quently in the coming years because
we are its orators today. There is
no such thing as failure of the truth.
The living voice that utters ii may
fail on dead ears. but the posthumouus
voice--the voice from the grave-will
yet make itself heard and pbeyed
Isaiah was laughed to scorn by the
generation TO which he preached but
the generation that were carried cap
tive into Babylon were glad enough
to listen to his words The Chartists
of England were hanged or trans
ported in prison ships to Botany Bay,
but in the social legislation of Lloyd
George-the old-age pensions and
taxauons OF unearned increment--the
twentieth century does homage to
those whom the early nineteenth
treated as criminals, It is the old.
old story Of martyrs being the seed OF
the church.
Listening 10 Moody's Voice.
When Mr.. Moody was in the Brit
ish Isles he came in contact with two
men. One of them was Henry Drum
mond, then student In the Univer-
sity of Edinbro, Through Moodys
influence he began that work with
college students in Edinbro. which
broadened and widened until he be-
came one Of the greatest interpreters
Of the truth as it is In Jesus in terms
of modern science and culture Many
of you have read his Natural Law
on the Spiritual World" or that
beautiful little address, The Great
est Thing in the World" Did YOU
rem iya that n thasa Us
listening to the echo of Moody's voice,
living over again in tho life and work
OF man whom Moody himself said
was the most Christ-like man he had
ever known?
There is another thought here.
The posthumous voice is often louder
than the living one MY taper may
light torch-the disciple may prove
greater than his master Many
successful man can point hack TO the
little frame schoolhouse where he
learned to spell the first syllables of
success at the feet OF some teacher
of whom the world never hears. Many
a master workman got his first les
sons in piety from some unknown
teacher In an obscure Sunday School
Mark Hopkins at one end OF the log
may have a Lincoln at the other end.
Words We Speak and Deeds.
We may think our influence small,
but the words we speak. the deeds
we do, the examples we set. may be
bringing to their spiritual birth pow
ers in some other man who will one
day. after we are gone, exercise an
influence compared to which ours
seems pitiful and weak. Yet without
us he would not have been. 1t Is we,
being dead, will be speaking through
him.
DR.. Maclachlan drew forceful
picture of the wonderfully beneficial
influences left by great heroes and
great martyrs OF the ages, and con-
Guided as follows:
What. then. are you and I doing
that will count for something when
were are dead and gone? Are we
simply drifting with the tide. like logs.
or are we controlling the set of the
tide? Are events making us or are
we making events? Are we nonenti-
ties or personalities?