Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1921-01-02
THE TIMES-DISPATCH
SUNDAY SERMON
bf REV. W. RUSSELL. nOWIE;, d. d.,
Hector of st. PnuTs Church.
AS unknown. and yet well known: ms diving.
md LhnAulh

Gil. Corinthians vi o.
ihcre are times for all of us when we feel "A
sehse OF me heiplessncss OF tho individual, as
against crowd. We 1.-Two in an age of trc-
i:.cndous organization. The sin..l, Irc mny
seem 10 be only a cog in !, vast machine mart
Va At "''Nen'ch' winch II can only In the faintes;
measure shape and must instead obey. Against
the strong pressure of impcrsonal Influences
'ne single iifc may find Itself swept aside and
SubinerEcd like swimmer struggling voinIy
"S"'hSt the current of the river. Here and
'ht'c' OF course. q few lives of cxtraordin3ry
endowment and peculiar power may breast the
'i"o"' thcy may even discutangIc thcmsel YES
from ~ cut new channels for it. and change
'h' wh"ie course of the stream AGAINST which
"ci"te theE struggled; but this We think is q
i'SI.o''!'s Only Tor very rare persons. For
'He me without particular endowment. without
'"c 'uuch strength which wealth or prestige or
worldly prominence can give there seems at
itiSt' IN our moments of pessimism--little
ch'Ace OF beating up against the tide.
we rest our thought. first of all. upon the
ro''H'"er''ioh that lies back of this text. ST.
iaul. writing OF that group Of Christians who
constituted the life of that early church, pro-
Claimed that they were ''unknown and vet
wen hhowh; as dying. and. behold. we live
We h"Ne grown 50 accust omed to taking ii as
matter OF course that the men who first
'"IIowed Jesus were influential in the shaping
OF the worlds history that we lose the fresh
sense OF wonder in this fact which by all
tc"SUhapIe probabilities was first as far
.o'" "oihs Il matter OF course as any possible
ming could be. For who were these men
whose names have hccomc dcathlcss" They
were the common men from an empire ana
from II time which gave the common man
S''"41 ch4hce There was no democracy in that
'-o''''h world such as we know today. Power
was ordinarily an inherited thing Power
WAS the possession Of II small and Jealous
caste. Great military conaucrors had subducd
the earth and made il subject to their Will
" NIX Is IL mat thus makes 1t possible for
'he obscure life to emerge into greatness? 1t
- not so much the peculiar gifts OF those
lives themselves. 1t is because they become
mixed To mighty forces which control the uni
Verse, and because of that universe they he
come part OF the character OF the influence
which they express
Here rs the secret OF that power which comes
to lives that in themselves Seem to have no
themselves express but VIVA, they have al
lowed TO express itself through them which
makes them irresistible. 1t is not what they
III iHti own strength create, but the eternal
forces which are allowed to work their new
creation through their obedience that makes
their liNcS creative OF the dcstiucs OF mankind
nat We need to do. therefore. is to turn our
thought away from our own Limitation ana fix
IL upon the sui!icicncy OF those forces which are
OF God Here. FOR example. IL the woman dis
satisfied with many OF the social practices she
sees around her, and to which she herself
seems subject. What can She do in the little
nesS of her own individuality? What can she
do as one against the crowd? Ey herself
nothing. But if She begins to forge, herself
and TO think OF those invisible tendencies to-
ward thinking and sound ideals which mean
the presence of God in the midst OF the com
mon world. then there VIII come TO her both n
new wisdom and new will
Ana So also. is il in the shaping OF the az
fairs OF nations. There may seem TO be the
moments OF dark failure OF lives IN their per-
sohal effort to be OF service. There are times
whcn Individuals seem TO 80 down in tragic
overthrow and disaster. Yet those who have
been the prophets OF their time those who
have dared To voice the far conception which
IN" crowd in their brief hour may laugh at
YET can mold them fast By the assurance OF
the Vindicatlun Of the things that are of God
They can remember Him wiki whom a day liz
as a thousand years, and thousand years as
ono day They wait. confident and sure Of
Inal triumph