Year: 1877

ALAY SERMON.


BEFORE SPEAK, AN MASTER OF THE WORD


AFTER I SPEAK, 1T Is THE MASTER OF ME.


It is a solemn thought that every spoken
word is as undying as the soul of man, destin-
ed to live after it has apparently passed away
and pregnant with meaning which cannot
be fully known until time shall give it a final
definition. Words are so prodigally cast
abroad that we have learned to believe that
they fall as heedlessly to the ground. Yet in
some awful moment, like ghosts from forgotten
graves, they confront, with new significance,
him, who, with perhaps no purpose, sent them
on their shadowy mission. The Bible tells us
that "of every idle word man shall utter, be
shall give an account" Man scarcely be.


ieves- -dares not believe that the record Of
his foolish, hasty utterances is yet to be
brought before him. What more incredible
than the assertion that these idle words, which
have no meaning beyond the triaing interest
of the moment, should be treasured up and
counted against US? And yet it is not the
Master who will reckon them. Man himself
will be bis own judge, when, in these idle
words, changed beyond recognition by the
full development of the original seed, he will
recognize the harvest he sowed. If the sins
of the fathers are visited on the generations
unborn, (and seeing the transmission of hered'
itary taints and stigmas, we cannot question
IT'D it is but just that the sins Of these children
of air should be attributed to those who gave
them birth.


The importance of words is not to be exag.
gerated. Their influence for good or i'll is in
calculable. Through them life is shaped into
beauty or distorted from its original design
Words which are pure and holy, grow with
our growth into the unutterable thoughts
which find expression in noble deeds. Those
which are base and untrue, transform man
into, their own image. A chance word has
restrained man from evil. Another, as acci-
dental, has marked innocence with an indeli'
BILE stain. There are loving words, whose mel.
ody time nor death can silence. There are
bitter words which darken all life, and pursue
speaker and hearer beyond the tomb. Per.
hsps each one, looking back on his own Ca
reer, may recall some casual word, which
quickened into life the germ, whose newly
awakened power was to bear good fruit. A
passing word has created prejudice, under
mined an opinion apparently fixed, or has
given new bent to life. The idle words on
which the formation of character hangs, are
too slight to be computed. A child filled
with moral precepts during its early years.
and then placed where no open violation of
these procepts is beheld, but where covert
smile or sly word follows any allusion to them,
speedily becomes either hypocrite or an un.
blushing sceptic concerning righteousness If
idle words are not responsible for the change,
to what else is it to be attributedi Certainly,
not to malicious design. Place, on the other
side, a child, ignorant of all principle, in a
sphere where principle alone is the motive Of
action, and insensibly to himself, unless be is
already hopeless reprobate, be acquires the
tone of his surroundings. Seeing these things,
how dare we speak unadvisedly with our lips ;?
"By thy words thou shalt be justified, and, by
thy words thou shalt be condemned" All
our needless, impatient, cruel, thankless, un-
holy words are hourly accumulating. We
recklessly multiply them, forgetting that their
life begins only when we cast them of, and
that their work is yet to be proved.


Custom only can deaden the heart to GER
tain inaccuracies of speech prevalent in socie-
ty. For season or two the young "debut-
ante" may shrink from the forms of prevari-
cation made necessary by due observance
of the laws of civility. But as the years 60
by, words which were once subject of con.
scientious scruple, lose their obnoxiousness.
Regarded as mere formula, they are uttered
with surprising Auency, and those of more
daring nature are readily adopted. The po-'
lite falsehood, the weak censure, the poor
scandal which once alarmed the virgin soul,
become its daily requirements in stronger and
ever increasing doses. The harm wrought by
idle words is forgotten. Only the need Of
fitting them to present emergencies is remem'
bered. "Guard we'll our thoughts; our
thoughts are heard in heaven" How, then.
must our words, which echo so far on earth,
thunder through the blessed calm above
How the angels must veil their faces and sor-
rowfully shrink from the storm of unceaslng
words to which those who are said to be "a
little less than the angels" dedicate their di.
vine gift of speech Every moment it is in
our power to bridge over the chasm which lies
between earth and heaven, by dropping one
kind word in the abyss. Every moment we
can widen the distance between hell and heav-
en- by Withholding the harsh word or unjust
censure which forms the downward link. We
know the potency of words. Most of US have
felt their sting. But when they rise tumult.
uously to the lips, who pauses to weigh them
AS we have suffered through their cruel force,
30 let others learn their strength. The hard
ening process is strongly advocated by those
whose sensibilities have been blunted by the
discipline.


Some persons think that in order to be
agreeable, they must pour forth a stream of
words, no matter what their interest or worth
may be. conversational powers" they are
fond of styling this in6rmity. 1t is general.
ly subject Of intense selfgrati6cation with
those who fail to perceive that the most fas'
cinating are not the most loquacious; but
those whose rare, we'll chosen words reveal
kind hearts and cultivated minds. One great
advantage of taciturnity is that it is always
attributed to profound merit. The disadvan.
tage of speech is that It generally dispels the
illusion. The man who can hold his tongue
may successfully pretend to any degree of er-
udition. The proof of fool is that he can
not stand the test "Mediocrity talks; Genius
observes" The great talker is necessarily,
at some times and to many people, a still
greater bore. Somebody, constrained to be
an involuntary auditor will write him down
an ass to the melody of his own unAaggng
voice. The fuency of which one is enamour
ed repels another. The sensitive know the
truth of the old adage, "Silenoe never yet was
regretted, while speech almost invariably is"
While germ of conscience remains, the re-
collection of some foolish speech and idle
words must cause feeling Of shame or
papg of regret. A wise man said that he
never went into company without feeling less