For the wrong that needs resistance,
For the Future in the distance,
And the good that I can do.”
We are told that a word, when it has fallen from the lips, never dies away; that the sound goes on widening and widening throughout the immensity of space.
Such are our lives. The acts which we do, the words which we utter, are exerting an untold influence for good or for evil. They are moulding, silently but certainly, the character of those by whom we are surrounded, for weal or for woe. Their influence extends even to eternity.
Fellow Christians! impressed with this solemn thought, let our heart’s desire be to minister to the wants of the sick and dying, to carry the glad tidings of salvation to the hovels of ignorance and poverty, to cheer the homeless orphan, to console the friendless widow; for by so doing, we shall surely gain our reward both in this world and that which is to come. Let us do what we can to dry the tear of sorrow, to gladden the heart of the laborer in his long hours of lonely toil; do what we can by precept, by prayer, by example, by toilsome labor, to win souls to Jesus Christ. Who had not rather be the means of saving one soul, than obtain all the riches or receive all the honors the world can furnish?—
THE LAST SERMON OF THE SEASON.
“What a thought! The last opportunity I shall ever enjoy of making my peace with God; the last time I shall ever listen to the glad tidings of salvation; the last time I shall hear from the sacred desk the earnest entreaty, Come to Jesus; the last time I shall ever sing the songs of Zion!”
Such were the thoughts which rushed wildly through the mind of a young man as his unwilling feet lingered on the steps of the house of God. He was leaving that house with a heart at enmity with his heavenly Father. Again and again had he put off for a convenient season the eternal interests of his never-dying soul. Long, long had Satan pacified his restless conscience by whispering in his ear that to-morrow would be time enough. To-morrow after to-morrow had come and gone, yet he was farther from salvation than he had ever been.