MY INFLUENCE by W. H. Baldwin

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 27, 1881

MY INFLUENCE.

By W. H. Baldwin

"Gather up my influence and bury it with me," were the dying words of a young man to the weeping friends at his bedside, as stated to the speaker a while since, by one to whom he was dear. What a wish was this! what deep anguish of heart there must have been as the young man reflected upon his past life!—a life which had not been what it should have been. With what deep regrets must his very soul have been filled as he thought of those young men he had influenced for evil!—influences which he felt must, if possible, be eradicated, and which led him faintly but pleadingly, to breathe out such a dying request—"Gather up my influence and bury it with me."

My young friends, the influence of your lives, for good or evil, cannot be gathered up by your friends after your eyes are closed in death, no matter how earnestly you may plead in your last moments on earth. Your influence has gone out from you; you alone were responsible; you had the power to govern, to shape; your influence no human being can withdraw. Such a request cannot be fullfilled. It is impossible. Your relatives and friends cannot "gather up your influence and bury it with you." Young men, live noble, true, heroic lives. Possess this "moral courage" in full proportions, and at all times—everywhere.—W. H. Baldwin.