An Object Lesson

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 4, 1903

A FATHER told his son to set up some bricks on their ends, in a line a short distance apart. “Now,” said the father, “knock down the first brick.” The boy obeyed. The fall of that brick made all the others fall too. The father then said, “Raise the last brick, and see if the others will rise with it.” They would not. Once down they must be raised singly. The father now said, “I have given you this object lesson to teach you how easy it is for one to lead others astray, but how difficult for him to restore them, however sincere his repentance may be.”

A dying man, whose life had been badly spent, exclaimed in agony of mind and heart, “O that my influence could be gathered up and buried with me!” It could not be. He was not able to put forth his dying hand to stop the evil he had done. His body could be buried, but not his influence.—Selected.