THOUGHTS
BY
REV. RICHARD CARROLL
AND
REV. T. H. WISEMAN, D- D.
COLUMBIA, S C.
Lfewie Printing Company
Columbia, S. C.
SCHOOLS YOU CAN ATTEND.
Baptist.
Morris College, Sumter, S. C.—J. J.
Starks, D. D., President.
Benedict College, Columbia, S. C.—B. W.
Valentine, D. D., President.
M. E. Methodist.
Claflin University, Orangeburg, S. C.—
L. M. Dunton, D. D., President.
-. A. M. E. Methodist.
Allen University, Columbia, S. C.—R. W.
Mance, D. D., President.
Presbyterian.
Harbison College, Irmo, S. C.—C. M.
Young, D. D., President.
Other Schools.
State College, Orangeburg, S. C.—R. S.
Wilkerson, A. M., President.
Voorhees Industrial School, Denmark, S.
C.—EY R. Roberts, D. D., Principal.
Bettis Academy, Trenton, S. C.—Prof. A.
,W. Nicholson, Principal.
Friendship College, Rock Hill, S. C.—M.
P. Hall., D. D., Principal.
Other Association and Independent
Schools.
Seneca Institute, Seneca, S. C.
Greenville, Laurens, Spartanburg, Beau¬
fort, Charleston, McCormick, Greenwood
and Gaffney.
Clinton Institute, Rock Hill, S. C., Lan¬
caster, Schofield School, Aiken, S. C., Brew¬
er Normal, Greenwood, and others.
"THE FRUIT OF A THOUGHT."
Introductory by Rev. Richard Carroll.
This little pamphlet contains, I hope and
pray, many helpful thoughts. It is this that
attracted my attention to the "Thoughtful"
sermon at Sidney Park M. E. Church, Octo¬
ber, 1920.
I was attracted by the THOUGHT and
the forceful and dignified delivery of the
sermon. It touched my inmost soul and
made me think. At the time, I wished that
every preacher, teacher and thoughtful
layman could have been there. Thought¬
ful,thinking, God-fearing people are hard
to be surmounted. We must think more
and shout less.
Dr. T. H. Wiseman, in my opinion, is a
great preacher. Such preaching—thought¬
ful preaching— will save the individual
and the race, and they will be lifted by
thinking good thoughts.
RICHARD CARROLL,
Columbia, S. C.
REV. RICHARD CARROLL
Columbia, S. C,
SPARKS FROM THE ANVIL.
By Rev. Richard Carroll, Columbia, S. C.
As we have opportunity, "Let us do good
unto all men." A kind word will help.
Make known the great ability of t hose who
are able to be a blessing and a help to the
world.
What is it that makes a man? Self-con¬
trol. The body is to be the servant, not the
master.
Soul saving is the greatest work in the
world, but the soul saver should quicken
and save lives. A Christian rnust present
his body a living sacrifice and give to God
a life as well as a soul. "What is your
life?"
It was Abraham Lincoln who said:
"What we say here will soon be forgotten;
what we do here, will always be remem¬
bered. Be a "doer" .of the word.
Jesus was our example—He healed the
sick—preached the gospel of mercy and
salvation and gave us the "Golden Rule."
Man's mercy, justice and kindness should
be extended to the lower animals. The
religion of Jesus Christ is as broad as the
earth, deep as hades and as high as the
heavens..
3
Every great work in the world has been
done by faith. Unbelief is weakness. See
Hebrews 11:06.
With God and man, nothing is impossi¬
ble. Let us work together with God.
"The gospel of the grace of God and the
gospel of human welfare are one and the
same gospel, and there is no need to sepa¬
rate them or to take one and reject the
other."
"They are slaves who fear to speak,
For the friendless and the weak;
They are slaves who fear to be
In the right with two or three."
"It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Blessed is he that considereth the poor."
Secret orders have a record for doing
good, but none of them take the place of
the grace of God in the soul. "Ye must be
born again." The church is the greatest
institution for the Kingdom training.
The pastor is the chief servant; officers of
the church are his chief helwers. "The ser¬
vant is not greater than his lord, neither is
he that is sent greater than He that sent
him.—John 13:16,
4
"Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbe¬
lief."
Pride goeth before destruction. Do not
boast of your ability to preach, financial
standing your wife's greatness. Walk hum¬
bly before God.
"By grace are ye saved through faith."
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap."
"Take my life and let it be consecrated,
Lord, to Thee."
"For me to live is Christ."
"He loved me and gave Himself for me."
It is a fact that those who love God, love
their fellow man, regardless of race, color
or previous or present conditions.
"I do not ask to see the distant scene, one
step is enough for me."
"Lead Thou me on."
5
A LAD WITH SOME
LOAVES AND FISHES.
He stands up in the sixth chapter of
John's Gospel. I wonder that more notice
has not been taken of him. He grips me.
I like him. He was as full of curiosity and
industry as an eg£ is full of meat. He has
abounding life. He could not be still. He
had to express himself. When anything
was doing, he wanted to be in it and be of
it.
He had heard about that big country
meeting out on the shore of the lake near
Capernaum, and he just must go there and
hear Jesus preach, and see him do some
wonders. So he got his fi-h. at the dock,
and had his mother fry them and bake the
barley leaves. He filled his basket and
struck out for the country meeting. That
was the place to sell lunche?. Always there
is a lot of improvident folk in a big crowd,
and he had an eye to business. He found
many hungry mouths, and sold out his
stock, save a private lunch for a hungry
boy.
At the wane of the day a crisis arose.
Little did he dream of the part he was to
6
play in that crisis. The crisis was that of a
tired, hungry, breadless multitude. The
Master was concerned about them. Peter
had taken notice and advised the sending of
them away ; Peter had calculated the enor¬
mous cost of giving them a bite to eat, and
regarded the proposition as impossible;
Andrew had inspected the lad's supply and
attested his contempt fcr it as not worth
considering. One fancies he heard the
Master say, "See here, Andrew, where is
that lad? Find him and bring him
here." We see Andrew leading up the em¬
barrassed lad, and as he comes up the Lord
lifts the lid of his basket and looks in, and
then smiles with satisfaction.
There was a beginning, and God only
wants a beginning with things and with
folks. The hand that made the Stars and
hung them up and lit their lamps; took that
meager supply and fed them all to the full.
The lad's impotency had been turned into
potency.
When that lad saw that vast crowd wip¬
ing their mouths with satisfaction, and still
beside the twelve baskets full that was left
over, he saw things. There must have
dawned upon him a realization of the dif¬
ference between being in right relations to
Divine power and being out of right rela¬
tions. He got a vision that must have re¬
mained with him for life. I hope to see him
7
in the millenium age and hear him tell
about it. It will be a great story.
This lad was typical of great multitudes
who would come into right relations to
Christ and have their life multiplied in min¬
istry to multitudes. Every soul that starts
to the Lord is, spiritually considered, pos¬
sessed of only a few loaves and fishes.
Every preacher has seen it illustrated in
himself and in many others.
Many years ago, when I was general sec¬
retary of the Sout hCarolina State Mission
Board, I was going cne summer evening
from the home of Mr. L. L. Rice, near Gra¬
ham, to that village to preach. A colored
youth, a servant of Mr. Rice, was riding on
the back seat of the buggy. I judged him
to be just entering his teens. As I remem¬
ber him, he was hatless, coatless, shoeless,
homeless, moneyless, fatherless and moth¬
erless. He had a bright face and seemed a
sturdy lad. He had curiosity enough to go
into the church to hear me preach.
Neither of us dreamed the effect my mes¬
sage was going to have on his life and des¬
tiny. But that is one of the mysteries of the
gospel. It seems that the text, Hebrew
11-6, made a deep impression upon his
spirit. Three years later, when under con¬
viction for sin, and while plowing in the
field, the text came upon him with power,
and led him to Christ. He had lost track of
me, and did not find out where I was until
8
twenty years later, when he located me in
Omaha, Neb., where I was pastor. He
wrote me and told me all about it, and
claimed me as his spiritual father in Christ.
I had always loved the Negro race; I owed
them so much. When I was a helpless
child and motherless, it was my old black
mammy who cared for me through the trou¬
blesome years of childhood. Her care and
love had never failed. After I entered the
ministry, I longed to know that I had defi¬
nitely been the means of leading some of
her race to the Lord. When Richard Car¬
roll wrote me twenty years after the event
that "my message had been the means of
leading him out of the darkness and into
the light of Christ"—Well, yes, I am not
ashamed to own it—white man as I am—I
just sat down and wept for joy for a solid
hour. I believe I had never known a
greater joy.
Richard Carroll got into right relations
with divine power. Truly he had little to
bring to the Lord—only a few loaves and
fishes. In fact, and in erality—only a
broken heart. Who but God could make
anything out of such an offering? At once
he filled this lad's heart with a holy ambi¬
tion to be somebody. He set his hands and
heart to the task. He toiled for an educa¬
tion. God raised up friends for him so that
he was able to complete the course at Bene¬
dict College, Columbia, S. C. He wrought
9
well, He grew m grace, fie expanuea in ser¬
vice. He has filled a number of positions of
trust and service. He has become a great
soul, a great leader and a great preacher.
He is a master of assemblies in the power of
an inspired oratory, no preacher in South
Carolina has ever had such great hold on
the white folks. They have abiding con¬
fidence in him.
They honor him for his character, wis¬
dom and usefulness. He has been of great
help to both races. He is always heard
with delight by the Southern Baptist Con¬
vention, and he has been, and is one of their
most notable evangelists among the colored
race.
What a far cry, from a lad with a few
loaves and fishes—hatless, coatless, shoe¬
less, moneyless, homeless, motherle-s, to the
Founder of a Kingdom. Such is the power
of the Living Jesus,—to save, transform,
enoble and inspire those who come in con¬
tact with him. To him be all glory.
A. W. LAMAR,
University Preacher, Lanier University.
Atlanta, Ga., October 8, 1920.
10
FEV. T. H. WISEMAN, D. D.
Pastor Btthel A M. E. Church
Columbia, S. C.
The Fruit of a Thought.
Text, Jeremiah 6:19.
"Hear, or Earth, I will bring evil upon
this people even the fruit of their thoughts."
To come near the proper interpretation
of this text, let us approach it by stages and
degrees. .To study thought we are com¬
pelled to dissect mind. We are not able to
touch the mind without seeing the relation
of mind to soul, hence we are to study
mind, soul and body to deduce thought, be¬
cause the functions of the brain are vital to
the subject. Has the soul a mind? What
is the Soul? We conceive the Soul to be
that essential, indistructable part of man.
That which we cannot conceive of as sub¬
ject to death; that which we are sure can¬
not pj.ss out of existence; the first cause
of individual being, because it stands as
the immediate cause of that which we know
as individuality. It is that which we con¬
ceive to be the core, the unseen life, causing
all physical phenomens that we are capable
of comprehending as taking place. In fact,
we can go farther and say that the soul is
that somewhat of life that stands between
material man and his Cheator, related to
both, necessary to both.
12
I assert that this soul has a mind. This
mind is a component of the soul. What,
then, is thought? In philosophical usage,
it denotes the capacity for, cr the exercise
of, the very highest intellectual functions,
especially those comprehended under judg¬
ment. Has thought a real value? I a-sert
yes, and that they also bear fruit. Here we
come to the words of our text, "The Fruit
of a Thought." What a wonderful thing,
the brain, that complex beautiful God's
designs for the storage of the honey of wis¬
dom. Do we, can we, realize the mechan¬
ism and evolvement of thought? "The Fruit
of a Thought," it is a notable expres-ion,
and proves that the Phophet had a clear
conception of what we call our latest
science, for psychology teaches us that
thoughts are things and that the delicate
movements of the brain emit invisible fine
exultations containing the seed, from which,
a sfro mthe pollen of a flower, actual froms
take shape and grow into substance! Hear,
oh Earth, the thoughts of a man are the man
himself. According to the way he thinks, so
is the life he leads. His thought is the seed,
his life is the fruit of his thoughts. Thoughts
are seeds planted every moment of our
lives. And we agree that every act has a
though for its Father. Oh, I am sure that
there is no truism more true than this trite
expression, "AS A MAN THINKETH IN
HIS DHEART, SO IS HE." Think of his
13
vast responsibility. Moreover, he has a
greater and graver responsibility than that
which pertains to his own existence, For
his thoughts are not allowed to belong to
himself alcne. God has linked and tied us
together as links in a chain, and no man
can live unto himself, no man can die unto
himself. Man is unconsciously compelled
to transmit them to others, to his chil¬
dren, to his friends, to his neighbors. In his
children his thoughts often yield a strange
harvest for their future good or ill. In his
friends and neighbors they result in a crop
of pleasant or unpleasant associations
which, spreading from the individual as the
center of radiation, make for the happi¬
ness or the unhappiness of the whole com¬
munity. Thus one evil, vicious mind may
taint a wide circle.
Ever note the woman next door hanging
over the ba-ck yard fence, innoculating her
neighbor with the virus of evil thoughts
and slander? Then that recipient passes
on the lie until trouble stirs the neighbor¬
hood, because of the fruit of that evil think¬
ing mind. The evil has its outlet in the life
and actions of the thinker, and an evil life
is a menace to the peace and prosperity of
the world. There will be some to emulate
the evil life just as some will emulate the
good life. For instance, go to the picture
shows, see Jesse James, the Youngener
Brothers, The Dalton Boys, Train Robbers,
14
and all that class of blood and thunder
stuff: then next day see your little son,
with a stick for a gun, shooting every boy
he meets, screaming, bow, bow, bow, imi¬
tating the sound of a gun. We are careless
as to the kind of pictures our children see,
yet the picture will start him thinking, and
that thought must bear fruit. What is in
the mind of your boys today? As it is with
the invidual, so with the nation. As a na¬
tion thir-keth in its heart, so the national life
of a people will be indicative of the
thoughts of that people. The actions of a
nation will be whatever the lines upon
which that nation is taught to think, by pul¬
pit—and herein lies the responsibility cf
the ministers, for they above all others have
the right to steer the minds of the people
into Godly paths, and they alcne receive the
royal commission. "Go tach whatsoever I
have commanded you."
The ministers of the gospel are directly
responsible to God for the thought of the
world. O that all the ministers would
hold up Christ! He says, "And if I be
lifted up I will draw the minds of men unto
Me." Are we holding Him up as the one
theme upon which the mind of man may
dwell? Are we? Are all the ministers
doing that? If the white ministers had
urged this thoughtful consideration of the
Christ all these years America would be a
different country today. Next, the press is
15
responsible for the thoughts of a nation.
Prof. Josiah Morse, of our own State, tried,
and very successfully, to stem the tide of
editorial debauchery of the Negro race
which was so prevalent a few months ago.
We saw the immediate results. A better
atmosphere was noticeable in race rela¬
tions in"South Carolina. Men started think¬
ing along better lines and they brought
about better actions, for "as a man think-
eth in his heart, so is he." Again the liter¬
ature of a people has much to do with the
thoughts of that people. Such plays and
books as "The Clansman," "The Leopard
Spots," are conducive to ugly thinking and
ugly thoughts will develop into ugly ac¬
tions. Hence the nation's responsibility is
the same as the individual's. For the lines
upon which the nation thinks will be the
lines upon which its honor will be upheld
or its. shame disclosed. The thoughts on
which that nation dwells today will be the
fruit upon which its sons of tomorrow must
feed or starve. What food are we giving
future generations? Ask your congrega¬
tions what they are thinking? Call their
attention to the future. What has Amer¬
ica been thinking? Lynching, mob vio¬
lence, deviltry of all sorts, discrimination,
but, listen, God is not dead. Whatsoever
a nation sows, that shall it also reap. The
sowing to-evil thoughts has gone on, and
I see the reaping beginning also. They
16
are now lynching white men, burning prop¬
erty, killing each other, bombs are being
thrown.
Hear, oh America, I will bring evil upon
thee, even the fruit of your thoughts. Tell
all our folks that the way to carry favor
with God is to think rightly and lift up their
minds unto the hills from whence cometh
our help. Our help comes from the Lord.
Forget the mud and gaze up at the stars
and find your immortal soul filled with
ecstacy in the contemplations of God's
great heavens. Even the stars declare His
glory.
Mr. Addiscn says, "The spacious firma¬
ment on high, with all the blue ethereal sky,
the spangled heavens a shining, frame
dceth their original proclaim. The un¬
wearied sun from day to day doth his crea¬
tor's power display, and as the evening
shades prevail, the moon takes up the
wondrous tale and nightly to the listening
earth, repeats the story of her birth. And
all the stars that round her burn, all the
planets in their turn, bespeak in accents
sublime. The hand that made us is divine."
Thus as we gaze at the handiwork of God
we are sensible of His power. We are also
made to feel how related we are to Him.
You ask, can I do all this? I answer, yes,
for you are a king. Oh, it matters not how
straight the gate, nor how charged with
punishment the scroll. I am the Master of
17
my fate. I am the captain of my soul. I
can have a clean mind or an unclean mind.
"Let this mind be in you which was ako in
Christ Jesus." (Rev. Jaggers' regular text).
This would raise the world to sublime
heights. Earth's past glory is dimmed. The
great ntions once splendid in their
achievement and the mighty dynasties are
but periods along the pathway of time. We
read of them. Our literature teems with
them, yet we seem to learn no lesson from
their folly. Their decline and fall was due
to their thoughts for thoughts beginning in¬
wardly worked out, until the life of the in¬
dividual became corrupt and rotten. As
with the individual, so with the nation.
Can we, as ministers, call loudly enough
to stem the tide of public thought? Some
may ask, Can I keep my mind clear and al¬
ways open to intelligence coming through
that center, the soul, and beyond that from
that great soul of the universe? Yes, we
can, and must. We can all realize that our
minds, clean and wholesome and pure,
should stand as sentinel at the gateway of
the soul, and continually watch that noth¬
ing shall enter but holy, clean truth. Thus
shall we grow in soul and mind through
grace.
What are we giving the fouI for food?
Our lives tell the story. A low, vicious
mind is shown by a low, vicious life, by
the company we keep and the habits we
18
form. Oh, that men could see the fruit of
their thoughts as others see them. We must
carry the mind of our people to a higher
plane. I have been thinking of Jesus, my
brethren, and am lifted to the heights. I
see a new thing. Since thoughts are things,
then we are creators almost divine. Oh, if
we but knew our power. We can create an
image. By thought we can shape an ideal,
mould and fashion to suit our fancy. Ac¬
cording to cur spiritual conception we can
make something beautiful or something
hideous. What are we creating? We are
like the potter who makes his clay and
when it has gotten a certain elasticity he
kneads it and pulls it, places it upon the
wheel and pulls it to and fro, then shaped
to his liking, he places it in the oven and
when subjected to the heat it hardens. The
potter takes it out, polishes it and lo, we
have a lovely vase to grave "my ladies'
table." We, too, are able to place our clay
i nthe mould of the mind, and by the process
of thought, shape any image that our mind
conceives of. Only select the right kind of
clay and have the highest ideals to form,
then we can' shape a life patterned after
that of Jesus, the one true ideal. Think on
Jesus. You are aware that the world is
mad over mental telepathy. Why that is
as old as man. Ever since thought began,
the transmission of thought depended sole¬
ly upon the ability of the man to send them
19
wherever he wished. We ministers have
long had the secret of mental telepathy.
Daniel had it. Three times a day Daniel
opened his window and himself becoming
the sending station, with the throne of the
Most High God as the receiving station he
communed with God always. Paul and
Silas had it. Away in the still watch of the
night they called up heaven, told God all
about their troubles, and to show that the
message was received, God sent an angel to
deliver them from the stocks. We have
this secret now. I mean those born of God.
Step off alone any time and send merely a
whisper to the Eternal Regions of bliss and,
brothers, we get the answer, do we not?
Oh, how careful we should be of the
thoughts we think. "Fruit of a Thought."
What a strange harvest we shall have to
reap when God calls us away. When all
thinking for us has ceased. Thought is
powerful.
When in Honolulu I saw the priest of the
sect that believes that a verbal curse pro¬
nounced by the priest will cause death, they
believe that and die. Note the play on our
American stage, "Bird of Paradise." Then,
too, yo urecall a few years ago a woman in
New York asked the protection of the po¬
lice to prevent a society there from think¬
ing her to death, believing that a certain
set of evil-minded women had banded
themselves together for the express pur-
20
pose of thinking her to death. But there
was no law to control thought. Now, if
evil thoughts can so impress themselves
upon one's mind and thereby effect one's
physical condition, what could the Chris¬
tian world do, all thinking one thought,
the salvation of men? We could create an
atmosphere in which no mind running in or
upon opposite lines could operate. The
concerted thought of all the Christian
world can and will, if applied, change the
thought of mankind. How silent this force.
There are no blaboned trumpets, no clash¬
ing cymbols; as silent as the evening shades,
gentle as the falling dew, yet the dynamic
fcrce that moves the world wrecks empires
an ddestroys armies. Thought than which
there is no greater power in the reach of
man. Napoleon never made a campaign
until he had thought out his victory in ad¬
vance.
Lastly, by the process of thought we be¬
come artists, we can paint a picture that no
other man can paint, because this picture
is to be born out of our own experiences.
Let's paint a picture of the Christ. Make
His hair like lamb's wool, soft and fleecy.
Oh, be careful of the eyes. Fill them with
compassion, for they looked at sin and for¬
gave it; gentle hands that took the widow's
son and gave him back to his mother, hands
that ministered in love to those needing His
21
care. Make them very gentle. Feet, tire¬
less in the service of mankind, shod with
the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Then, having conceived the picture in our
minds, oh, my brethren, let us hold our
Christ up to a dying world and tell them
that the fruit of their thoughts will be their
life lived here and hereafter. May the in¬
finite God sanctify and bless you. May He
make His face shine upon you and give thee
peace.
Delivered Friday, October 14th, at Sid¬
ney Park C. M. E. Church, to the ministers
of Columbia, S. C., by T. H. Wiseman, D. D.,
Pastor of Bethel A. M. E. Church.
22
A Prayer
O Heavenly Father, maker of heaven and
earth and all that in them is, help us to feel
mere strongly the tie of our common broth¬
erhood with all nations of men. Open Thou
our minds and our hearts to perceive our
common kinship with all that live and move
and have their being, with the beasts of
the earth and the birds of the air. Thy
hand and Thy will fashioned them. They
are our brothers. Help us, O Gcd, to know
our debt to them. Make us to be grateful
for the joyous songs of the birds, for the
companionship of our dumb friends.
0 God, many and great are the wrongs
that the helpless creatures cf the lesser
realm of life have suffered at the hands of
man. Hunger, thirst, torture, the heavy
burdens and the cruel lash have been the
portion dealt out to them by those who
should have been their friends.
For all the great sin of cruelty and neg¬
lect of these, Thy creatures, we ask Thy
pardon, Lord.
We thank Thee for those brave souls,
who have dared to stand in defence of the
helpless, who have given their lives in the
23
service of dumb creatures, to wrest for
them from careless, cruel, or indifferent hu¬
man beings some poor measure of justice
and humanity.
Grant, O Lord, that the gracious spirit of
kindness and justice and humanity toward
all living creatures may grow and strength¬
en in our hearts and shine forth in our lives,
to the glory of Thy Holy Name. Amen.
IDA KENNISTON.
24
A Prayer
Lord, help me, make me humble, full of
faith and the Holy Ghost. Forgive me of
my sins; I am a poor sinner saved by grace
—"by the grace of God. I am what I am.
"Give me ears to hear, a heart to feel, a
mind to think; make me to know my end
and the measure of my days. Help me to
dwell in the secret place of the Most High;
open mine eyes and help me to look on the
fields. Protect me from all harm and dan¬
ger, and grant that we may walk together.
Make mine end greater than my beginning
and help me to be true to Thee—to self and
to my fellow man.
We ask our readers to excuse the ty¬
pographical errors in-this little pamphlet.
Lay the sins on the Proof-reader and the
"Devil."