The Columbus Dispatch

DIFFERENT ROADS
The story is told of a gray-bearded old miller
who used to grind wheat and corn in a country
settlement in Tennessee. He was a fine old
Southern gentleman, a devout Christian, and a
friend of every man he met. Men, women and
children, passing his mill, would stop and speak
to him just to hear his pleasant voice and see
hissunny smile.

The mill was so situated that five roads led
to it. From miles and miles around, the farmers
would haul grain to the mill to be ground. Not
once during his long life did the miller ask, "What
road did you come on?" His questions were al-
ways as to the quality of the grain.

This strikes us as being a splendid illustration
of the attitude of the good God toward His
children. It is not likely that the Creator will ask,
"Through what church did you come into my
presence?" He will not be interested so much in
that as in "What kind of a character do you
bring?"

We have often wondered whether the names
of the various ecclesiastical boundaries known
among men were known at all in the kingdom of
heaven. The bible tells us very plainly that "Man
looketh upon the outward appearance, but God
looketh upon the heart." Therefore, it matters
not in which pew you sit or at what altar you
kneel, you may be assured of the fact that it is
only your heart that God considers, and not the
place where you are worshiping Him. And you
need not be inside a church, or under any kind
of a roof. to worship your Creator.

One of our Jewish friends remarked to us only
yesterday: "My time for worship is after the
light is out at night, and I am alone with my
God. Then I take a look within myself, and when
I behold a fault, a sin, or any short-coming, I
repent and ask the Creator for forgiveness."

Different denominations are all right if they
co-operate. The several churches may be as the
several regiments in an army, all fighting in the
same great cause, all having the same ultimate
victory in view. Mutual helpfulness, the Father-
hood of God and the brotherhood of man, Sab-
bath observance, honesty and integrity, clean and
upright living, Christian charity, the goodness
and mercy of the Father, obeying the ten com-
mandments, these are the foundation stones of
a life that will mean much here in its influence
for good, and that will mean much in the Day of
Judgment.

The old Tennessee miller had a good and whole-
some philosophy. It mattered not what road his
patrons took to reach his mill. It was the quality
of the grain that was important.