The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-09-10


clamation of the openly vicious Did you
ever know a drunkard to be saved through
the caricature Of drunkard? Your mimicry
of the staggering step. and the thick tongue,
and the disgusting hiccough only worse
maddens his brain. But if you come to him
in kindness and sympathy, if you show him
that you appreciate the awful grip Of de-
PRAYED appetite, if you persuade him of the
fact that thousands who had the graphing
hooks Of evil inclination clutched in their
soul as firmly as in his have been delivered,
then raw Of light will flash ecross his
vision, and it will seem as II O supernatural
hand was steadying his staggering gait.
A good many years ago there lay In the
streets man dead drunk his face exposed
to the blistering monday sun. A Christian
woman passed along looked at him and said,
"Poor fellow She took her handkerchief
and spread it over his face, and passed
on. The man reused himself up from his
debauch aud began to look at the handker.
chief and lol on it was the name Of highly
respectable Christian woman Of the city. He
went to her, he thanked her for her kindness,
and that one little deed saved him for this
life, and saved him for the life that Is to
come BE was afterward Attorney-Ge
of the United States; but higher than all, he
became the consecrated disciple OF Jesus
Christ.
Kind words are 30 cheap it Is wonder We
do not use them oftener. There are tens OF
thousands OF people who are dying for tn
lack OF one kind word. There is busines
man who has fought against trouble until hs
Is perfectly exhausted. He has been think,
Ing about forgery, about robbery, about sui,
eide. 60 to that business man. Tell him
that better times are coming, and tell him
that you yourself were in tight business
pass and the Lord delivered you. Tell him
to put his trust in God. Tell him that Jesus
Christ stands beside every business man in
his perplexities. Tell hun Of the sweet prom
ises Of Gods comforting grace.
That man is dying for the lack of just one
kind word. Go tomorrow and utter that
one saving, omnipotent, kind word, Here
ls soul That has been swamped in sin. Hs
wants to find the light Of the Gospel. H1
feels Like shipwrecked mariner looking out
over the beach, watching for a sail against
the sky. Oh, bear down on him. Tell him
that the Lord waits to be gracious to him,
and, though he has been u great sinner,
there Is great Saviour provided. Tell
nlm tnat though his sins are as scarlet they
shall be as snow; though they are red
like crimson they shall be as wool. That
kind word.
There used to be sung at great many of
the pianos all through the country song
that has almost died out I wish somebody
would start it again in our social circles
There may have not been very exquisite art
in the music, but there was. grand and
glorious sentiment:
Kind words never die, never die;
Cherished and blessed.
Oh, that we might in our families and in
can never drive men, women or children into
the kingdom Of God. A March northeaster
will bring out more honeysuckles than fret
fulness and scolding will bring out Christian
grace. I wish that in all our religious work
we might be saturated with the spirit of
kindness. Missing that we miss great deal
Of usefulness. There is no need Of coming
out before men and laundering to them tho
law unless at the same time you preach to
them the Gospel. Doyounot know that this
simple story of SaFiour's kindness is to re-
worlds obduracy is to be broken before that
story.
There is In Antwerp Belgium, one Of the
most remarkable pictures I ever saw. It is
1.-THE Descent Of Christ from the Gross. 1t
Is one Of Rubens's pictures. No man can
stand and look at that descent from the cross
as Rubens pictured it, without having his
eyes flooded with tears if he have any sensi-
bility at all. It is ON overmastering picture
one that stuns you, and staggers you, and
haunts your dreams. One afternoon q man
stood in that cathedral looking at Rubens's
descent of Christ from the Cross" He was
oil absorbed in that scene Of Saviours suf-
ferings when the janitor came in and said:
ut is time to close up the cathedral for the
night. I wish you would depart" The pill
grim looking of that Descent of Christ from
the Cross" turned around to the janitor and
said. "No no: not vet Wait until they got
Him down."
Oh, it is the story Of Saviour's suffering
kindness that is to capture tho world. When
the bones of that great Behemoth of iniquity
which has trampled oil nations shall be
broken and shattered, 1t will be found out
that the work was not done by the hammer
of the iconoclast or by the sword of the
but by the plnin, simple, overwhelming
force OF "the soft tongue that breaketh the
bone."
And now ask the blessing Of God to come
down upon you in matters Of health, in mat
ters of business: that the Lord will deliver
YOU from oil your financial perplexities; that
he will give you good livelihood large sal
aries, healthful wages sufficient income. l
pray God that He may give you the oppor-
tunity of educating your children for this
world, and through the rich grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ Of seeing them prepared
for the world that is to come.
Above all, I look for the mercy Of God
upon your immortal souls; and lest stand
before some who have not yet attended to the
things Of their eternal interest in this, the
closing part of my discourse. | implore them
here and now to seek after God and be at
peace with Him. Oh, we want to be gathered
together at last in the bright and blessed as
semblage of the skies, our work all done, our
sorrows all ended. God bless you, and your
children, and your children's children. And
now commend you to God and to the word
Of His grace, which is able to build you up
and give you an inheritance among all them
that are sanctified.