Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-09-04
TALMAGES SERMON.
A MAGNIFICENT DISCOURSE BY
THE GREAT BROOKLYN ID
VINE.
Subject: "Kind Words Never DIE
Cherished and Blessed"

TEXT: "a soft tongue breaketh the
bone.n-Prov. XIV, IS.
When Solomon said this he drove a whole
volume into one phrase. You, of course,
will not beso silly as TO take the words of
the text in literal sense. They simply
mean to set forth the fact that there is a
tremendous power in a kind word Al
though it may seem to be very Insignificant,
its force is indescribable and illimitable
Pungent and all conquering utterance: "A
soft tongue breaketh the BONE"
If the weather were not so hot and had
time / would show you kindness as a means
of defense; kindness as a means of useful
ness; kindness as means of domestic har-
mony; kindness as best employed by govern
ments for the tanning and curing Of crimi-
nails and kindness as best adapted for the
settling and adjusting of international quar-
rels; but shall call your attention only TO
two of these thoughts.
And first l speak to you of kindness as
means OF defense. Almost every man in the
course of his life is set upon and assaulted.
Your motives are misinterpreted, and your
religious OF political principals are bonn
barded. What to do under such circum-
stances is the question. The first impulse of
the natural heart says: 'Strike back. Give
as much as he sent. Trip him into the ditch
which he dug for your feet. Cash him with
as severe a wound as that which he
On JVoA oOuls kouOb AoI bnOts
Sarcasm for sarcasm. An eye for an
eye. A tooth for tooth" But the
better spirit in the mans soul rises up and
says: "You ought to reconsider that mat
teri You look up into the face Of Christ and
say: '.My Master how ought TO act under
these difficult circumstances And Christ
instantly answers: "Bless them that curse
you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you.n
Then the old nature rises up again and says;
''You had better not forgive him until first
you have chastised him. You will never get
him in so tight n corner again. You will
never have such an opportunity Of inhicting
the right kind of punishment upon him
again. First chastise him and then let him
GO" INC" says the better nature; 'hush,
thou foul heart. Try the soft tongue that
breaketh the bone" Have you ever in all
your life known acerbity and acrimonious
dispute to settle QUARREL Did they not al
ways make matters worse and worse and
worse?
Many years ago there was a great quarrel
in the Presbyterian family. Ministers of
Christ were thought orthodox in proportion
as they had measured lances with other
clergymen Of the same denomination. The
most outrageous personalities were abroad.
As in the autumn hunter comes home with
a string of game, partridges and wild ducks
slung over his shoulder, so there were many
ministers who came back from the ecclesias.
teal courts with long strings of doctors of
divinity whom they had shot with their own
rife. The division became wider, the ami
mostly greater, until after a while some good
men resolved upon another tack. They be-
gan to explain away the difficulties; they be-
gan to forgive each others faults and loi
the great church quarrel was settled, and
the new school Presbyterian church and the
old school Presbyterian church became one
a. - -l,-tr
order welded by a hammer, a little hammer,
a Christian hammer, that the Scripture calls
"a soft tongue"
You have a dispute with your neighbor.
You say to him, 81 despse youn He re-
plies, II can't bear the sight of you.n You
say to him. Never enter my house
again" He says IF You come on my door
sill I'll kick you Off" You say to him, I'm
put you down. He says to you, you are
mistaken, I'll put you down" And so the
contest RACES, and year after year you act
the un-Christian part. After a while the
better spirit seiZes you, and one day you go
over to the neighbor and say: "Give me
your hand; we have fought long enough.
Time is 50 short and eternity is so near that
we cannot afford any longer to quarrel l
feel you have wrunged me very much, but
let us settle all now in one great hand shak-
ing, and be good friends for all the rest OF
our lives You have risen to higher plat.
form than that on which before you stood.
You win his admiration, and you get his
apology. But if you have not conquered
him in that way, at any rate you have won
the applause of your own conscience, the
high estimation of good men, and the honor
of your Lord, who died for His armed enc
nies.
"Butn you say, what are we to do when
ISLANDERS assault us and there come acrimon-
ious sayings all around about US, and we are
abused and spat uponY My advice is; Do
not go and attempt to chase down the Sian.
ders. Lies are prolific, and while you are
killing one fifty are born. All your demon
STATIONS of indignation only exhaust your
self. You might as well on some summer
night, when the swarms of insects are COMING
up from the meadows and disturbing you and
disturbing your family, bring up some great
swamp angel like that which thundered
over Charleston, and try to shoot then
down. The game is too small for tho gun.
But what then, are you TO do with the
abuses that come upon you in life. You
are to live them down. / saw farmer 20
out to get back a swarm of bees that had
wandered off from the hive. As be moved
amid them they buzzed around his head
and buzzed around his hands, and buzz &c
around his feet. If he had killed one O
.iien they would have stung MIN TO death
But he moved in their midst with perfec
placidity until he had captured the swarm
of wandering bees. And so / have seel
men moving amid the annoyances, AM
the vexations, and the assaults OF life Ii
such calm, Christian elaboration that a
the buzzing around about their sou
amounted to nothing. They conquere
shem, and above all they conquered them
selves. ''0h, you say, "thats a very goo
theory to preach on hot day, but it won
work. 1t will work 1t has worked
believe it is the last Christian grace W
win. You know there are fruits which W
gather in Jnne. and others in july. an
Others in August, and others in September
and still others in October; and have Il
admit that this grace Of Christian for
giveneSs is about the last fruit Of the Chris
tian soul
We hear a great deal about the bite
tongue, and the sarcastic tongue, and th
quick tongue and the singing tongue, but W
know very little about "the soft tongue tina
breaketh the bone.r We read Hudibras, an
Sterne, Dean Swift and other apostles o
acrimony, but give little time TO studying
the example of Him who wasreviled, and We
reviled not again. o that the Lord by Hi
spirit would endow Us all with ''the sof
tongue that breaketh the bone"
press now to the other thought that de
scs to present and that is, Kindness as
ga ans of usefulness. In all communitie
yoI find skeptical men. Through early cdr
.cation or through the maltreatment of pre-
10 s~h IN