The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-09-10
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON,
Subject: "Kind Words Never Die,
Cherished and Blessed"

bone."-Prov. XIV, Is.
When Solomon said this he drove whole
volume into one phrase. You, Of course,
will not beso silly as to take tho words Of
the text in literal sense. They simply
mean to set forth the fact that there is O
tremendous power in O kind word. AL.
though it may seem to be very Insignificant
its force is indescribable and illimitable.
Pungent and oil conquering utterance: "a
soft tongue breaketh the bone"
II the weather were not so hot and had
time would show you kindness as O means
Of defense; kindness as O means Of useful
ness; kindness as O means Of domestic har-
mony; kindness as best employed by govern
ments for the tanning and curing Of crimi-
mails, and kindness as best adapted for the
settling and adjusting of international quar-
reds; but shall coll your attention only to
two Of these thoughts.
And first I 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
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 be sent. Trip him into the ditch
which he dug for your feet. Cash him with
as severe O wound os that which he
inflicted on your soul. Shot for shot.
Sarcasm for sarcasm. An oye 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
ter" You look up into the face Of Christ and
say: my Master, how ought ! to act under
these difficult circumstancesr And Christ
instantly answers: "Bless them that curse
you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you"
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 corner again. You will
never have such an opportunity Of inficting
the right kind of punishment upon him
ngain. First chastise him and then let him
CO." 'No," says the better nature; "hush,
thou foul heart. Try the soft tongue that
breaketh the bone" Have you ever in all
dispute to settle quarrcli Did they not al
ways make matters worse and worse and
worse3
Many years ago there was 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
o string of game, partridgcs and wild ducks
slung over his shoulder, so there were many
ministers who came back from the ecclesias.
tical courts with long strings Of doctors OF
divinity whom they had shot with their. own
rifle. The division became wider, the ami
mostly greater, until after q 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 lol
the great church quarrel was settled, and
the new school Presbyteria church and the
old school Presbyterian church became one
the different parts OF the Presbyterian
order welded by hammer, little hammer,
Christian hammer, that tho Scripture calls
"a soft tongue"
You have q dispute with your neirhbor.
You say to him, II despise YOU" lie re-
plies, 81 can't bear the sig ght of you" You
say to him, Never enter my house
sill I'll kick you off," You say to him, "rll
put you down." He says to you, "You are
mistaken, I'll put you down." And 50 tho
contest RACES, and year after year you act
the un-Christian part. After O 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 so short and eternity is so near that
we cannot afford any longer to quarrel. I
feel you have wronged me very much, but
let us settle all now in one great hand shak-
ing, and be good friends for oil 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
mics.
But" you say, "what are we to do when
ISLANDERS assault US and there come acrimon-
ious sayings oil around about us, and we are
abused and spat upon% My advice is: Do
not 60 aud attempt to chase down tho slan-
killing one fifty are born. All your demon
strations 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 them
down. The game is too small for the gun;
But what, then, are you to do with the
abuses that come upon you in life. You
are to live them down. saw q farmer go
wandered off from the hive. AS he moved
amid them they buzzed around his head,
and buzzed around his hands, and buZzed
around bis feet. If no had killed one OF
them they would have stung him to death.
But he moved in their midst with perfect
placidity until he had captured the swarm
of wandering bees. And 80 have seen
men moving amid the annoyances and
the vexations, and the assaults Of life In
such calm, Christian deliberation that all
the buzzing around about their soul
amounted to nothing. They conquered
1 s and oh sbHve all they them
theory to preach on a hot day, but it won't
work." It will work. 1t has worked.
believe it is the last Christian grace we
win. You know there are fruits which we
gather in Jnne and others in July, and
others in August, and others in September.
and still others in October; and have to
admit that this grace Of Christian for
giveness is about the last fruit Of the Chris
tian soul.
We hear O great deal about tho bitter
tongue, and the sarcastic tongue, and the
quick tongue, and the singing tongue, but we
know very little about "the soft tongue that
hreaketh the bone" Weread Hudibras, and
Sterne, Dean Swift and other apostles of
ncrinonY, but give little time to studying
the example of Him who was reviled, and yet
revled not again. o that the Lord by His
spirit would cndow us all with "the soft
tongue that breaketh the bone"
I press now to the other thought that I de-
sire to present, and that is, kindness as
means of usefulness. In oil communities
you find skeptical man. Through early edu-
fcssctl Christian people, or through prying
curiosity about the future world, there are
great many people who become skeptical in
rengious things. How STALL you capture
them for God? Sharp argument and sarcas-
tic retort never won single soul from skep-
ticism to tho Christian religion. While pow
erful books on tho "Evidences Of Christian
itvi1 ha thair oiccioo IN oonfrpo;pp rhr;c