News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-08-28

"A Soft Tongue Breaketh the Bone" HIS
Text-A Strong Discourse in Which One
of the Great Lessons of Life Is Strik-
inSIy and ConciseIy Enforced.
CINCINNATI, Aug. 24.-Dr Talmage,
who is in this city, today discoursed on
a power which, if it had been used as
extensively as Christ intended it to be
used, would have saved the church and
the world from infinite discord and sor-
row-the power of kindness. His text
was, "a soft tongue breaketh the
bone" prov. XIV, 80. Following is
his sermon:
When Solomon said this he drove
whole volume into one phrase. You
of course will not be so silly as TO take
the words of the text in a literal sense.
They simply mean to set forth the fact
that there is a tremendous power IN a
kind word. Although it may seem to
be very insignificant, its force is indie
scribable 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 kind
ness as a means of defense; kindness
as a means of usefulness; kindness as a
means of domestic harmony; kindness
as best employed by governments Tor
the tanning and curing OF criminals,
and kindness as best adapted for the
settling and adjusting of international
I coll y-OIIr alton
ton only TO two of these thoughts.
KINDNESS AS A MEANS OF DEFENSE.
And first | speak to you of kindness
as means of defense. Almost every
man. i'm the course of his life, is set
upon and assaulted. Your motives are
misinterpreted or your religious or
political principles are bombarded.
What to do under such circumstances
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 inflicted on your soul
Shot for shot. Sarcasm for sarcasm.
An eye for an eye. a tooth for a
tooth" But the better spirit in the
mans soul rises up and says: You
ought to reconsider that matter. You
look I'D into the face of Christ and say:
NV 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
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 inflicting the
right kind of punishment upon him
again. First chastise him and then let
him 60" No, says the better nature;
hush. thou foul heart. Try the soft
tongue that breaketh the bone. Have
you ever in all your life known acer-
bity and acrimonious dispute to settle
a quarrell Did they not always make
matters worse, and worse, and worse!
Many years ago there was a great
quarrel in the Presbyterian family.
Ministers of Christ were thought OrthO-
dox in proportion as they had meas
ured lances with other clergymen of
the same denomination The most out
rageous personalities were abroad. As
in the autumn a hunter comes home
with string of game, partridges and
wild ducks slung over his shoulder,
so there We're many ministers who came
=Ff-e4ffsi4e- eee4es4aStEeal-eet4F with
long strings of doctors of divinity
whom they had shot with their own
rifle The division became wider, the
luminosity greater. until after awhile
some good men resolved upon another
tack. They began TO explain away the
difficulties; they began to forgive each
others fault, and lol the great church
quarrel was settled, and the new school
Presbyterian church and the old school
Presbyterian church became one-the
different parts of the Presbyterian or
der welded by hammer, a little ham
mer, a Christian hammer, that the
Scripture calls "a soft tongue"
You have a dispute with your neigh
Dor You say to him, Il despise you.
He replies. Il can't bear the sight of
you" You say to him, Never enter
my house again" He says, If you
come on my door sill I'll kick you off. y
You say TO him. I'm put you down. s"
He SAYS to you, You are mistaken,
I'll put you down" And so the CON
test RACES, and year after year you act
the un-Christian part, and he acts 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 so short and
eternity is so near that we cannot al
ford any longer to quarrel. | feel you
have wronged me very much; but let
us settle all now in one great hand
shaking, and be good friends for all the
rest of our lives You have risen to
higher platform than that on which be
fore YOU stood. You win his admira
ton. and you get his apology. But i
you have not conquered him in tina
way at any rate you have won the ap
plause of your own conscience, the higl
estimation of good men and the homo
of your Lord. who died for his armed
enemies.
WHAT ARE WE TO Dor
But" you say, what are we to d.
when ISLANDERS assault us, and Their
come acrimonious sayings all arounC
about us, and we are abused and spa
uponF' My reply is: Do not go anC
attempt to chase down the ISLANDERS
Lies are prolific. and while you are kill
mig one fifty are born. All your dem
onstrations of Indignation only exhaus
yourself You might as well on som
summer night, when the swarms of il
gects are coming up from the meadow
and disturbing you, and disturbin
your family, bring up some grea
''swamp angel, like that which thur
dered over Charleston, and try to shoe
them down. The game is too sma
for the gun.
But what, then, are you TO do wit
the abuses that come upon you in life
You are to live them down. | saw
farmer go out to get back swarm {
bees that had wandered off from th
hive. As he moved amid them the
buzzed around his head, and buzze
around his hands, and buzze
around his feet If he had killed on
of them they would have stung him
death. But he moved in their mid:
in perfect placidity until he had cap
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