The Red Cloud chief., 1890-09-05
A SOFT ANSWER.
Or. Talmage Discourses on the
Power of Kindness
How Old Disputes Nay Re EssiIy Ended
Kind Words Always E~AsctiveLTho
Chrlstian's Weapon 4 g.
vi0ur's W0ndrOus (sraca.

PtcaCucV @e SiuCAuuSCls ON pOW0l
which. If it had been used Is extensive.
~ as Christ intended. would have saved
the church and the world from infinite
JdiscOrd and sorrOw-the power OF kind.
ness His text was: "A soft tongue
breaketh the bone" Proverbs, XIV. Is.
Following is his sermon:
When Solomon said this he drove 2
whole volume into one phrase. You. OF
course. will not be 70 silly a. to take
h words OF the text in a literal sense.
They simgly 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 in
describable and illimitable. Pungent
and all conquering utterance: "A soft
tongue breaketh the bone"
II the weather were not SO hot and I
had time, l would show you kindness as
a means of defense; kindness as q means
OF usefulness; kindness as q means of
domestic harmony; kindness as best
employed by governments for the tam
ing and curing Of criminals; and kind
ness as best adapted for the settling and
adjusting of international quarrels; but
i shall call your attention only to two
Of these thoughts.
And first, ! speak to you of kindness
as q means OF defense. Almost every
man in the course of his life is set upon
and assaulted. Your motives are mis-
interpreted or your religious or political
principles are bombarded. What to do
under such circumstances is the cues
ton. The first impulse of the natural
heart says: "Strikc 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 upinto the face
of Christ and say: my Master, how
ought i to act under these difficult cir
c~umstanccs?' And Christ instantly an
swers: 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
until first you have chastised him. You
will never get him in a 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 i'm all your life known acerbity and
acrimonious dispute to settle a quarrel?
Did they not always make matters
worse. and worse and worse?
Many years ago there was a great
quarrel i'm the Presbyterian family.
Ministers of Christ were thought orthO-
dox in proportion as they had measured
lances with other clergymen of the
same denomination. The most Outra-
geOus personalities were abroad. As, in
the autumn, a hunter comes home with
a string OF game. cartridges and wild
ducks, slung over his shoulder, SO there
were many ministers who came back
from the ecclesiastical courts with long
strings OF doctors of divinity whom they
had shot with their own rifle. The di-
vision 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, |
n 10! the great church quarrel was
settled, and the New School Prcsbyte-
rian Church and the Old SchOo. Presby- |
terrain Church became one. The differ |
ent parts of the Presby terrain order,
welded by a hammer, q little hammer, a
Chr.stion 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: 81 can't bear the sight Of
you." You say to him: Never enter
my house again." He avs: III you
come on my door sill, I'll kick you off,"
You say TO him: ''Tll put you down"
He says To you: 'You are mistaken;
I'll put you down" And SO tho contest
RACES; and year after year you act the
unchristian part, and he acts the un-
christian part.
After awhile the better spirit seizes
you, and one day you go over to your
~neighbor. and say: Give mi your hand
We have fought long enough. Time is
so short and eternity is SO near, that
we can not afford any longer to quar-
rel. feel you have wronged me very
much: but let us settle all now in n
great hand shaking. and be good friends
for all the rest of our lives" You have |
risen to a higher platform 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 O own conscience, the
high estimation of good men. and the
honor OF your Lord who died for His
armed enemies
"But," you say. ''what are We to do
when ISLANDERS assault us, and there
come acrimonious sayings all around
about us and we are abused and spit
upon?" My reply is: DO not 60 and at
tempt to chase down the ISLANDERS Lies
are prolific. and while you are killing
one fifty are born. All your demonstra-
lions of indignation only exhaust your
self. You might as we'll, on some sum-
mer 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 t~hundered over
Charleston. and try to shoot them down.
The game is too small for the
But what then, are you to do with
the abuses that come pOn you in life?
You are to live them down! / saw q
farmer go out to get back a swarm Of
bees that had wandered of from the
hive. As he moved amid them they
buzzed around his head, and buzzed
around his hands and buzzed around
his feet. If he had killed one Of them
they would have stung him to death.
But he moved in their midst in perfect
placidity until he had captured the
swarm of wandering bees. And SO
have seen men moving amid the annoy
ances, and the vcxations and the assaults
Of life in such calm. Christian delibera-
ton that all the buzzing around about
their soul amounted to nothing. They
conquered, and above all they conquered
thon,SclvnS |