The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-08-27

until he had captured the swarm OF
wandering bees And 30 have seen
men moving amid the annoyances and
the vexations, and the assaults Of life
in such calm, Christian deliberation,
that all of tho buzzing around about
their souls amounted to nothing. They |
conquered them, and above all, they |
conquered themselves. co." you say,
'that's very good theory to preach on
q hot day, but it won't work" 1t will
work. 1t has worked. / believe it is the
last Christian grace we win. You know
there are fruits which we gather in
June, and others in July, and others in
August, and others in September, and
still others in October, and have to ad-
NIT that the grace of Christian forgive
ness is about the last fruit Of the Chris
tian soul.
We hear great deal about the Bit
ter tongue, and the sarcastic tongue,
and the quick tongue, and the singing
tongue; but we know very little about
the "soft tongue that breaketh the
bone" We read Hudibras, and Sterne,
and Dean Swift, and the other apostles
Of acrimony, but give little time to
studying the example of Him who was
reviled, and yet reviled not again. o
that the Lord, by His spirit would en-
dow us all with ''the soft tongue that
breaketh the bone"
pass now to the other thought that l
desire to present, and that is, kindness
as a means OF usefulness In all COM
munities you find skeptical men.
Through early education, or through the
maltreatment of professed Christian peo-
pie or through prying curiosity about
the future world, there are great many
people who become skeptical in relig-
ious things. How shall you capture
them for God? Sharp argument and sar-
castle retort never won single soul
from skepticism to the Christian reiig-
ion. While powerful books on the "Evi-
denoes OF Christianity" have their mis-
sion in confirming Christian people In
the faith they have already adopted, l
have noticed that when skeptical people
are brought into the kingdom OF Christ,
It is through the charm Of some genial
soul, and not by argument at all.
Men are not saved through the head
they are saved through the heart A
storm comes out OF its hiding place. II
says: "Now well just rouse up all this
sea-" and it makes great blus ter; but
1t does not succeed Part Of the sea Ii
reused up-perhaps one-half OF it oi
one-fourth OF it After a while the
calm moon, placid and beautiful, looks
down, and the ocean begins to rise. II
como up to high-water mark. 1t EN-
braces the great headlands. 1t sub
merges the beaches OF all the cont
nents. 1t is the heart-throb OF ont
world against the heart-throb OF another
world. And have to tell you tha
while all your storms Of ridicule ant
storms OF sarcasm may rouse up the pas
sion Of an immortal nature, nothing les
than the active power OF Christi an kind
ness can ever raise the deathle 50 spiri
TO happiness and to God. have NOR
faith in the prayer Of child five year
old, in the way OF bringing an infde
back TO Christ and to Heaven, than
! have in all the Kissing thunderbolts
ecclesiastical controversy.
You can not overcome men with re
ligious augmentation. II you come a
a skeptical man with an argument o
, behalf OF the Christian religion, you pu
the man on his mettle. He says: 81 Sc
that man has a carbine. I'll use m
carbine. I'll answer his argument wit
! my argument" But II you come to th'
, man, pursuading him that you desir
, his happiness on earth, and his eterni
, welfare in the world TO como, he ca
a not answer 1t.
: What have said, is just as true
/ the reclamation OF the openly vicious
. Did you ever know q drunkard TO
saved through the csricature OF drunl
|. ard? Your mimicry OF the staggerin
a step, and the thick tongue, and the di
\ gusting hiccough, only worse madder
n his brain. But II you come to him
= kindness and sympathy; II you sho
a him that you appreciate the awful gri
\ OF depraved appetite; II you persuat
n him OF tho fact that thousands who hs
the graphing hooks Of evil inclinatic
l. clutched in their soul as firmly as In h
4" have been delivered, then ray OF ligl
u will flash across his vision, and 1t wi
II seem as II supernatural hand wei
u steadying his staggering gait
+" A good many years ago there lay
+" the streets man dead drunk, his fa
!; exposed TO the blistering MONDAY gu
1t A Christian woman passed along, look
% at him, and said: ''Poor fellowl' 81
d took her haadkerchief, and spread
" over his face, and passed on. Tho mi
70 reused himself up from his debauch, al
10 began TO look at the handkerchief, an
n lol on II was the name Of highly =
" spectacle Christian woman Of the cit
" He went 10 her; hs thanked her for b
70 kindness; and that one little deed saw
II him for this life and saved him for Il
ID lite that is TO come. He was afterwar
ar Attorney General OF the United SAt'
y but, higher than all, he became the 90
N secrated disciple Of Jesus Christ
~ Kind words arc so cheap, II 10 a VIC
Of der We do not use them oftener. The
70 sre tons Of thousands Of people who's
IN dying for the lack Of one kind woi
ID There Is business man who has foug
10 against trouble until he is perfect
exhausted He has been thinking abo
10 forgery, about robbery, about suicit
70 Go TO that business man. Tell him II
nd better times are coming, and tell b
,it that you yourself were In tight bu
nd ness pass, and the Lord delivered "
Is. Toll him 70 put his trust In G'
IL Tell him that Jesus Christ star
n beside every business man in