Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-08-29
-. SOFT TONGUE"
DIR. ,TALMAGES SERMON IN GIN
CiNNAH. I

Rev. DIR. Talmage preached in Cincinnati
on Sunday. His text taken from Proverbs
25. is was "a soft tongue breaketh the
bone" He said:
When Solomon said this he drove a whole
volume into ono phrase. You, of course,
will not be so silly as to take the words of
mean to set forth the fact that there is
tremendous power In a kind word. AL
though IL may seem TO be very insignificant,
its force Is indescribable and illimitable.
Pungent and all-conquering utterance:
"a soft tongue breaketh the bone"
IL the weather were not so hot, and had
time, / would show you kindness as a
means of defense; kindness as a means of
usefulness; kindness as means OF domes-
tic harmony; kindness as best employed by
governments for the tanning and, curing OF
criminals; aud kindness as best adapted
for the settling and adjusting OF interna-
tional quarrels; but L shall call your at
tention only to two of these thoughts.
And first, 1 speak TO you of kindness as a
means of defence. Almost every man, in
the course of his life, is set upon and as
saulted. Your motives are misinterpreted
or your religious or political principles are
bombarded What TO do under the circum-
stances Is the question. The first impulse
of the natural heart says: "Strike back.
Give as much as they sent. Trip him into
the ditch which he dug for your feet. Cash
him with as severe 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
I'm the mans soul rises up and says: "You
ought to reconsider that matter" You look
up into the lace OF Christ and say: "My
Master, how ought / to act under these diff
cult circumstances" And Christ instantly
answers: BLESS them that curse you, and
pray for them which despitefully use you"
Then the old nature rises up and says:
"You had better not forgive him until first
you have chastised him. You will never
get him In so tight a corner again. You
will never have such an opportunity of in
fiicting the right kind OF punishment upon
him again. First chastse him and then let
him go. mo" says the better nature,
"hush, thou foul heart. Try the soft tongue
that breaketh the bone" Have you ever in
all your lifo known acerbity and acrimon-
ious dispute TO settle a quarrel? Did they
not always make matters worse, and worse,
and worse?
Many years ago there was a graeat quar-
rel In the Presbyterian family. Ministers
of Christ were thought orthodox in pro-
portion as they had measured lances with
other clergymen of the same denomina-
ton. The most outrageous personalities
were abroad. As, in the autumn, hunter
comes home with a string of game, part
ridges 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 division became wider, the
animosity greater, until after while
some good men resolved upon another tack
They began to explain away the difficulties;
they began TO forgive each others faults
and, 10! the great church quarrel was set
tied, and the new school Presbyterian
Church and the old school Presbyterian
Church became one. The different parts OF
the Presbyterian order, welded by a ham
mer, a little hammer. a christian hammer
that the scripture calls "a soft tongue"
You have dispute with your neighbor
You say TO him: Il despise you" He re
plies: Il can't bear the sight of you" You
say to him: "Never enter my house again. -
He says: "lf you come on my door sill. I'll
kick you on" You say TO him: "1'l! put
you down" He says TO you: ''You are
mistakeni III PIT YoC down" And so the
contest RACES; year after year you act the
unchristian part, and he acts the unchris-
tian part. After while the better spi rit
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 so near, that we
cannot afford any longer TO quarrel. i feel
you have wronged me very much but let
us settle NIL now In one great Misunderstanding,
and be good friends all the rost OF our
lives" You have risen to a higher plat
form than that on which you before stood.
You win his admiration, and you get his
apology. But IL you have not conquered
him In that way, at any rate you have won
tho 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 10 do when
ISLANDERS assault us, and there come acri-
mCnlous sayings all around about us, and
we arc abused and spit uponT' My reply IS:
| Do not go and attempt to chase down the
ISLANDERS Lies are prolific, and while you
are killing ono, fifty are born. All your
| demonstrations of Indignation only exhaust
| yourself You might as well, on some sum
mer night when the swarms of insects are
! coming up from the meadows and disturb
! ing you, and disturbing your family, bring
| up some great 'swamp angel" like that
! which Numbered over Charleston, and try
! to shoot them down. The game Is toe
| small for the gun.
But what, then, are you TO do with the
| abuses that come upon you i'm life? You
are to live them down! l saw farmer &c
! 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 buZZcd around his hands. and buzzed
around his feet. IL he had killed one OF
them they would have stung him to death
! But he moved In their midst I'm perfect
placidity until he had captured the swarm
| of wandering bees. And so have seen meg
moving amid the annoyanccs and the veX-
/ atoms, and tho assaults of life In such calm
christian elaboration, that all the buzzinp
around about their soul amounted to moth
ing. They conquered them, and above all
! they conquered themselves. ''O," you say
that's a very good theory 70 preach ON 0
hot day, but IL won't work" 1t will work
| 1t has worked. | believe 1t 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, anC
others in September, and still others fl
/ October. and l have to admit that thi.
grace of christian forgiveness is about tbs
last fruit of the christian soul.
We hear a great deal about tie bitter
| tongue, and the sarcastic tongue, and tn,
: quick tongue. and the singing tongue; but
We know very little about 1.-The soft.tongu,
| that breakcth the bone" We read Hudl.
! bras, and Sterno, and Dean Swift, and tn,
other apostles OF acrimony, but give lltt,
time tO studying the example OF Hin
who was revilcd, and yet reviled not again
o that the Lord. by His spirit. would endov
us all with 1.-The soft tongue that breaketl
the bone"
pass now to the other subject that de.
! sire to present, and that Is, KINDN FSs AS