Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-08-30
THEPOVER OF KINDNESS.
Rev. DR.. Talmage breaches a Sermon
in Cincinnati. Ohio.
Kind Words arc Cheap, ii is "a Wonder
We do not Use Them Oftener.

h6V. III. IdllldBc frtd6utS oefillOu
in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Kind Words arc so Cheap, 1t is "A Wonder
We do not Use Them Oftener.
TEXT: "a soft tongue breaketh the
bone.n-Prov. XIV, Is.
When Solomon said this he drove whole
volume into one phrase. You of course,
will not beso silly as to take the words OF
the text in literal sense. They simply
mean to set forth the fact that there Is a
tremendous power in kind word. AL.
though 1t may seem to be very insignificant
its force is indescribahle and ilIimitable.
Pungent and all conquering utterance: "A
soft tongue breaketh the bone
II the weather were not so hot and had
time would show you kindness as means
Of defense; Kindness as means Of useful
ness; kindness as q 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-
rels; but shall call your attention only TO
two of these thoughts.
And tirstf 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
religious or political principals are bonn
stances 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 wound as that which he
inflicted on your soul. Shot for shot.
Sarcasm for sarcasm. An eye for an
eye. A tooth for tooth. u But the
better spirit in the mans soul rises up and
says: "You ought to reconsider that mat
ter" You look upi into the face Of Christ and
say: my Master how ought | to act under
these difficult circumstancesp And Christ
instantly answers. "Bless them that curse
you, and pray for them which despitefu.ly
use you"
Then the old nature rises up again and saws;
"You had better not forgive him until first
you have chastised him. You win never get
him in so tight a corner again. You will
never have such an opportunity Of inflicting
the right kind of punishment upon him
| again. First chastise him AMI then let him
| 60" NO says the better nature; "husb,
thou foul heart. Try the soft tongue that
breaketh the bone" Have you ever in all
your life known acerbity and acrimonious
dispute to settle quarrel? Did they not nj
ways mako matters worse and worse and
| worse9
| Many years ago there was great quarrel
| in the Presbyterian family. Ministers of
Christ were thought orthodox in proportion
as they had measured lanccs with other
clergymen of the same denomination. The
most outrageous personalities were abroad
| As in the autumn hunter comes home with
a string of game, partridges and wild ducks
slung over his shoulder, so there were many
ministers who came back from the ecclesias.
ticai 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 Il while some good
I - 4 M
| 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 Presbyterian church and the
old school Presbyterian church became one
the different parts of the Presby terrain
order welded by hammer, little hammer
a Christian hammer, that the Scripture calls
| "a soft tongue
You have a dispute with yonr neichbor.
| You say TO him, 81 despss you" lie re-
| plies, Il can't bear the sight of you" You
say 10 him, Never enter my house
again" He says IF you come on my door
sill I'll kick you Off" You say to him, "plI
! put you down" He says to you, "You arc
mistaken, I'll put you down" And 50 tae
contest RACES, and year after year you act
the un-Cbristian 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.
| lime is so short and eternity is so near that
we cannot afford any longer to quarrel
/ feel you have wronged me very much but
/ let us settle all now in one great hand shak-
ing, and be good friends for all the rest of
| our llves.n 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
! hun III that way, at any rate you have wol
| 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
SANDERS assault us and there come acrimoa-
ious sayings all around about us, and we are
abused and spat upon" My advice is: Do
not go and attempt to chase down the slam
ders. Lies are prolific, and while you are
killing one fifty are born. All your demon
STATIONS 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 thundere1
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. l saw a farmer go
out to get back swarm of bees that had
wandered off from the hive. As he moved
amid them they buzzed around his head,
and buzzed around his hands, and buzz ID
around his feet. If he had killed ons Of
them they woull have stung him to death,
But he moved in their nilst with perfect
placidity until he had capture tho swar n
OF wandering bees. And 50 | have seen
men moving amid the annSyances. and
the vexations, AMI the assaults of life in
such calm, Christian deiberation that all
the buzzing around about their soul
amounted to nothing. They conquered
them, and above all they conquered them
selves. "Oh, you say that's a very goo |
theory to preach on a hot day, but it won't
work" 1t will work. 1t has workei
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, AMI 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 great deal about the bitter
tongue, and the sarcastic tongue, and tho
quick tongue, and the singing tongue but we
know very little about "the soft tongue that
breaketh the bone" We read Hudibras. and
Sterne Dean Swift and other apostles of
acrlmonY but give little time to stulyiny
the example of Him who was reviel. and vet
reyiled not again. o that the Lord by His
spirit would endoY us all with 1.-THE soft
tongue that breaketh the bone
press now to the other thought that de-
sire to present and that is, kin mess as a
means of usefulness. In all communities
you find skeptcal men Through early etlu-
cation or through the maltreatmsnt Of pro-
feSsed Christian people, or through prying
curiosity about the future world, there are a
great many people who become. slSeptical ia
religious things How SHALL yol clptur,
them for God? Sharp argument and sIrcls-
NC retort never won single Soul from slsep-
ucism TO the Christian religion. While pow
erful books on the evidences Of Christian
lty'' have their mission in confirming Chris
tan people in the "a tn they have already
adopted, have noticed that wael sle9ti-al
people arc brought into the kingdom Of Christ
it is through the charm of some gcnial soul.
and not by argument at ALI
Men are not saved through the heal: they
are saved through the heart A storm comes
out Of its hiding place It says: Nov.
well Just rouse up all this sea y and it mikes
great buster but it does not succeed Plrt
OF the sea is rouse1 up perhaps ono-half Of
1t, or one.fourth OF it. After while the
calm moon, placid AMI BEAUTIFUL looks down.
ana the ocean begins to rise. Itcones IN to
high water mark 1t embraces the great
headlands. 1t submergeS tho bSachcs Of all
the continents. IL IS the heart th-ob of one
world against tbs heart throb of another
world. And have to tell you that while all
your storms of ridicule and storms Of sarcasm
may ronse M tho passion of an immortal ma
lure nothing loss than the attractive power
nf( fhrtgt la1t 4. NltN.-