Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-25
WORDS THAT COUNT.
The Potency of Mild Language in
Overcoming Adversaries.
QUARRELIKG ALWAYS USELESS.
An ImpOssibility to Drive Men to Become
Christians.
SALVATION THROUGH THE HEART
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM 10 THE prsrA7oH.l

tsPEcIAI TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPA7CH.l
CINCINNATI, August 24-Dr. Talmage,
who is "a this city to-day, discourses on q
power which, if it had been used as extern
sively as Christ intended it to be used, would
have saved the church and the world from
infinite diseord and sorrow-the power OF
kindness. His text is ga soft tongue break
eth the bone" Proverbs XIV, 10. Follow
ing is his sermon:
When Solomon said this be drove whole
volume into one phrase. You, Of course,
will not be so silly as to take the words Of
the text in literal sense. They simply
mean to set forth the fact that there is
tremendous power in kind word. Al
though it may seem to be very Insignificant,
its force is indescribsble and illimitable.
Pungent and sll-conqueripg utterance: IA
soft tongue breaketh the bone"
If the weather were not so hot, and had
time, would show you kindness as means
of defense; kindness as a means of useful
ness; kindness as means of domestic har.
mony; kindness as best employed by govern
ments for the tanning and curing Of crimi-
nails; 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 first, speak 10 you of kindness as
means of defense. 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 such cir
cumstances is The question. The first i'm
pulse 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 TOOTH" But
THE BETTER SPIRIT
in the mans soul rises up and saws: "You
ought to reconsider that matter" You look
up into the face 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 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 in
ficting the right kind of punishment upon
him again. First chastise him and then let
him CO." "No," SAYS the better nature,
''hush, thou foul hesrt. Try the soft tongue
that breaketh the bone" Have you ever in
all your lie known acerbity and acrimoui-
ous dispute to settle quarrel9 Did they
not always make matters worse, and worse,
and worse?
Many years ago there was great quarrel
in the Presbyterian family. Ministers of
Christ were thought orthodox In proportion
as they had measured lances with other
clergymen OF the same denomination. The
most outrageous personalities were abroad.
As in the autumn, hunter comes home
with string of game, partridges 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 rife. The division became wider,
the RnimosiIy 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, loi 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 ham,
mer, little hammer, Christian hammer
that the Scripture calls "a soft tongue"
oUARREL1NG WITH NE1GHBoRs.
You have dispute with your neighbor.
You say to him, 81 despIse you" He re-
plies: 81 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," You say to him: "I'll put
you down" He says to you: 'fYou are
mistaken; I'll put you down." And 50 the
contest RACES; and year after year you act
the uni Christian part, and he acts the un-
Christian part. After q while the better
spirit seiEes you, and one day you 90 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 afford any longer to quarrel. L 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 plat
form 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 your own conscience, the
high estimation of good men, and the honor
of your Lord who died for His armed enc
miles,.
But" you say, "What are we to do when
ISLANDERS assault us, and there come scrimon-
are abused and spit upon?" My reply is:
Do not 90 and attempt to chase down the
ISLANDERS. Lies are prolific and while
you are killing one, 80 are born. All your
demonstrations of indignation only exhaust
yourself You might asswell, on some sum-
mer night when the swarms of insects are
coming up from fhe meadows and disturb
ing you. and disturbing your family, bring
up some great swamp angel" like that
which thundered over Charleston, and try
to shoot them down. The game is too small
for the gun.
HOW TO CONQUER.
But what, then, are you to do with the
abuses that come upon you in life? You are
to live them down. saw a farmer 90 out to
get back a 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 buzzed around his
feet Ii 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 wander
ing bees. And so have seen men moving
amid the annoyauces, and the vexations,
and the assaults of life in such calm, Chris |
tian deliberation, that all the buzzing |
around about their soul amounted to moth |
ing. They conquered them, and above all,
they conquered themselves "0," you say,
that's very good theory to preach on |
hot day, but it won't work. 1t will work. |
1t has worked. 1 believe il 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 o. |
tober; and have to admit that this grace of |
Christian forgiveness is about the last fruit |
Of the Christian soul.