The Opelousas courier., 1890-10-11

$1,000 SS ah&4 thS1U 1Ou
desire his happiness on earth and his eternal
welfare in the world to come, he cannot an.
swer it.
What I have said is just as true in the re-
clamatlon of the openly vicious. Did you
ever know q drunkard to be saved through
Of the staggering step, and the thick tongue,
and the disgusting hiccough only worse
maddens his brain. But il you come to him
in kindness and sympathy, if you show him
that you appreciate the awful grip of a de-
PRAYED appetite, if you persuade him of the
fact that thousands who had the graphing
hooks of evil inclination clutched in theit
soul as firmly as in his have been delivered,
then a ray of light viii flash across his
vision, and it will seem as if q supernatural
hand was steadying his staggering gait.
streets a man dead drunk, his face exposed
to the blistering monday sun. A Christian
woman passed along, looked at him and said,
'sPoor fellow" She took her handkerchief
and spread it over his face, and passed
on. The man reused himself up from his
debauch and began to look at the handker-
chief and loi on it was the name of a highly
respectable Christian woman Of the city. He
went to her, he thanked her for her kindness,
and that one little deed saved him for this
life, and saved him for the life that is tc
come He was afterward Attorney-Geuerai
of the United States; BUT higher than all, he
became the consecrated disciple of Jesu.
Christ.
Kind words are so cheap it is a wonder we
do not use them oftener. There are tens of
thousands of people who are diving for the
lack of one kind word. There is a business
man who has fought against trouble untilhe
is perfectly exhausted. He has been think
ing about forgery, about robbery, about sui
eide. 90 to that business man. Tell him
that better times are coming. and tell him
that You yourself were in a tight business
pass, and the Lord delivered YOU. Tell him
to put his trust in God. Tell him that Jesus
Christ stands beside every business man in
his perplexities. Tell him of the sweet prom
ises of Gods comforting grace.
a man is dying for the lack of just one
kind word. Go tomorrow and utter that
one saving, omnipotent, kind word. Here
is a soul that has been swamped in sin. He
wants to find the light of the Gospel. He
feels like a shipwrecked mariner looking out
over the beach, watching for a sail against
the sky. Oh, bear down on him. Tell him
that the Lord waits to be gracious to him,
and, though he has been a great sinner,
there is a great Saviour provided. Tell
him that though his sins are as scarlet they
shall be as snow; though they are rel
like crimson they shall be as wool. That
man is dying forever for the lack of one
kind word.
There used to he sung at a great many of
the pianos all through the country a song
that has almost died out. / wish somebody
would start it again in our social circles.
There may nave not been very exquisite art
in the music. but there was a grand and
glorious sentiment:
Kind words never die, never die;
Cherished and blessed.
Oh, that we might in our families and in
our churches try the force of kindness. You
can never drive men, women or children into
the kingdom of God. A March northeastern
will bring out more honeysuckles than fret
fulness and scolding will bring out Christian
grace. wish thatin all our religious work
we might be saturated with the spirit of
kindness. Missing that we miss a great deal
of usefulness. There is no need of coming
out before men n laundering to them the
law unless at the same time you preach to
them the Gospel. Do younot know that this
simple story of a Saviour's kindness is to re-
deem all nations? The hard heart of ssbis
worlds obduracy is to be broken before dfat
story.
There is in Antwerp. Belgium, one of the
most remarkable pictures l ever saw. 1t is
''Fhe Descent Of Christ from the Cross. Ii
is one of Rubens's pictures. No man can
stand and look at that descent from the cross
as AkuDouS plcbuFSu ~, WlGlOub having MS
eyes flooded with tears, il he ave any sensi
hility at all. 1t is an overmastering picture
one that stuns you, and staggers you, n
haunts your dreams. One afternoon a man
stood in that cathedral looking at Rubens's
Descent of Christ from the Cross He was
NIL absorbed in that scene of a Saviour's suf-
feriugs when the janitor cam in and said:
1T is time to close up the cathedral for the
night. / wish you would depart" The pill
grim looking at that Descent of Christ from
the Cross turned around to the ianitor and
said: mo, no; not yet. Wait until they gel
Him down.
Oh, it is the story of a S~aviour's suffering
kindness that is to capture the world. When
the bones of that great Behenloth of iniquity
which has trampled all nations shall be
broken and shattered, it will be found out
that the work was not done by the hammer
of the iconoclast, or by the sword of the
conqueror, or by the torch of persecution,
but by the plain, simple, overwhelming
force OF sthe soft tongue that breaketh the
bone
And now I ask the blessing of God to come
down upon you in matters Of health, in mat.
tiers of business. that the Lord will deliver
you from all your financial perplexities; that
he will give you q good livelihood. large SAL
aries, healthful wages, sufficient income. ]
pray God that He may give you the oppor.
tunity of educating your children for this
world, and through the rich grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ of seeing them prepared
for the world that is to come.
Above all, I look for the mercy of God
upon your immortal souls; and lest / stand
before some who have not vet attended to the
innings oI BneIr egernaI interest, In this, the
closing part of my discourse. / impiore them
here and now to seek after God and be at
peace with Him. Oh, we want to be gathered
together at last in the bright and blessed as
semblaee of the skies, our work all done, our
sorrows all ended. God bless you, and your
children, and your children's children. And
now l commend you to God and to the word
of His grace, which is able to build you up
md give you an inheritance among all them
that are sanctiied.