The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1891-09-18
"A TYPE OF DIVINE LOVE

- ~ Va - A@NA ~
KINDNESS OF THE sAReARlANs Of
MELlTA TO PAUL AND HIS FELLOWS.
Dr. Taimsge Draws Variety Of Lesson
from the Record In Acts-They wer,
Barbarians Only In That They Coult
Not Speak Greek.
BROOKLYN, Sept. 10. - Brooklyn
Tabernacle today contained many
strangers on their way home from the
watering places and foreign lands
Many of the members, absent from thu
city during the summer, were in theil
places. The church building and the
organ, which have been almost con
tinually under brush and hammer since
the dedication last spring, are now
about completed. The sermons today
were full of congratulation and were
attended by the usual throngs. DIR.
Talmage's morning sermon was on
Blindness" from the text, Acts xviii,
., 1.-THE barbarous people showed ui
no little kindness.
MY text puts us on the Island OF
Malta, another name for Melita. This
island, which has always been an i'm
portant commercial center, belonging
at different times to Phmnicia, to
Greece, to Rome, to Arabia, to Spain,
to France, now belongs to England.
The area of the island is about 100
square miles. It is in the Mediter-
ranean sea, and of such clarity of at
mosphere that Mount Etna, one hun
dred and thirty miles away, can be dis
tinctly seen. The island is gloriously
memorable because the Knights OF
Malta for long whileruled there, but
most famous because Of the apostolic
shipwreck.
The bestormed vessel on which Paul
sailed had .'laid to- on the starboard
tack, and the wind was blowing east
northeast and the vessel drifting prob
ably a mile and a half an hour ere she
struck at what is now called st. Paul's
bay. Practical sailors have taken up
the Bible account and decided beyond
controversy the place of the shipwreck.
But the island which has so rough a
coast is for the most part a garden.
Richest fruits and a profusion of honey
characterized it in Paul's time as well
as now. The finest oranges, figs and
olives grow there. When Paul and his
comrades crawled up on the beach, sat
urated with the salt water and hungry
from long abstinence from food and
chilled to the bone, the islanders,
though called barbarians because they
could not speak Greek, opened their
doors to the shipwrecked unfortunates.
Everything had gone to the bottom
Of the deep, and the barefooted, bare
headed apostle and ships crew were in
Z condition to appreciate hospitality
About twenty-five such men a few
seasons ago found in the life station
near Easthampton, Long Island. They
had got ashore in the night from the
sea, and not al hat nor shoe had they
left. They found out, as Paul and bis
fellow voyagers found out. that the sea
IL the toughest of all robbers My text
finds the ships crew ashore on Malta,
and around hot fire drying themselves,
and with the best provision the island
ers can offer them.
And they go into government quar-
tiers for three days to recuperate, Pub
Illus, the ruler, inviting them, although
he had severe sickness in the house
at that time-his father down with
dysentery and typhoid fever. Yea, for
three months they staid on the island,
watching for ship and putting the
hospitality of the islanders to severe
test. But they endured the test satisfac-
torily, and it is recorded for all tho ages
Of time and eternity to read and hear
In regard to the inhabitants Of Malta,
''The barbarous people showed us no
little kindness"
JESUS CHRIST IS KINDNESS INCAR-
Kindnessl What a great word that
Il. It would take reed as long as that
which the apocalyptic angel used to
measure heaven to tell the length, the
breadth, the height Of that munificent
word. It is favorite Bible word, and
It is early launched in the book OF
Genesis, caught up in the book OF
Joshua, embraced in the book of Ruth,
sworn by in the book of Samuel,
crowned in the book of Psalms and en-
throned in many places in the New
Testament. Kindnessl A word no
more gentle than mighty. expect it
will wrestle me down before l get
through with it. It is strong enough to
throw. an archangel. But it will be
well for us to stand around 1t and
warm ourselves by its glow as Paul and
his fellow voyagers stood around the
fire on the Island of Malta, where the
Maltese made themselves immortal in
my text by the way they treated these
victims of the sea- '"The barbarous
people showed us no little kindness"
Kindnessl All definitions Of that null
tipotent word break down half way.
Va, COW Il 10 clo,noncv honiOnitv uan-