The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-09-18
A TYPE OF DIVINE LOVE.
KINDNESS OF THE IReARlANS or
MELlTA 70 PAUL AND HIS FELLOWS.


Barbarians Only In That They Gould
Not Speak Greek.
BROOKLYN, Sept. IS, - Brooklyn
Tabernacle today contained many
strangers on their way home from the
watering places and foreign lands
Many of the members, absent from the
city during the summer were In their
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, DR..
Talmage's morning sermon was on
Kindness" from the text, Acts xviii,
q THE barbarous people showed us
no little kindness"
My text puts us on the Island of
Malta, another name for Mellta. This
island, which has always been an i'm
portant commercial center, belonging
at different times to Phenicia, to
Greece, to Rome, to Arabia, to SPAIN
to France, now belongs to England
The area Of the island is about 100
square miles, 1t is in the Mediter-
ranean sea, and Of such clarity of at
tnosphere 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 mile and 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 garden.
Richest fruits and a profusion Of honey
characterized it in PauPs 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 uneortunates
Everything had gone to the bottom
OF the deep, and the barefooted, bare
headed apostle and ships crew were in
n condition to appreciate hospitality
About twenty-five such men few
seasons ago found in the life station
near Easthampton, Long Island. They
had got ashore in the night from the
sea, and not hat nor shoe had they
left They found out, as Paul and his
fellow voyagers found out, that the sea
is 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-
ters for three days to recuperate, Pub
Illus, the rnler, 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 a severe
test. But they endured the test satisfac-
torily, and it is recorded for all the ages
of time and eternity to read and hear
in regard to the inhabitants of Malta,
1.-THE barbarous people showed us nc
little kindness.
JESUS CHRIST Is KINDNESS 1NcAr.
MATED.
Kindnessl What great word that
is. 1t would take reed as long as that
which the apocalyptic angel used tc
measure heaven to tell the length, the
breadth, the height Of that muniAcent
word 1t 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 nc
more gentle than mighty. expect i,
will wrestle me down before l gel
through with it. 1t is strong enough tt
throw an archangel But it will b.
well for us to stand around it anG
warm ourselves by its glow as Paul ant
his fellow voyagers stood around thu
fire on the Island of Malta, where tn,
Maltese made themselves immortal il
my text by the way they treated thes'
victims of the sea. The barbarou
people showed us no little kindness.
Kindness! All definitions of that mul
tipotent word break down half way
You say it is clemency, benignity gen
crosby; it is made up of good wishes
it is an expression of beneticence. it is
contribution to the happiness OF Others
Some one else says: why, l can Civ
you a definition of kindness. 1t is sun
shine of the soul; it is affection per
ennial it is browning grace, it is tn
combination of all graces; 1t is CON
passion; it Is the perfection of gentle
manliness and womanliness Are yo1
all through You have made dea'
failure In your definition. 1t cannot b
defined. But we all know what 1t is
for we all felt its power. Some of yo
may have felt it as Paul felt it, on som
coast of rock as the ship went t
pieces, but more of us have again an
again in some awful stress Of life ha
either from earth or heaven hand
stretched out, which Showed us n
little kindness
There is kindness of disposition
kindness of word, kindness of act, an
there is Jesus Christ the impersonatio
of all of them Kindnessl You caI
not affect it, you cannot play it as
part, you cannot enact 1t. you cam,
dramatic it. BY the grace of Goo
you must have it inside you, an eve