Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-09-19
REV. DR.. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject: "Kindness. .


My text puts US on the island of Malta.
| another name for Melita. This island, which
has always been an important CONNER.
! cial centre, belonging at different times to
1 Phunicia, to Greece, to Rome, to Arabia to
/ Spain, to France, now belongs to England.
The area Of the island is about ona hundred
square miles, 1t is in the Mediterranean sea.
and of such clarity of atmosphere that
! Mount Etna, one hundred and thirty miles
away, can be distinctly seen. The island is
/ gloriously memorable. because the Knights
of Malta for long while ruled there, but
most famous because of the apostolic ship
1 wreck.
The bestormsd vessel on which Paul sailed
! had laid to" on the starboard tack, and the
| wind was blowing east northeast, and the
vessel drifted probably mile and half an
hour ere she struck at what is now called St.
Paurs 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
coast is for the most part
garden. Richest fruit and profusion OF
honey characterized it in PauFs time as well
as now. The finest oranges figs and olivas
grow there. When Paul and his comrades
crawled up on the beach, saturated with salt
water and hungry from long abstinence
from food and chilled to the bone, the
islanders, though called barbarians because
they could not speai; Greek, opened their
doors to the shipwrecked unfortunates
Everything had gone to the bottom of the
deep, and the barefooted, bareheadsd apos-
tie and ships crew were in a 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 a hat nor shoe had
they left. They found out, as Paul and his
fellow voyagers found out that the sea is
thp rOuohest If all rOhhars Nv tavt frds
the ships crew ashore on Malta, and around
hot fire drying themselves and with the
best provision the islanders can offer them.
And they go into government quarters for
three days to recuperate, Publius tine ruler
inviting them, although he had severe SICK
ness in the house at that time-his father
down with dysentery and typhoid fever.
Yea, for three months they staid on the ISL
and watching for ship and putting the hos
FATALITIES of the islanders to a severe test.
But they endured the test satisfactorily, and
it is recorded for all the ages OF time and
eternity to read and hear in regard to the
inhabitants of Malta, "1he barbarous people
showed us no little kindness
Kindness What great word that is. 1t
would take reed as long as that which tbs
apocalyptic angel used to measure heaven
to tell the length, the breadth, the height of
that munifcent word. 1t is a 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 Tesla,
ment. Kindnessl A word no more gentle
than mighty | expect it will wrestle ms
down before get through with it, 1t 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 voyages 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 kind
ness"
Kindness All definitions of that multi
potent word break down half way. You
say it is clemency, benignity, generosity; it
is made up of good wishes, it is an expras-
sion Of beneficence, it is a contribution Ia
the happiness of others. Some one else says:
"Why, can give you definition of kind
ness: 1t is sunshine of the soul, it is
affection perennial it is browning grace, it
is the combination OF all graces, it Is compas-
sion, it is the perfection of gentle manliness
and womanliness." Are you all through;
You have ma lie dead failure in your def.
milton. 1t cannot be defined. But
we all know what it is, for we all
felt its power. Some of you may haze
felt it as Paul felt it, on some coast of rock
as the ship went to pieces, but more OF us
have again and again in some awful stress
of life had either from earth or heaven
hand stretched out, which showed us no
little Kindness
There is a kindness OF disposition kinl-
ness Of word kindness of act, and there is
Jesus Christ, the impersonation OF ali of
them. Kindnessl You cannot affect it,
you cannot play it as a part, you cannot
enact it, you cannot dramatizs it. By the
grace of God you must have it inside you,
an everlasting summer, or rather com
bination of June and October, the geniality
of the one and the tonic of the other. 1t can
not dwell with arrogance or spite or revenge
or malevolence. AT its FIRST appearance in
the soul all these Amalekites and Gergishites
and Hittites and Jebusites must quit, ami
quit forever.
Kindness wishes everybody well, every
man well, every woman well, every child
well, every bird WELL every horse well, every
dog well, every cat well. Give this spirit
full swing, and you would have no moro
need of societies for prevention of cruelty
to animals, no more need of pro
tectve sewing woman's association, and it
would duh every sword until it would not
cut skin deep, and ulwhesl every battery till
it could not roll, and make gunpowder of no
more use in the world excapt for rock blast
ing or pyrotechnic celebration.
Kindness is spirit divinely implanted
and in answer to prayer, and then to be
sedulously cultivated until it fills all the
nature with a perfume richer and more
pungent than mignonette, ami, as it you put
tutt of that aromatic beauty behind the
clock on the mantel or in some corner
where nobody can see it, you find people
walking about your room looking this way
and that, aud you ask thsm; What are you
locking for%' And they answer: ''Where
is that flowers" Soft one has in his soul this
infinite sweetness Of disposition its perfume
will welm verything.
But if You are waiting and hoping for soma
one to be bankrupte1 or exposed or dis
comfted, or in any way overthrow, then
kindness has not taken possession of your
nature. You are wrecked on a Malta where
there are no oranges You ara entertain
ing a guest so unlike kindness that kindness
will not coma and dwell under the
same roof. The most exhauSting and
unhealthy and ruinous feeling on earth is
a revengeful spirit Or retalisting spirit as |
know by ex Derience, for have tried it five
or ten minutes at time. When some mean
thing has been done me or said about me
have felt 81 will pay him in his coin
will show him up, The migrate! The ira
tori The liar! The villain!"
But five or ten minutes of the feeling has
been so unuerving and exhausting that |
have abandoned it, and / cannot understand
how reoHle can so about torturing them
selves five or ten or twenty years,
trying to get even with somebody. The
j Nti'J way YOU VIII ever triumph over YOur
enemies Is by forgiviny them ami wishing
them all gooi and no evil. As maeyolence
Is the most uneasy and profitless and dan
gerous feeling, Kindness is the most health
full and delightful And this is not an alb
straction. As l have tried a little of the
retaliation, so have tried a little of the for.
giving.
1 do not want to leave this worl1 ulti |
have taken ven eance upon every m1u that
ever dl me a wrong by doing him kind
ness. In most Of such cases have alrsa iy
succeeded but there are few malisn1ats
whom am vet pursuing, All shall not be
content until have in soma wise helosd
them or benefited them or blessed them
Let us all pray for this spirit OF Kindness. It
VIII settle a thousand questions. 1t will
change the phase of everything 1t will mel
low through ami through our entire nature.
1t will transform lifetime 1t is not
feeling COTTON up for occasions, but peren-
NAL
That is the reason like petuuas better
than morning glores. They look very
much alike, and if | should put in your
hand a petunia and a morning glory you
could hardly tell which is the petunia and
which TIE morning glory; bit the morning
glory blooms only few hours and then
shuts up for the DAY, while the petunia is
In as widespread glow at twelve O'Clock
at noon and six O'Clock in the evening as at
sunrise. And the grace of kindness is not
spasmo1ic, is not intermittent, is not for
little while, but it irra1iates the whole ma.
ture, all Through an Gear Oh till the sunset
| OF our earthly existence.
Kindness! l am resolved to get it Are
you resolved to get it? 1t does not come bv
{ haphaZ tr3 but thrnnr h oult,ra ,,n3o, ~