The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-14
A SERMON ON KINDNESS,
THE THEME FOUND IN THE SHIP
WRECK OF ct. PAUL.

tle-Tne Savior Declared the lmper
sonation of all Kinds of Kindness.
brooklyn, n. Y, Sept. 49, Brooklyn
Tabernacle to-day contained many stranger
on their way home from the watering
places and foreign lands. Many of the mem
bers, absent from the city during the sum
mer, were in their places. The church build
ing and the organ, which have been almos
continually under brush and hammer since
the dedication last sprirg, are now about
completed. The sermons to-day were full
of congratulation and were attended by the
usual throngs. Dr. Tslmage's morning SER
mon was on kindness" from the text,
Acts xviii, 2: "The barbalous peoi I9
showed us no little kindness"
Here we are on the island OF Malta, an
other name for Melita This Island, "hISn
has always been an important commercial
center, belonging at different tunes 10
Phoenicia, to Greece, 10 Rome, 10 Araoia'
to Spain, 20 France, now belongs 10 Eng
land. The area OF the island IS about one
hundred square miles. 1t is in tee Mediterra-
mean Sea. and ofssuch clarity Of atmosphere
that Mount Etna. one hundred and thirty
miles away. can lie distinctly seen. Ibe
island is gloriously memorable, because the
knights OF Malta for a long while ruled
there. but most famous because of the apostle
lie shipwreck The bestormed vessel.o on which
Paul sailed had Laid to- on the starboard
tack, and the wind was blowing east
northeast and the vessel, drifting,
probably a mile and half an
hour, she struck at what is now called
st. PauPs 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 fruits
and profusion of honey characterized It
in Paurs time as we'll as now. The finest
oranges, figs and olives grow there. when
Paul and his comrades crawled up on the
beach, saturated with the salt water, and
hungry from long abstinence from food,
and chilled to the bone, the islanders, though
called harbarians, because they could not
speak Greek, opened their doors TO the ship
wrecked unfortunates Everything had
gone to the bottom of the deep. and the
barefooted, bareheaded apostle and ships
crew were in condition to appreciate hos
pitality. 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 a hat or shoe had
they left. They found out, as Paul aud his
fellow voyagers found out, that the sea is
the toughest of all the robbers. NV text
finds the ships crew ashore on Malta, AID
around a hot fire drying themselves and
with the best provision the islanders can
offer them. And they go into government
quarters for three days to Iecuperate,
Publius 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
stayed on the island watching for a ship.
and putting the Inequalities of the islanders
TO a severe test. But it 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: THE
barbarous people showed us no little kind
dess."
Kindness! What great word that is.
1t would take reed as long as that which
the apocalvptlc angel used to measure
heaven to tell the length, the breadth, the
hight of that munihcent word 1t is ia
vorite 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 Testa-
ment. Kindness A word no more gentle |
than mighty. | expect it will wrestle me |
down before | get through with it. 1t is
it will be well for US to stand around it. 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. "Ths |
barbarous people showed us no little kind
ness.n
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 expires,
sion OF benehcence, it is contribution to
the happiness of others. Some one else saws:
why, l can give you definition Of kind
ness: 1t is sunshine of the soul. 1t is affection
perennial, it is climacteric grace. it is the |
combination Of all graces. 1t compassion.
1t is the perfection Of gentle manltness and
womanliness." Are you all throughl You
have made a dead failure in your definition |
1t cannot be defined But we all know what |
1t is, for we all felt its power. Some of YOU
may have felt it as Paul felt it, on some |
coast or 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 hands stretched out, which showed |
US no little kindness
There is kindness of disposition. kindness
OF word, kindness of act, and there is Jesus
Christ, the impersonation of all of them.
kindness You cannot affect it, you can
not play 1t as part, you cannot enact it,
you cannot dramatic it. By the grace of
ltod you must have it inside you, an ever.
iastlng summer, or rather "a combination OF
June and October, the geniality of the one
and the tonic of the other. 1t cannot dwell
with arrogance or spite or revenge or ma
levolence. At its first appearance in the
soul all these Amalekites and Gergishites
ana dltttes and acoustics must quit and
quit forever. Kindness wishes everybody
well, every man well, every woman well,
every child vel, every bird WELL every horse
well, every dog WELL every cat well. Give
this spirit full swing and you would have
no more need Of societies for prevention of
cruelty 70 animals, no more need of pro-
tectlve sewing woman's associations, and it
would dull every sword until it wopld not
cut skin deep, AMI unwheel every battery
till II could not roll and make gunpowder
of no more use in the world except for rock
blasting or pyrotechnic celebration. Kind
ness Is q spirit divinely implanted, and in
answer 70 prayer, and then TO be sedulously
cultivated until it fills all the nature with a
perfume richer and more pungent than
mignonette, and, as If you put tuft 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, and
Won ask them, "H hat are you looking forln
and they answer, Where is that fowerp
So if one has in his soul this infinite sweet
ness of disposition its perfume will whelm
everything.
But are you waiting and hoping for some
one to be bankrupted or exposed. or dis
comfited, or in some way overthrow, then
kindness has not taken possession Of your
nature. You are wrecked on a Malta
where there are no oranges. You are en-
Pertaining a guest so unlike kindness that