Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1896-09-17
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE NOTED DEVINE,s SUNDAY
SERMON,
TEXT "a soft tongue breaketh the bone"
XIV, ID.

volume into one phrase. You, OF course, will
not be so silly as to take tho words OF the
text in a literal sense. They simply mean
to set forth the fact there Is q tremendous
seem to be very insignificant, its force Is in
describable and illimitable. Pungent and
~all-conquering utterance: "A soft tongue
treaketh the bone"
If had time l would show you kindness
as a means OF defense, as q means OF useful
ness, kindness as a means OF domestic har-
mony, kindness as best employed by govern
ments for the tanning and curing Of criminals,
and kindness as best adapted for the settling
and adjusting Of international quarrel; but
shall call your attention only to two OF
these thoughts.
And first, | .peak to you OF kindness az a
meane Of defense. Almost every man. in the
course OF his life, Is set upon and assaulted.
Your motives are misinterprsted or your re-
iigious or political. principles are bombarded.
What to do under such circumstance Is the
question. The first impulse, OF the natural
heart says: "Strike back. Give AS much as
he sent. Trip him into the ditch which he
dug for your feet. Cash him with as severe
awound az that which he inflicted on your
soul. Shot for shot. Sarcasm for sarcasm.
Aneye for an eye. A tooth for atooth." But
the better spirit in the mans soul rises up
md says: ''You ought to consider the mat
ter You look up into the face OF Christ
ana say: "My Master, how ought l to
net under these difficult circu mstancesl'
and Christ instantly answers: "Bless
them that curse you, and pray for them
which deapitefully use YOU" Then the old
nature rises up again and says: "You had
better not forgive him until first you have
chastiscd him.. You will never get him in SO
tight a corner again. You will never have
such an opportunity OF inflicting the right
Kind Of punishment upon him again. First
-~chasti-c him and then let him CO." "No,"
.HNS the better nature thuGh. fhOr fOul
heart. Try the soft tongue that breaketh
the bone
Have you ever in all your life known
Hcrrbity and acrimonious dispute to settle a
quarrel? Did they not always make matters
Wor5" md worse and worse! About fftv-
tive years ago there was a great quarrel in
'h" Presbyterian family. Ministers Of Christ
were thought orthodox in proportion as they
lad measured lances with other clergyman
~ the same denomination. The most out
rdgepnS personalities were abroad. AS. in
tn" autumn, II hunter comes home with a
5trin: 81 game. partridSes and wild ducks,
sung over his shoulder, 50 there were many
ministers who came back from the ecclesias-
tIral courts with long strings OF doctors of
divinity whom they had shot with their own
ri1". The division became wider, the ami
mostly greater, until after awhile some good
men resolved upon another tack. They be-
gan 70 explain away the difficulties; they be-
gan to forgive each others faults; and 10!
The great Church quarrel was settled; and
tho new school Presbyterian Church and the
old school Presbyterian Church became one.
1he different pats of the Presbyterian order,
welded by IA hammer, II little hammer. a
tiiEistinn hammer that the Scripture calls
n soft tongue"
But. you say, "what arc we to do when
saunders assault us, and there come acrim.
"niol!s sayings all around about us, and we
az" abused and spit upon?" NY reply is:
DO NOT 20 and attpmnf TO chaGa down fhA
SANDERS. Lies are prolific. and while you
mr. killing one, fifty are born. All your
demonstrations Of Indignation only exhaust
yourself. You might as we'll on some sum-
ncr night when the swarms of insects are
coming up from the meadows and disturb
'ng you and disturbing your family, bring
up SOme great 'swamp angel" like that
which Numbered over Charleston, and try
80 shoot them down. The game is too small
'or The gun. But what, then, are you to do
with the abuses that cOme upon you in life?
1pn are to live them down.!
lass now to the other thought that | de-
sire to present, ana that is, kindness as a
means Of usefulness. In all communities
YOU find skeptical men. Through early ed
~"ratijn, or through the maltreatment of
PROPOSED kChristian people, or through
irving curiosity about the future world,
'ti"re are a great many people who become
'h"ptical in religious things. How shall
you capture them for God? Sharp argument
and sarcastic retort never won a single soul
rom skepticism to the Christian religion.
While powerful books on evidences of
Christianity" have their mission in confirm
ing Christian people in the faith they have
already adopted, l have noticed that when
s~ksptlcal people are brought into the king
dom Of Christ. 1t is through the charm OF
soinc genial soul and not by argument at oil.
Men are not saved through the head; they
are saved through the heart. A storm comes
"it Of its hiding place. 1t says: "Now we'll
last rouse up all this sea-" and 1t makes a
great buster. but it does not succeed. Part
ii the sea IS reused up-pernaps one-half OF
It Or one-fourth of it. After awhile the
calm moon. placid and beautiful, looks
down. and the ocean begins to rise. Ii
ramcs up to high-water mark, 1t EN-.
braces the great headlands. It sub.
mcrSes the beach Of all the continents. l,
Is the heart-throh Of one world agains,
the hrart-throb OF another world. And
] have to tell you that while all YOU
storms Of ridicule and storms Of sar-
7a~ul may rouse up the passion OF an i'm
mortal nature, nothing less than the attrac.
tive power of Christian kindness can ever
raise the deathless spirit to happiness and tt
God. l have more faith in the prayer Of /
child five years old, in the way Of bringing
M inidel back to Christ and to heaven thar
, have in all the kissing thunderbolts O
ecclesiastical controversy. You cannOt over
"om" N n with religious augmentation. l
You tnne AT q S0eptlcat man with an argu
mcnt on behalf of tho Christian religion
You put the man on his mettle. He says: -
r." that man has a carbine. I'll use m,
rarhine. I'll answer his argument with m
argument But If you como to that man
persuadinG him that you desire his happi
moss on earth and his eternal welfare in tn
world TO come. he cannot answer Il.
What | have said is just as true in th
reclamation of the openly vicious. Did 20
ever know Il drunkard TO be saved throug
the caricature of a %drunkard? Your mimicr
Of tho staggering step and the thick tongu'
and the disgusting hiccoughs, only Yors
maddens his brain. Bat II you come to hir
With kindness and sympathy; il you sho
him that you appreciate the awful grip Of
depraved appetite; if you persuade him
the fact that thousands who had the gra]
fling hooks of evil inclination clutched
their soul "a firmly as they now are in b
havs been rescued, then a ray Of light vi
fash across his vision, and it will seem as
supernatural hand were steadying his sta
GeyinS gait. A good many years ago the
lay IN the streets OF Richmond, Va, 8 M
Head drunk. his face exposed to the bliste
ill., MONDAY sun. A Christian woman pass,
aiuDc, looked at him and said. poor fe
low She took her handkerchief and spres