The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1896-10-24

4
o, that we might in our families and in
our churchestry the force of kindness. You
can never drive men, women or children into
the kingdom of God. A March northeastern
will bring out more honeysuckles than fret
fitness and scolding will bring out Christian
grace. wish that in all our religious work
we might be saturated with the spirit OF
kindness. Missing that. we miss a great
deal of usefulness. There is no need OF
coming out before men and laundering to
them the law unless at the same time you
preach to them the Gospel. The world Is
dying for lack of kindness.
These young people want 1t just as much
rs the old. The old people sometimes seem
to think they have monopoly OF the rheu-
matisms, and the neuralgias. and the head
aches, and the physical disorders OF the
world; but ] tell you there are no worse
heartaches than are felt by some OF these
young people Do you know that much OF
The work is done by the young2 Raphael
died at thirtY-seyeD, Richelieu at thirty-one;
Gustavus Adolphus died at thirty-eight, In
nocent III. came TO his mightiest influence
at thirtv-seven: Cortez conquered Mexico ut
thirty: Don John won Lepanto at twenty
five; Grotius was Attorney-General Mt TWEEN
iy-four; and have noticed amid all classes
of men that some OF the severest battles and
the toughest work come before thirty.
Therefore we must have our sermons and
our exhortations in prayer meeting all SYM
pathetic with the young. And so with these
people further on in life. What do these
doctors and lawyers and merchants and me-
chanics care about the distractions of re-
ligion? What they want is help to bear the
whimsicalities OF patients, the browbeating
OF legal opponents. the unfairness of GUS
toners. who have plenty of faultfinding for
every imperiection of handiwork. but 20
praise for twenty excellences. What does
that brain-racked, hand-blistered man care
for Swingle's "Doctrine of Original Sin" or
Augustine's 'Anthropology?" You might as
well go to man who has the pleurisy and
put on his side a plaster made out of DR..
PARIS "Treatise ON Medical Jurisprudence"
In all our sermons there must be help for
every one somewhere. You go into an apo
thecary store; you see others being waited
on; we do not complain because we do not
Immediately get the medicine: we know our
turn will como after whi.e. Aud so, while
all parts of the sermon may not be appro-
pirate to our case, If we went prayerfully,
before the sermon is through we shall have
the divine prescription. say TO these young
men who are going to preach tho Gospel,
these ogicalstudenis-Isa say 10 them. We
want in our sermonslnot more metaphysics,
nor more Imagination, nor mora logic, nor
more profundity. What we want in our SER
mons and Christian exhortations is more
the Sailors Bethel at Boston, the jack tars
felt that they had help for their duties among
the ratlines and the forecastles. When
Richard Weaver preached to the operatives
in Oldham, England, all the working men
felt that they had more grace for the spin
dies When DR.. South preached to Kings
and Princes and Princesses, all the mighty
men and women who heard him felt prepara-
ton for their high station.
Do Won nOt know that this Cin1OlQ story III
Saviour's kindness is to redeem all Ma
tions? The hard heart of this worlds OBJ
duracy is to be broken before that story.
There is in Antwerp, Belgium, one of the
most remarkable pictures l ever saw. 1t is
"The Descent of Christ from the Cross"
1t is one of Rubenss pictures. Nc man can
stand and look at that Descent from the
Cross" as Rubens pictured it, without hav-
ing his eyes flooded with tears, if he have any
sensibility at all. 1t is an overmastering
picrure-one that stuns you and staggers
you and haunts your dreams. One afternoon
a man stood in that cathedral looking at Ru-
bens's Descent from the Cross" He was
all absorbed in that scene of Saviour's suf-
feriBgs, when the ianitor came in and said:
.'It is time to close up the cathedral for the
night. ! wish you would depart" Tho
pilgrim, looking at that descent from the
Cross" turned around to the janitor and
said: mo, no; not yet. Wait until they get
Him down." Oh, it is the story of Saviour's
suffering kindness that Is to capture the
world. When the bones of that great behe-
moth of antiquity which has trampled all
Nations shall be broken and shattered, it
will be found out that the work was not
done by the hammer of the iconoclast, or by
the sword of the conquerer, or by the torch
of persecution, but by the plain, simple,
overwhelming force of "the soft tongue that
breaketh the bone"
Kindness! We all need more of it in our
hearts, our words and our behavior. The
chief characteristic of our Lord was kind
ness. A gentleman in England died. leaving
his fortune by will to two sons. The son
that stayed at home destroyed the fathers
will and pretended that the brother who was
absent was dead and buried. The absent
brother, after awhile, returned and claimed
his part OF the property. Judges and jurors
were to be bribed to say that the returned
brother and son vas no son at all. but an
impostor. The trial came on. Sir Matthew
Hale. the pride OF the English court room
and for twenty years the pride OF iurispru-
dence, heard that that injustice was about
20 be practiced. He put off his official robe.
He put on the garb of a miller. He went to
the village where that trial was to take
place. He entered the court room. He
somehow got impaneled as one of the jurors.
The brides came around, and the man gave
ten pieces of gold to the other jurors, but as
this was only poor miller, the briber gave
to him only five pieces of gold. A verdict
was brought in rejecting the right of this re-
turned brother. He was to have no share in
the inheritance. "HoId! my lord" said the
miller. "Hold! we are not all agreed on this
verdict. These other men have received ten
pieces Of gold in bribery and l have received
only five. ""Who are you? Where do you come
from?' said the judge on the bench. The re.
Spouse was: al am from Westminster Hall;
my name is Matthew Hale. Lord Chief JUS
tice of the Kings bench. on of that place.
thou villian!' And so the Injustice was
baked, and so the young man got his in
heritance.
1t was all for another that Sir Matthew
Hale took of his robe and put cn the garb
of miller. And so Christ took off His robe
of royalty and put on the attire of our hu-
manity, and in that disguise He won our
eternal portion. Now we are the sons of
God. Joint heirs. We went off from home
sure enough, but we got back in time to re-
ceive our eternal Inheritance. And il Christ
was SO kind to us, surely we can afford to be
kind to each other
TIMELY SERVICE Is NOT SERVICE.