Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-09-18
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
The Eminent Washington pivine'S
Sunday Sermon.
Subject: 1.-THE Soft Tongue"


rot be so silly as TO take the words OF the
text in a literal sense. They simply mean
TO set forth the fact there is Il tremendous
power in kind worl Although it may
seem to be very insignificant, its force is in
describable and illimitable. Pungent aud
all-conquering utterancc: "a soft tongue
breaketh the bone"
If had time l would show you kindness
as n means of defense, as means of usefG.-
ness. kindness as means of domestic bar
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
1 shall call your attention only to two Of
these thoughts.
Aud first, speak TO you Of Kindness as a
meane of defense. Almost every man. in the
course Of his life, is set upon and assaulted.
Your motives are misinterpreted or your re-
ligious or political principles are bombarded.
What to do under such circumstances 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
wound as that which he inflicted on your
soul. Shot for shot. Sarcasm for sarcasm.
An eye for an eye. A tooth for Tooth" But
the better spirit in the mans soul rises up
ter" You look up into the face of Christ
and say; "My Master, how ought l TO
act under these difficult circume.ances?"
and Christ instantly answers: ''Bless
them that curse you, an3 pray sor them
which despitefully use YOU" Then the old
nature rises up again and says: "YcS had
better not forgive him until first you have
chastised him. You will never get him in so
tight corner again. You VII never have
such an opportunity of infiictiDg the right
kind of punishment upon him again. First
chastise him and then let him CO." NO."
gays the better nature, ''husb. thou foul
heart. Try the soft tongue that brcaketb
the bone
Have you ever in all your life known
acerbity and acrimonious dispute to settle
quarrel? Did they not always make matters
worse and worse and worse? About fifty
five years ago there was Il great quarrel in
the Presbyterian family. Ministers of Christ
were thought orthodox in proportion as they
had measured ances with other clergyman
of the same denomination. The .nost out
rageOus personalities were abroad. AS, in
the autumn, a hunter comes homo with a
string of game. partridScs and wild ducks,
sung over his shoulder, 50 there were many
ministers who came back from tho eccesias.
tical courts with long strings OF doctors OF
divinity whom they had shot with their own
rife. The division became wider, the ami
mostly greater, until after awhile some good
men resolved upon another tack. They be-
gan to explain away the difficulties, shey be-
gan to forgive each others faults; AMI lol
the great Church quarrel was settled; and
the new school Presbyterian Church aud the
old school Presbyterian Church became one.
The different pats Of the Presby. erian order,
welded by q hammer, q little hammer, q
Christian hammer that the Scripture calls
ga soft tongue"
But" you say, "what are VIC to do when
ISLANDERS assault US, and there come acrim-
OniOus sayings all around about us, and We
are abused and spit upon?" My reply is:
Do not go AMI attempt to chase down the
ISLANDERS. Lies are prolific. and while you
are killing one, fifty are born. All your
demonstrations Of Indignation only exhaust
yourself. You might as well on some sum-
mer hight when the swarms of insects are
coming up from the meadows and disturb
ing you and disturbing your family, bring
up some great Swamp angel" like that
which Numbered over Charleston, and try
to shoot them down. The game is too small
for the gun. But what, then, are you to do
with the abuses that come upon you in life?
You are to live them down.
pass now TO the other thought that de-
sire to present, and that is, kindness as q
means of usefulness. In all communities
you find skeptical men. Through early ed
ucatiop, or through the maltreatment of
prolessed EChriStian people, or through
prying curiosity about the future world,
there are great many people who become
Skeptical in religious things. How shall
you capture them for God? Sharp argument
and sarcastic retort never won q single soul
from skepticism 10 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, have noticed that when
skeptical people are brought into the king
dom Of Christ, it is through the charm Of
some genial soul and not by argument at all.
Men are not saved through the head; they
are saved through the heart. A storm comes
put of its hiding place. 1t says: "Now we'll
Just rouse up all this sea-" and it makes q
great buster, but it does not succeed. Part
d 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. 1t |
comes up 10 high-water mark, 1t en-
braces tho great headlands. 1t sub |
merges the beach of all the continents. 1t |
IS the heart OF one world against |
he heart-throb OF another world And |
have to tell you that while all your
forms OF ri icule AMI storms or sar- |
aSm may rouse up tue passion OF an i'm
Mortal nature, nothing less than the attrac-
i've power OF Christian kindness can ever
aise the deathless spirit to happiness and to
Tod. have more faith in the prayer of u
hid FIVE years old, in the way of bringing
n inildel back to Christ and to heaven than
have in all the Kissing thunderbolts of
ecclesiastical controversy. You cannot over
)me m IN with religious augmentation. II
on come at sceptical nan with an argu-
1cnt on behalf of the Christian religion,
III put the man on his mette. He says: II
en- that man has carbine. I'll use nv
. blne. I'll answer his argument with my
rgument." But if you come &c that man.
erSuading him that you desire his happi-
ess on earth and his eternal welfare in the
Torld TO come. he cannot answer it,
What l have said is just as true in the
of the openly vicious. Did you
YER know drunkard 10 be saved through
le c; -,clture of Il drunkard? Your mim.cry
tue staggering step and the thick tongue,
nd the disgusting hiccoughs, only worse
addCns his brain. Bat if you come to him
18th kindness and sympathy; if you show
i'm that you appreciate the awful grip OF
epraved appetite; il you persuade him OF
IL fact that thousands who bad the Crap
ing hooks of evil inclination cIutched in
e'r soul as firmly as they now are in his
lvo been rescued, then ray of light will
ash across his sion, and it will seem as if
superna ural hand we're sieaIyinc his stag
'rinS gait. A goOi many years ago there
: in The streets of Richmond, Va, a man
'ad drunk. his fac5 exposed to the blister
9 MONDAY sun. A Christian woman passed
oDg, looked at him ami sal Poor feI-
WV She took her handkerchief and spread
over his face and passed CD. The man
use himself from his debauch and tegan
look at the handkerchief, and, 10! Oh it