Connecticut western news., 1896-09-03
PLEA FOR KINDNESS.
REV. DR. TALMAeE DEPREcATES AcRI-
 MoNIouS DISCUSSION.

REV. oR. TALMAeE pEPREcATEs AcRl-
 MoNIoUs DISCUSSION.
 '.A Soft Tongue Breakcth the Boner-An
 Eloquent Appeal For Good Temper and
 Courteous Conduot-Power of Kindness.
 The True Christian Spirit.
 WASHINGTON, Aug. s0.-In these days, when satire and retort and bitter ness fill the air, the gospel carol of this sermon will do good to all who read and practice it. The text is Proverbs XIV, 16, "A soft tongue breaketh the bone. '"
 When Solomon said this, he drove whole volume into one phrase. You, of course, will not be so silly as to take the words of the text in 8 literal sense. They simply mean to set forth the fact that there is tremendous power in a kind word. Although it may seem to be very insignificant, it's force is indescrib- able and illimitable. Pungent and all conquering utterance, "A soft tongue breaketh the bone.
 If had time, Iwou1d show you kind ness as a means of defense, as 0 means of usefulness, kindness as a means of domestic harmony, kindness as best em- ployed by governments for the tanning and curing of criminals, and kindness as best adapted for the settling and ad- justing of international quarrel; but shall call your attention only to two of these thoughts.
 And first speak to you of kindness as a means of defense. Almost every man, in the course of his life, is set upon and assaulted. Your motives are misinterpreted or your religious or po- htical principles are bombarded. What to do under such circumstances is the question. The first impulse of the natu- ral 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 and says, "You ought to consider that matter" You look up into the face of Christ and say, My Master, how ought I to act under these difficult cir cumstances?"
 Bless Them That Curse You.
 And Christ instantly answers: "Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you" Then the old nature rises up again and says: "You had better not forgive him until first you have chastised 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 punish ment upon him again. First chastise him, and then let him go" "No," says the better nature, "hush, thou foul heart. Try the soft tongue that breaketh the bone" Have you ever in all your life known acerbity and acrimonious dispute to settle aquarrel? Did they not always make matters worse and worse and worse2 About 55 years ago there was great quarrel in the Presbyterian family. Ministers of Christ were thought orthodox in proportion as they had measured lances with other clergy men of the same denomination. The most outrageous personalities were abroad. As. in the autumn, a hunter comes home with a string of game, cartridges and wild ducks. slung over his shoulder, so there were many min isters who came back from the ecolesi- astical courts with long strings of doc tors of divinity whom they had shot with their own rife. The division be- came wider, the animosity greater, un- til after awhile some good men resolved upon another tack. They began to ex- plain away the difficulties, they began to forgive each others faults, and, loi the great church quarrel was settled. and the new school Presbyter ian church and the old school Presbyterian church became one. The different parts of the Presbyterian order, welded by @ ham, mer, little hammer, Christian ham, mer that Scripture calls ia soft tongue"
 You have dispute with your neigh Dor. You say to him, ''I despise you" He replies, 1T can't bear the sight of you" You say to him, ''Never enter my house again" He says, 'If you como on my doorsill, I'll kick you off. :" You say to him, "I'll put you down" He says to you: "You are mistaken. I'll put you down" And so the contest rages, and year after year you act the un- Christian part and he acts the un- Christian part After awhile the better spirit seizes you, and one day you go over to the neighbor and say, Give me your hand. We have fought long enough. Time Is so short and eternity is 70 near that we cannot afford any longer to quarrel. I feel you have wronged me very much, hut let us settle all now in one great handshaking, and be good friends for all the rest of our lives" You have risen to higher plat form than that on which before you stood. You win his admiration and you get his apology. But if you have not conquered him in that way, at any rate you have won the applause of your own conscience. the high estimation of good men, and the honor of your Lord who died for his armed enemies
 Peace and Patience.
 "But," you say, "what are we to do when islanders assault us, and there come acrimonious sayings all around about us, and we are abused and spit uponT" My reply is: Do not go and at- tempt to chase down the islanders. Lies are prolific, and while you are killing one, fifty are born. All your demonstra- tions of indignation only exhaust your self. You might as we'll on some sum- mer night, when the swarms of insects are coming up from the meadows and disturbing you and disturbing your family, bring up some great "swamp angel" like that which thundered 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 Gfe9 You are to live them down. I saw farmer go out to get back swarm of bees that had wandered off from the hive. As he moved amid them they buzzed around his head and buzzed around his hands and buzzed around his feet. If he had killed one of them they would have