The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-09-18
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
mE NOTED DIvINHs SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject. ''rho sot Tongue"

20 SCI forth the fact There 81 "a tremendous |
power Ia e. kind word. Although it may /
seem 30 be very Insignificant, Go force o. In /
descrbublo and illimltabe. Pungont aud |
all-c0nquerng uttoraucc. "A soft tongue |
breaketh tho bone'
III had tlme / would show you kindness |
as n means OF defense. az q means Of uaoiul- |
meas, Kindness as n means OF domestic har. |
mony, kindness as best employed by govern. |
ments for thetn tanning and curing OF criminals, |
and kindness as best adapted for the settling
and adjusting OF International quarreli bat |
/ shalt call your attention only 20 two Of
these thoughts.
And FIRST, speak 20 you Of Kindness as
menne OF defense. Almost every man, iu the
course Of his liir, Is set upon and assaulted.
Your motives are misintprpreted or your re-
llglous or political principles are bombarded.
What 90 do under such circumstances o. the
question. The first Impulse OF tho natural
heat SAYS nStrike back. Give as much as
lac sent. Trip him into the ditch which be
dug for your feet. Cash him with as severe
a wound as that which no inflicted on your
soul. Shot for shot. Sarcasm for sarcasm.
An eye for an eye. A tooth for ntooth." But
the better spirit In the mans soul rises up
and says. you ought 10 consider the mat
ter You look up into the face Of Christ
and say: "My Master how ought / 20
act under these difficult circumstances?'
and Christ instantly answers: "Bless
them that curse you, and pray for them
which despiteiully use you" Then the old
nature rises up again and says; "You had
better not forgive him until first you have
chasused him. You will never got him In so
tight a corner again. You wall never have
such an opportunity OF innlcung the right
kind Of punishment upon him again. First
ehastise him and then let him 60" "No,"
al
heart. Try the soft tongue that breaketh
the bone
Have you ever In all your life known
acerbity and acrimonious dispute 20 settle a
quarrel2 Did they not always make matters
worse and worse and worse? About fifty
live years ago there was a great quarrel 10
the Presbyterian family. Ministers Of Christ
were thought orthodox In proportion as they
had measured lances with other clergyman
| Of the same denomination. The most out
rageOus personalities were abroad AS in
| the autumn, hunter comes home with
| string Of game. partridges and wild ducks,
| slung over his shoulder, so there were many
! ministers who came back from the eccesias-
| teal 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; they be-
| gan to forgive each others faults; amt loi
! the great Church quarrel was settled; and
| the new school Presbyterian Church aud tho
! old school Presbyterian Church became one
| The different pats ofthe presby, erian order,
welded by a hammer, a little hammer a
Christian hammer that the Scripture calls
"a soft tongue"
but, you say, what are we to do when
ISLANDERS assault us, and there come acrim-
| Onious sayings all around about us, aud we
are abused and spit uponi" My reply is
Do not 50 and attempt to chase down the
| ISLANDERS. Lies are prolific. and while you
are killing one, fifty are born. An your
| demonstrations OF indignation only exhaust
| yourself You might as well on some SUM
ner night 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 Ia life2
You are to live them down!
l pass 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
ucatioD, or through the maltreatment OF
protessed BChristian 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 God2 Sharp argument
and sarcastic retort never won n single soul
from skeptcism 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 / have noticed that when
skeptical people are brought into the king
dom of Christ it is through the charm oil
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
out of its hiding place. 1t says: "Now we'll
Just rouse up all this sea-" and it makes d
great buster, but 1t does not succeed. Part
of the sea is reused up-perhaps one-half o.
1t or one-fourth of it. After awhile tn,
calm moon, placid and beautiful, looks
down, and the ocean begins to rise. L
comes up to high-water mark, It EN-
braces the great headlands. 1t sub
merges the beach Of all the continents.
is the heart-throb OF one world agains
the heart-throb of another world AnC
l have to tell you that while all you
storms OF ridicule and storms or sar
casm may rouse up the passion OF an i'm
mortal nature, nothing less than the attrac
tive power OF Christian kindness can eve
raise the deathless spirit to happiness and +
OOus 4 nave uOIo lhllu III tue prayer OIL
I child five years old, in the way Of bringing
an inadel back to Christ aud to heaven thai
have in all the Kissing thunderbolts Q
: ecclesiastical controversy. You cannot over
come m IN with religious augmentation.
you come at a scepticai man with an nrgu
/ ment on behalf Of the Christian religion
you put the man on his mettle. He says I"
: see that man has a carbine. I'll use m
carbine. I'll answer his argument with M
argument" But il you come &c that mar
, persuading him that you desire his happi
ness on earth and his eternal welfare in th
world TO come he cannot answer,lt.
4 What I have said is just as true in Ii
g reclamation Of the openly vicious. Did 20
. ever know a drunkard 10 be saved throug
+ the caricature of drunkard2 Your mimlel
of the staggering step and the thick tCngu
0 and the disgusting hiccoughs, only wor
8 maddens his brain. B1tif you come to hi
with kindness and sympathy; if you sho
:, him that you appreciate the awful grip OF
/. depraved appetite; If you persuade him
the fact that thousands who had the gra
II pliug hooks OF evil inclination clutched
:, their soul rs firmly as they now are in h
80 Ifr.tA