The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-09-23


shall be as snow: though they are RED ike
crimson, they shall be as wool. That man
is diving forever for the lack OF one KIND
word.
o, that we might In our families and IN
our churches try the force OF kindness you
| can never drive men, women or cnlloren lnto
| the kingdom of God. March northeaster
| will bring ont more noneysuckies man IIet-
| fulness and scolding will bring out Christian
grace. wish that in all our religious WORK
wa might be saturated with the spirit OF
| kindness. Missing that. we miss 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 mucn
as the old. The old people sometimes seem
TO think thew have monopoly OF the rheu-
matisns, and the neuralgias. and the head
aches, and the physical disorders OF the
| world; but I 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-seven, Richelieu at thtrty-one;
Gustavus Adolphus died at thirty-eight; In.
nocent III. came to his mightiest influence
at thirtv-seven; Cortez conquered Mexico at
thirty: Don John won Lepanto at twenty
ty-four; and l have noticed amid all classes
OF men that some OF tho 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 browoeating
OF legal opponents. the unfairness or Gus
TONERS. who have plenty Of faultfnding for
every imperfection Of handiwork. but 20
praise for twenty excellences. What does
that brain-racked, hand-blistered man care
for Swlngle's Doctrine Of Original Sin" or
Augustine's "Anthropology?" You might as
we'll 20 to man who has the pleurisy and
put on his side a plaster made out OF DR.:
PARIS Treatise on Medical Jurisprudence"
In ell our sermons there must be help Tor
every one somewhere. You 60 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 come after while. And 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 the Gospel,
want in our sermons: not more metaphysics,
nor more Imagination, nor more logic, nor
more profundity. What we want in our SER
mons and Christian e1hortations Is more
sympathy. When Father Taylor preached in
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-
tion for their high station.
Do you not know that this simple story OF
q 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 ever saw. 1t Is
''The Descent of Christ from the Cross"
It Is one Of Rubens's pictures. No man can
stand and look at that Descent from the
Cross" as Rubens pictured 1t, without hav-
ing his eyes flooded with tears, II he have any
sensibility at all. It Is an overmastering
picrure-one that stuns you and staggers
you and haunts your dreams. One afternoon
q 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-
ferings, when the janitor came In and said,
1T is time to close up the cathedral for the
night. I wish you would depart" The
pilgrim, looking at that descent from the
Cross" turned around 70 the janitor and
said: 'sNo, no; not yet. Wait until they get
Him down" Oh. 1t Is the story Of Saviours
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, II
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 1t In our
hearts, our words and our behavior. The
chief characteristic Of our Lord was kind
ness. 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. Slr Matthew
Hale. the pride OF the English court room
and for twenty years the pride OF jurispru-
dence, heard that that injustice was about
to be practiced. He put of his official robe.
he put on the garb OF 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 bribes came around, and the man gave
ten pieces Of gold to the other jurors, but as
this was only poor miller, the brber gave
to him only lve 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. "Hold! 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 have received
only five. ""Who are you? Where do you come
from?' said the judge on the bench. The re-
sponse was: ~ am from Westminster Hall;
my name is Matthew Hale, Lord Chief JUS
tice of the Kings bench. Of Of that place,
thou villianp' And so the injustice was
baked. and so the young man got his In
heritance.
It was all for another that Sir Matthew
Hale took off his robe and put cn the garb
of miller. And so Christ took of 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 of from home
sure enough, but We got back in time to re-
ceive our eternal inheritance. And II Christ
was so kind to US. surely We can afford to be
kind to each other.