The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-09-04

his hands. and buZZed around ms 1eet.
IL he had killed one they would have
stung him to death. But he moved in
their midst in perfect placidity until
he had captured the swarm of wan
deriug bees. And so have seen men
moving amid the annoyances, and
the vexations, and the assaults OF life
in such claim, Christian deliberation.
that all the buzzing around about their
soul amounted to nothing. They con-
quered them, and, above all, they con-
duered themselves 90" you say,
that's a very good theory to preach
on hot day, but it won't work. 1t
will work 1t has worked believe
il is the last Christian grace we win
You know there are fruits which we
gather in June, and others in July,
and others in August, and others in
September, and still others in October.
and have to admit that this grace OF
Christian forgiveness is about the last
fruit of the Christian soul We ear
great deal about the bitter tongue,
and the quick tongue. and the sting
ing tongue; but we know very little
about 1.-THE soft tongue that breaketh
the bone" We read Hudibras, and
| Sterne, and Dean Swift, and the other
apostles of acrimony, but give little
time to studying the example of Him
who was reviled, aud yet reviled not
again. o, that the Lord, by His spirit,
! would endow us all with 1.-The soft
tongue that breaketh the bone"
| now pass to the other thought that
| l desire TO present, aud that is kind
ness as a means of usefulness In all
communities you find skepticsl men.
Through early education, or through
the maltreatment of professel Chris
tian people. or through prying curios-
ity about the future world, there are
a great many people who become skep-
teal in religious things How shall
you capture them for God? Sharp ar
gument and sarcastic retort never won
a single soul from skepticism to the
Christian religion. While powerful
books on 1.-The Evidences of Christian
itv" have their mission in confirming
Christian people in the faith they have
already adopted, l have noticed that
when skeptical people are brought into
the kingdom 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
out of its hiding place. 1t says: Now
we'll Just rouse up all this sea" and it
makes a great buster. but does not
succeed. Part of the sea is reused W
perhaps one-half of it or One-fourth
of it. After awhile the calm
moon, placid and beautiful. looks
down and the ocean begins &c
rise. 1t comes up to the ,high-watel
mark. It embraces the great head
lands 1t submerges the beach of al
the continents. 1t is the heart-thrOt
of the world against the heart-throt
of another world. And l have to tel
you that while your storms of ridicul'
and storms of sarcasm may rouse NJ
the passion of an immortal nature
nothing less than theI attractive powel
of Christian kindness can ever raist
the deafness spir to happiness anc
to God. | have more faith in the prayer
of child five years old, in the way O.
bringing an inddel tack to Christ anC
to Heaven. than have in all the hiss
ing thuuderbolts of ecclesiastical con
troversy. You cannot overcome mel
with religious augmentation. II yoU
come at skeptical man with an argu
ment on behalf of the Christian re
ligion, You put the man On his mettle
He saws: II see that man has a car
bine. III use nv carbine. I'll answer
/ l L .
But if you come to that man, persuad
lug him that you desire his happiness
on earth and his eternal welfare n the
world to COM. he cannot answer it.
What l have said is Just as true n
the reclamation of the openly vicious
Did you ever know a druukard to G
saved through the Car ca:ure Of d
drunkari? Your mimicrv OF the stag,
gering step and the THICK tongue, aUd
the disgusting hiccOugh, only worse
madceIs MS trair. But # you com,
TO him IN kindness an sympathy; II
you show him thit you appreciate tie
awful grip of q dcpraved appe lie: !.
you persuade him that thousand. who
had the trapping hooks Of evil jrcii'
nation clutched in their soul 5 firm: :
as they now are in his, have been res.
cued, then a ray of light wiI, fash
across his vi>ion. and 1t will seem as il
supernatural hand were s;eadyiag
his staggering gait
A good many years ago there lay in
the streets of Richmond. Va. a man
dead drunk. his face exposed to the
b1istering noonday sun. A Christian
woman passed along, looked at him,
and said, Poor fellow" She took her
handkerchief and spread it over his
face, and passed on. The man rousei
himself up from his debauch and began
to look at the handkerchief, and, To-
on il was the name of highly respect
able Christian woman of the city OF
Richmond He went to her. be thanked
he- for her kindness; and that one lit.
tie deed saved him for this life, and
saved him for the life that is to come.
He was afterward encouragement OF
the United States; but, higher than all.
he became the consecrated disciple OF
Jesus Christ. Kind words are SO
cheap, it is a wonder we do not use