The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-09-09

above all they conquered themselves.
"Oh," you say, that's very good the
ory to preach On a hot day, but it won't
work" It will work. 1t has worked.
believe it is the last Christian grace we
win. You know there arc fruits which
we gather i'll June, and others in July,
and others in August, and others III
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 hear
great deal about the bitter, tongue, and
the sarcastic tongue, and the quick
tongue, and the singing tongue; but we
know very little about "the soft tongue
that breaketh the bone. We read
Hudibras, and Sterne, aud Dean Swift,
and the other apostles of acriuony. but
give little time 10 studying the example
of him who was reviled and yet reviled
not again. Oh, that the Lord. by his
spirit, would endow rs all with the
soft tongue that breakcth the bone
pass now to the other thought that
I desire to present, and that is kindness
rs q mcans Ct usefulucss. In all conf
,runities You find skeptical men.
Through early education, OF through the
naltreatment of professed Christian peo.
pie, or through prying curiosity about
the future world, there are great many
people who become skeptical III religious
things. How shall you capture them for
God? Sharp argument and sarcastic re-
tort never Won single soul from skep-
ticism to the Christian religion. While
powerful books on the evidences OF
Christianity have their mission in con-
tirming Christian people in the faith
they have already adopted, I have no
ticcd that when skeptical people are
brought into the kingdom CT Christ. it
is through the charm Of some genial
soul, and not ky 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
saws, "Now Well just rouse up all this
sea-" and it makes great buster, but
it does not succeed Part of the sea is
reused pp-perhaps oue-half Of it or
one-fourth of it. After awhile the
calm neon, placid and beautiful, looks
down, and the ocean begins to rise. 1t
comes mp to high water mark. 1t en-
braces the great headlands. II SUBJ
merges the beach of all the continents.
1t is the heart throb Of one world against
the heart throb Of another world: And l
have to tell you that while all Your
storms of ridicule and storms of sar-
casm may rouse up the passion Of al
immortal nature. nothing less than the
attractive power of Christian kindness
can ever raise tho deathless spirit to
happiness and to God. Ihave more faith
in the prayer Of a child 8 years old in
the way Of bringing an infdel back TO
Christ and to heaven than L have in all
the Kissing thunderbolts OF. ecclesiastical
controversy. You cannot overcome men
with religious augmentation. 1t you
come ut a'skeptical man with al argu-
ment on behalf. Of the Christian reli-
eionr, you pat the man on his mettle. He
SAYS: II see that man has carbine.
I'll use my carbine. III answer his ar
gument with my argument But If
you come to that man persuading him
that you desire his happiness cn earth
and his eternal welfare in the wcrld to
come, he cannot answer il.
Power Of Kindness.
What have said is just as true in
the reclamation of the openly vicious.
Did you ever know a drunkard to be
saved through the caricsture of drunk
ard? Your mimicry of the staggering
step, and the thick tongue. AMI the dis
gusting hiccough only worse maddens
his brain. But if you come 10 him In
kindness and sympathy: if you show
him that you appreciate the awful grip
of Gepraved appetite; if you persuade
him of the fact that thousands who had
the graphing hooks of evil inclination
clutched in their soul as firmly as they
now are in his have been rescued. then
a ray of light will fash across his vi
sion and it will seem as if supernatu.
raj hand were steadying his staggering
gait A good many years ago there lay
in the streets of Richmond, Va, man
dead drunk, his face exposed to the bis
tering MONDAY sun. A Christian woman
passed along. looked at him, and said,
Poor fellow" She took her handker-
chief and spread it over his face and
passed on. The man reused himself up
from his debauch and began te- look at
the handkerchief, and, 10! on it was the
name of highly respectable Christian
woman of the city of Richmond. He
went to her, he thanked her for her
kindness, and that one little deed saved
him for this life, and saved him for the
life that is to come. He was afterward
attorney general of the United States
but, higher than all, he became the con-
secrated disciple of Jesus Christ. Kind
words are SO cheap it is a>wonder we
do not use them oftener. There are tens
Of thousands of people in these, cities
who are dying for the lack Of one kind
word. There is business man who has
fought against trouble until he is per-
fectly exhausted He has been thinking
about forgery, about robbery, about sui
eide. Go to that business man. Tell
him that better times are coming and tell
him that you yourself were i'll tight
business pass and the Lord delivered
you. Tell him to put his trust in God.
Tell him that Jesus Christ stands beside
every business man in his perplexitice.
Tell him of the sweet promises Of Gods
comforting grace. That man is dying
for the lack of just one kind word.
Go tomorrow and utter that one saw.
ing, omnipotent, kind word. Here is a
soul that has been swamped in sin. He
wants to find the light of the gospel. He
feels like a shipwrecked mariner look
ing out over the beach, watching for 8
eail against the sky. Oh, bear down Oh
him. Tell him that the Lord waits to be
gracious to him, that though he has
been a great sinner there is great
Saviour provided. Tell him that though
his sins are as scarlet, they shall be as
snow; though they are red like crimson,
they shall be as wool, That man is dy-