The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-07-19
DR.. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BYTHE NOTED
DIVINE.

Subject: Whispered Venom-The Voice OF
the Gossip Like the Serpenrs Hiss
Purveyors OF Idle Tales Are Poisoners
of Society-An Arraignrnent OF Liars.
copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1921
WASHINGTON, D. Gin this discourse
Dr.. Talmage vigorously arraigns ono OF
the great evils that have cursed the world
and urges generous Interpretation Of the
character Of others; text, Romans l., 90,
"Full Of envy, murder, debate. deceit, ma
lienity; whisperers."
Paul was here calling thelong roll Of the
worlds villuiny, and he puts in the midst
Of this roll those persons known in all cities
and communities and places as whispeters.
They are 80 called because they generally
speak under voice and in q confidential
way, their hand to the side OF their mouth
acting as funnel to KEEP the precious in
formation from wandering into the wrong
ear. They speak softly not because they
have lack OF lung force or because they are
overpowered with the spirit OF gentleness,
but because they want to escape the conse-
uuences Of defamation. II no one hears
but the person whispered unto, and the Of
fender be arraigned, be can deny the whole
thing. for whisperers are always hrst-class
liarsl
Some people whisper because they are
hoarse from cold or because they wish to
disturbing others, but the creatures photo
graphed by the apostle in my text give
mui1ed utterance from sinister and de-
praved motive, and sometimes you can
only hear the sibilant sound as the letter
rs" drops from the tongue into the listen
ing ear, the brief hisstof the serpent as 1t
projects its venom.
Whisperers are masculine and feminine,
with tendency to majority on the side OF
those who are called "the lords Of
creation" Whispe-ers are heard at every
window of bank cashier and are heard in
oil counting rooms as well as In sewing
societies and at meetings OF asylum direc-
tors and managers. They are the worst
Vulnerable; they are the scarengers OF the
world, driving their cart through every
community, and to-day hold up for your
holy anathema and execrltion these
whisperers.
From the frequency with which Paul
speaks of them under different titles con-
clude that he must have suffered some.
what from them. His personal presence
was very defective. and that made him,
perhaps, the target OF their rldlcule. And,
besides that, he was bachelor, persisting
in hissceIibacy down into the sixties, in
deed all the way through, and, some hav-
ing failed in their connubial designs upon
him, the little missionary was put under
the rrklng flre Of these whisperers. He
was no doubt rare morsel for their scan
dalization, and he cannot keep, his
patience any longer, and he lays hold OF
these miscraants or the tongue and gives
them very hard setting down In my text
among the scoundrelly and the murderous.
Envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignlty;
whisperers."
The law OF libel makes quick and stout
grip OF open SANDER. II / should in q
plain way, calling you by name, charge
you with fraud or theft or murder or un-
cleanness, tomorrow morning might have
peremptory documents served on me, and
would have to pay in dollars and cents
for the damage 1 had done your character.
But these creatures spoken of In my text
are so small that they escape the fine tooth
comb Of the law. They 80 on, and they 80
on, escaping the judges and the juries and
the peuitentaries. The district attorney
cannot find them, the sheriff cannot find
them, the grand jury cannot find them.
Shut them off from one route OF perfdy nnd
they start on another. You cannot by the
force Of moral sentiment persuade them to
desist. You might as we'll read the Ten
Commandments to a flock OF crows, Tex
pecting them to retreat under the force OF
moral sentiment. They are to be found
everywhere, these wbisperers. think
1000 or 1000 people, where everybody
knows everybody. But they also ore to be
found in large quantities In all our cities.
They have a prying disposition. They
look into the basement windows at the
tables of their nel9hbors and can tell just
what they have morning and night to eat.
They can see as far through keyhole rs
other people can see with door wide
open. They can hear conversation on the
opposite side of the room. Indeed, the
world to them is whispering gallery.
They always put the worst construction on
everything.
Some morning wife descends Into the
street, her eyes damp with tears, and that
Is q stimulus to the tattler and Is enough
to set up business for three or four
weeks. II guess that husband and wife
don't live happily together. wonder II he
hasn't been abusing her? It's outrageous.
He ought to be disciplined. He ought to
be brought up before the church. ~ 90
right over to my neighbors and I'll let
them know about this matter" She
rushes in all out OF breath to a.neighbor's
house and says: lob. Mrs. Allear, have
you heard the dreadful news? Why, our
neighbor, poor thing, came down of the
steps In flood OF tears. That brute OF a
husband has been abusing her. Well, It's
Just as expected. 1 saw him the other
afternoon very smiling and very gracious
to some one who smiled bnck, and I
thought would just 90 up to him and tell
him he had better go home and look after
bis wife and family, who probably at that
very time were upstairs crying their eyes
out. Oh, Mrs. Allear, do have your hus-
band 20 over aud put an end to this
trouble. It's simply outrageous that our
neighborhood should be disturbed In this
way. It's awful"
The fact is that one man or woman set
on fire OF this heliish spirit will keep q
whole neighborhood a.boil. 1t does not
require any very great brain. Tho chief
reauisition Is that the woman have small
family or no family ut all, because II she
have large family, then she would have
to stay at home and look after them. 1t Is
very important that she be single or have
to all the secrets Of the neighborhood all
the time. A woman with large family
makes very poor whisperer.
1t Is astonishing how these whlsperers
gather up everything; They know every
thing that happens. There are telephone
and telegraph wires reaching from their
ears to all the houses In the neighborbood.
They have no taste for healthy news, but
for the scraps and peeling thrown out OF
scullery into the back yard they have great
avidity. On the day when there is a new
scandal In the newspapers they have no
time to go abroad. On the day when there
are four CT five columns OF delightful Dri-
vate letters published in divorce case she
stays ut home and reads and reads and
rends. No time for her Bible TINT day, but
toward night, perhaps, she may find time
to run out little while and see whether
there are any new developments.
Satan does not haveto keep very sharp
lookout for his evil dominion in that
neighborhood. He has let out to her the
whole contract. She gets husbands and