Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-09-23


course DR.. Talmage commends the spir-
It of amity and good feeling and men
lions illustrious examples of that spir-
It; text. Acts xviii, 2, 1.-The barbarOus
people showed US no little kindness"
Here we are on the island of Malta,
another name for Melita. This island,
which has always been an important
commercial center, belonging at differ
ent times to Phenicia, to Greece. to
Rome, to Arabia, to Spain, to France.
now belongs to England. The area of
the island is about 100 square miles.
It is in the Mediterranean sea and of
such clarity of atmosphere that Mount
Etna, 80 miles away, can be distinctly
seen. The island is gloriously memo
rable because the Knights of Malta for
q long while ruled there, but most ia
nous because of the apostolic ship
wreck. The bestOrmed vessel on which
Paul sailed had laid to-" on the star
board tack, and the wind was blowing
east-northeast. and, the vessel drifting
probably q mile and a half an hour,
she struck at what is now called st.
Pauls bay. Practical sailors have TAX
en- up the Bible account and decided
beyond controversy the place of the
shipwreck. But the island, which has
so rough a coast, is for the most part
q garden. Richest fruits and a profu-
sion of honey characterized it in PauPs
time as we'll as now. The finest or
anges, figs and olives grow there.
When Paul and his comrades crawled
no tI1rr tod nd HIM
from long abstinence from food and
chilled to the bone, the islanders,
though called barbarians because they
could not speak Greek. opened their
doors to the shipwrecked unfortunates.
My text finds the ships crew ashore
on Malta and around a hot fire and
with the best. provision the island
ers can offer them. And they 60 into
government quarters for three days to
recuperate, PUblius, the ruler, inviting
them. although he had severe sickness
In the house at that time, his father
down with q dangerous illness. Yea,
for three months they stayed on the is
land watching for a ship and putting
the hospitality of the islanders to a
severe test. But it endured the test sat
ages of time and eternity to read and
hear in regard to the inhabitants of
Malta, THE barbarous people showed
US no little kindness"
Most Potent of Words.
Kindness. What q great word that
Isl 1t would take a reed as long as
that which the apocalyptic angel used
to measure heaven to tell the length,
the breadth, the height, of that munifi-
cent word. 1t is a favorite Bible word,
and it is early launched in the book of
Genesis. caught up in the book of
Joshua, embraced in the book of Ruth,
sworn by in the book Of Samuel, crown
ed in the book of Psalms and enthron-
ed In many places in the New Tesla
ment. Kindness. A word no more
gentle than mighty. l expect it will
wreStle me down before l get through
with 1t. 1t is strong enough to throw
an archangel. But it will be we'll for
US to stand around it and warm our
selves by it's glow as Paul and his fell
low voyagers stood around the fire on
the island of Malta, where the Maltese
made themselves immortal in my text
by the way they treated these victims
OF the sea. The barbarous people
showed us 70 little kindness"
Kindness! All definitions of that
multipotent word break down half
way. You say it is clemency, benigni-
ty, generosity; it is made up of good
wishes; it is an expression of benef-
cence; it is a contribution to the happi-
ness of others. Some one else says:
''Why, 1 can give you a definition of
kindness. 1t is sunshine of the soul; it
is affection perennial; it is a climacter-
&c grace; it is a combination of all the
graces; it is compassion; it is the per-
lection of gentle manliness and wo-
manliness." Are you all through? You
have made 4 dead failure in your def
milton 1t cannot be defined. But We all
know what it is, for we have all felt its
power. Some of you may have felt it
as Paul felt it on some coast Of rock
as the ship went to pieces, but more of
us have again and again in some awful
stress of life had either from earth or
heaven hands stretched out which
showed us no little kindness"
There is kindness of disposition, kind
ness of word, kindness of act, and there
Is Jesus Christ, the impersonation of
all of them. Kindness, You cannot
affect it; you cannot play it as part;
you cannot enact it; you cannot drama
tie it. By the grace of God you must
have it inside you, an everlasting sum-.
mer, or, rather, n combination of June
and October. the geniality of the one
and the tonic of the other. 1t cannot
dwell with arrogance or spite or re-
Tenge or malevolence. At its first APP
pearance in the soul all these Amale-
kites and Gergishites and Hittites and
Jebusites must quit and quit forever.