Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1901-09-26
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE SPIRIT OF AMITY' LAST SUM-
DAYS SUBJECT.
"The Barbarous People Showed Us No
Little Kindness - Acts xviii: 2
Kindness In Action the Greatest of
Virtues.

course DR.. Talmage commends the
spirit of amity and good feeling and
mentions illustrious examples of that
spirit; text, Acts xviii, 2, The bar
barous 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 diff
ferent times to Phoenicia, to Greece,
to Rome, to Arabia, to Spain, to
France, now belongs to England. The
area of the island is about 100 square
miles. 1t is in the Mediterranean sea
and Of such clarity of atmosphere that
Mount Aetna, 100 miles away, can be
distinctly seen. The island Is glori-
ously memorable because the knights
Of Malta for long while ruled there,
but NOSE famous because of the apos-
tolic shipwreck. The bestormed YES
sci on which Paul sailed had laid
to" on the starboard tack, and the
wind was blowing east-northeast, and,
the vessel drifting probably mile and
half an hour, she struck at what Is
now called st. Paul's bay. Practical
sailors have taken up the Bible ac-
count and decided beyond controversy
the place OF the shipwreck. But the
island, which has so rough coast, is
for the most part a garden. Richest
fruits and a profusion of honey char
acterized II in Pauls time as well as
now. The finest oranges. figs and
olives grow there.
When Paul and his comrades crawl
ed up on the beach. saturated and
hungry from long abstinence from
food and chilled to the bone, the ISL
anders, though called barbarians be-
cause they could not speak Greek,
opened their doors to the shipwrecked
unfortunates. Everything had gone
to the bottom Of the deep, and the
barefooted, bareheaded apostle and
ships crew were in condition to APP
preciate hospitality. About twenty
five such men a few years ago found
in the life station near East Hampton,
Long Island They had got ashore in
the night from the sea, and not hat
or shoe had they left. They found
out, as Paul and his fellow voyagers
found out, that the sea is the toughest
OF all robbers. My text finds the ships
crew ashore on Malta and around a
hot fire drying themselves and with
the best provision the islanders can
offer them. And they go into govern
ment quarters for three days to recu-
perate, Publius, the ruler, inviting
them. although he had severe sickness
in the house at that time. his father
down with a dangerous illness. Yea,
for three months they staid on the
island watching for ship and putting
the Inequalities of the islanders to
satisfactorily and it is recorded for all
the ages Of time and eternity to read
and hear In regard to the inhabitants
of Malta, "The barbarous people
showed US no little kindness"
A Magnificent Word.
Kindness! What a great word
that is! 1t would take reed as long
as that which the apocalpytic angel
used to measure heaven to tell the
length, the breadth, the height of that
munifcent word. 1t is favorite Bible
word, and 1t 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 crowned in the book of
Psalms and enthroned in many places
In the New Testament. Kindness! A
word no more gentle than mighty.
expect 1t will wrestle me down before
l get through with it. 1t is strong
enough to throw an archangel. But 1t
will be well for us to stand around
It and warm ourselves by its glow as
Paul and his fellow voyagers stood
around the fire on the island of Malta,
where the Maltese made themselves
immortal in my text by the way they
treated their victims of the sea. "The
barbarous people showed us no little
kindness"
Kindness! All definitions of that
nultipotent word break down half
way. You say it is clemency, be-
nightly, generosity; 1t is made up of
good wishes; 1t is an expression of
benefcence; 1t Is contribution to the
happiness of others. Some one else
says, why, can give you a defini-
tion of kindness; it is sunshine OF the
soul; 1t is affection perennial; 1t is a
climacteric grace;it is decentralization
Of all graces; 1t is compassion; 1t is
the perfection of gentle manliness and
womanliness." Are you all through?
You have made a dead failure in your
definition. II cannot be defined, but
We all know what it is, for we have
all felt its power. Some of you may
have felt 1t as Paul felt 1t, 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"
The Grace of Forgiveness,
But are you waiting and hoping for
some one to be bankrupted or exposed
or discounted or In some way over
thrown then kindness has not taken
possession of your nature. You are
wrecked on Malta where there are
no oranges. You are entertaining a
guest so unlike kindness, that kind
ness will not come and dwell under
the same roof. The most exhausting
and unhealthy and ruinous spirit on
earth is revengeful spirit or retaliat-
ing spirit, as ! know by experience.
for have tried it for five or ten min
utea at time When sop,a a,,,oon