The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1901-10-24
THE SPIRIT OF AMITY
Dr.. Talmage Commends Good Feel
ing Among Mankind.
Mentions IIIustrious Examples in Fl is
sermon-The Grace of Forgive
ness Kindness a Mag
nffcent Word.
copyright, 1901, by Louis Klopsch, N. n
Washington,


feeling and mentions illustrious exam
pies of that spirit; text, Acts, 34:2,
"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 diff
ferent times to Phoenicia, to Greece,
to Rome, to Ara bia, to Spain, to France,
now belongs to England. The area of
the islands is 100 square miles. 1t is
in the Mediterranean sea and of such
clarity of atmosphere that Mount
Aetna, 100 miles away, can be distinct
~ seen. The island is gloriously men,
orable because the knights of Malta
for a long while ruled there, but most
famous 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 mile and half an hour.
She struck at what is now called St.
Paul's bay. Practical sailors have TAX
en- up the Bible account and decided be-
yond controversy the place of the ship
wreck. But the island, which has so
rough a coast, is for the most part
garden. Richest fruits and profu-
sion of honey characterized it in St.
Paul's time as well as now. The finest
oranges, figs and olives grew there.
When Paul and his comrades crawled
up the beach, saturated and hungry
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 unfortun-
ates. Everything had gone to the bot
tom of the deep, and the barefooted,
bareheaded apostle and ships crew
were in a condition to appreciate hos
pitality. About 25 such men few
years ago 1 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 60 into government quarters for
three days to recuperate, Publius, the
ruler, inviting them. although he had
severe sickness in the house at the
time, his father down with a dangerous
illness. Yea, for three months they
stayed on the island, watching for
ship and putting the Inequalities of
the islanders to a severe test. But it
endured the test satisfactorily, and it
is recorded for all the ages of time and
eternity to read and hear in regard to
the inha bitants of Malta: 1.-THE bar
barous people showed us no little kind
ness"
Kindness! WHAT great word that
is! It would take 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 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.
crowned in the book of Psalms and en-
throned in many places in the New
Testament. Kindness! A word no
more gentle than mighty. I expect it
will wrestle me down before I get
through with it. 1t is strong enough
to throw an archangel. But it 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 immor-
tai in my text by the way they treated
their victims of the sea. "The bar
barous people showed us no little kind
ness"
Kindness! All definitions of that
multipotent word break down half
way. You say it is clemency, benign
ity, generosity; it is made up of good
wishes: it is an expression of benefi-
cence; it is contribution to the hap
piness of others. Some one else says:
"Why, | can give you definition of
kindness; it is sunshine of the soul; it
is affection perennial; it is a climatic
grace; it is the combination of all
graces; it is compassion; it is the per-
lection of gentle manliness and wom-
anliness." Are you all through? You
have made 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 kind
ness"
There is kindness of disposition,
kindness of word, kindness of act. and
there is Jesus Christ, the impersona-
ton of all of them. Kindness! You
cannot affect it. You cannot PLAY it as
a part. You cannot enact it. Youcan-
not dramatize it. BY the grace of God
you must have it inside of you, an ever
lasting summer, or, rather, a combina-
ton of June and October, the geniality
of the one and the tonic of the other.