The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-09-24

course DR.. Talmage commends the spirit
Of amity and good feeling and mentions
iIlustrious examples Of that spirit; text,
Acts xviii, 2, THE barbarous people
showed us no little kindness"
Here we are IN the island Of Malta,
another name for Melita. This island,
which has always been an important com
mercial center, belonging at different
times to Phpnicia, to Greece, to Rome,
to Arabia, to Spain, to France, now be-
longs to England. The area Of the island
as about 100 square miles. 1t is in the
Mediterranean sea and Of such clarity of
atmosphere that Mount Atna, 40 miles
away, can be distinctly seen. The island
is gloriously memorable because the
knights of Malta for a long while ruled
there, but most famous because Of the
apostolic 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 q mile and a half an
hour, she struck at what is now called st.
PauPs bay. Practical sailors have taken
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 a garden.
Richest fruits and a profusion of honey
characterized it in Paul's time as we'll
as now. The finest oranges, figs and
olives grow there.
When Paul and his comrades crawled
up on the beach, saturated and hungry
from long abstinence from food and chill
ed to the bone, the islanders, though call
ed barbarians because 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 a condition to appre-
ciate hospitality. About twenty-five such
men q few years ago l found in the
Long Island. They had got ashore
in the night from the sea, and
not q hat or shoe had they eft. They
found out, as Paul and his fellow voya-
gers 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 government quarters
for three days to ~recuperate, Publius, the
ruler, inviting them, although he had Sc
we're sickness in the house at hat time,
his father down with a dangerous illness.
Yea, for three months they staid on the
island watching for q ship Inc putting
the Inequalities Of the slande to q
severe test. But it endured the test salts
factorily, and it is recorded for all the
ages of time and eternity to read and
hear in regard to the inhabitants of NAL
ia, "The barbarous people showed us no
little kindness"
a Magnificent Word.
Kindness. What q great word that is!
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 muniicent
word. 1t is a favorite Bible word, and
it is early launched in the book Of Gene
sis, 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. Kindnessi
A word no more gentle than mighty. L
expect it will wrestle me down before /
get through with it. 1t is strong enough
to throw an archangel. But it will be
we'll for US to stand around it and warm
ourselves by its 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 their victims of the
sea. "The barbarous people showed US
no little kindness"
Kindness! All definitions of that null
tipotent word break down half way. You
say it is clemency, benignity, generosity;
it is made up Of good wishes; it is an
expression of benefcence; it is q con-
tribution to the happiness Of others.
Some one else says, why, l can give
you a definition of kindness; it is sun
shine Of the soul; it is affection perennial;
it is a climacteric grace; it is the COM
bination Of all graces; it is compassion;
il is the perfection Of gentle manliuess
and womanliness." Are you all through?
You have made Il dead failure in your
definition. 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 il. on some coast of rock
as the ship went to pieces. but more OF
US lave again and again in some awful
stress of life had either from earth or
heaven hands stretched out which "Show-
ed us no little kindness"
There is kindness of disposition. Kind
ness OF word. kindness of act, and there
is Jesus Christ. TIE impersOnation o. all
of them. Kindness, You cannot a.Iect
it. You cannot play it as = part. You
cannot enact it. You cannot dramatize
it. By the grace of God you must have
il inside you, 81 everlasting summer, or,
rather, 4 combination of June and Octo-
Der. the geniality of the one and the tonic
of the other. Ii cannot dwell with AFRO
gance or spite or revenge or ma!evoience.
At its first appearance in the soul all
these Amalekites and GergiShites and
Hittites and Jebusitcs must quit. and quit
forever. Kindness wishes everybody well
every man well. every woman we'll. eV-
cry child we'll. every bird we'll. every
horse well. every dog well. every cat well.
Give this spirit full swing. and you would
have no more need of societies for pre-
vention of cruelty TO animals, no more
need of protective sewing woman's asso-
Citations, and it would dull every sword
until il would nor emf skin deep, and IN