The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1901-10-04
sou 2afe Rcad. All my life. has boen
affected by j tho letter OF introduction

affected by tho letter OF introduction
thnt Roy. D. Van Yrankcn,So New
Brunswick Theological seminary,
wrote for me, a boygunder him, when
/ L was seeking u settlement ginEwhich
to preach the Gospel. That letter
gave me my first pulpit. DR.. Van
Vranlkcn has been dead moro than 30
years, yet l feel the touch Of that
magnificent old professor. Strange
sensation was it when received / a
kind message from Rev. Thomas
Guard, Of Baltimore, the great. Meth
odist orator, six weeks after his
death! BY way OF the eternal world |?
Oh, no; by way Of this world. 1 did
aot meet tho friend to whom he gave
tho message until nearly two months
after Thomas Guard had asccnded.
So you can start Il word about some
one that Will be on Its travels and
vigorous long after the funeral
psalm has been sung at your obso-
| quics. Kindncssl Why, If so men all
| aglow with it should walk through
the lost world me thinks they would
almost abolish pcrdition.
| Suppose all this assemblage ana
| oil to whom these words shall come
by printers type should resolve to
make kindness an ovcrarching, UNDER
girding and all pcrvading principle Of
their llfo and then carry out the res
olution Why, in six months the
whole earth would feel 1t. People
would say; what is the matter? 1t
seems TO mo that the world is GET
ting to be n better place to live in.
Why, life, after all, is worth living.
Why, there is Shylocli, my ncighbor,
has withdrawn his lawsuit Of fore
closure against that man, and boz
cause ho had so much sickness in his
family he is going to have the house
for one year rent free There is an
old lawyer in that young lawyers Of
fee, and do you know what ho has
| gone in thero for? Why, he is help
| ing to fix up u case which Is 800 biz
| for the young man to handle, md tho
| whitc-hnircd attorney is hunting up
| previous decisions and making out q
| brief for the boy. DO you know that
n strange thing has taken place in the
pulpit, and all tho old mnistcrs are
helping the young ministers, aud all
the old doctors are helping tho young
| doctors, and tho farmers are assist
| ing each other IN gathering the har-
| vest, and for that farlnor who is sick
| the neighbors have made q "bcc," as
they call 1t, and they have M turned
In to help him get his crops into the
| garner? And they tell Ino that the
older and moro skillful reperteSs
who have permanent positions on pa
pers arc helping the young fellows
who arc just beginning to try and do
not know exactly how to do it. And
| after few crasurcs and interpola-
tions on tho reporters pad they say,
"Now, hero is n readable account Of
that tragedy; hand it IN, aid | am
suro tho managing editor will take
| It,"
"And 1 heard this morning Of a poor
old man whose throo children wore in
hot debate rs to who should take care
Of him In his declining days. The old
est son declared that 1t was his right,
because he was the Oldest, and the
| youngest said it was his right because
he was the youngest, and Mary said 1t
was her right because she better un-
| derstood her fathers vertigo and
rheumatism and poor spells aud knew
better how to nurse him, and the only
| way the difficulty could be sottlad was
by the old mans promise that ho
would divide the year into three parts
and spend third of his time with each
| ono OF them. And neigh boring stores
In the same line Of goods on tho same
block are acting kindly to each other.
It seams to me that those words Of
Isaiah are being fulfilled when ne
says: "The carpenter encouraged the
goldsmith and ho that smoothcd the
hammer, him that snoto the anvil,
saying, it is ready for tho soldering
What Is tho matter? It seems to me
our old world Is picking up. Why, tho
millennium must be coming in. Kind
ness has got the victory"
My hearers, you know and know we
are far from that state of things. But
why not inaugurate o new dispensa-
tion of genlality. If we cannot have o
millennium on " large scale, let US
have it on small scale and undor our
own ventments. 1ilndnessl II this
world is ever brought to God, that 10
shc thing that will do it. You cannot
fret the world up, although you may
fret tho world down. You cannot
| acold 1t into excellence or raforma-
| tion or godlincss.
| And whilo we take the matchlosa
| kindness from God may 1t bo found
| that we have uttered our last bittor
word, written our last cutting pare
| graph, done our last ataliatory action,
| felt our laat rovcnGeful heart threb.
And It would not be q bad epltaph for
sny Of us II, by the grace Of God, from
this time forth we lived such benefl-
| oent lives that the tombstone's olisel
could appropriately cut upon the plain
slab that marks our grave su4gas-
tion from the text: He showed us o
| little kindness" But not until the last
| child Of God has got ashore from tho
| earthly storms that drove Him on tho
rocks liko Mediterranean Eureely-
dons, not until all the thrones Of
Heaven are mounted, and all The CON
querors drowned, and all tile hnrps and
trumpets and orgnna Of Heaven ara
| thrummed or blown or sounded and
tho ransomcd Of all climes and agos
aro in full chorus under the iubilant
swing OF angelic baton, and we shall
for thousands Of years have seen tho
Styer from under The threno rolling
Into the "sca of glass mingled with
Are" and this world wo now inhabit
shall be 30 far in the past that only q
stretch OF celestial memory oan re-
| call that it ever existed at All, not un-
I'll then will we understand what No
hcmfah calls "the great kindness" and
David calls "the marvellous Kindness"
and isaiah calls "the everlasting kind