Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-09-27
THE POWER OF KINDNESS
DIR. Talmage Says a Spirit of Amity and
Good Feeling is to Be Commended.
Yl0fory Through Good Wnl-Most Potent
OF Worlds.
IC0nvriOhf. 1Qn1 L

copyright, 1901
WASHINGTON, ID. Gin this discourse
Dr. Talmage commends the spirit of amity
and good feeling and mentions illustrious
examples of that spirit; text, Acts xviii,
,, "The barbarous people showed us no lit
tie kindness"
Here we are on the Island of Malta. an
other name for Melta. This island, which
has always been an important commercial
centre. belonging at different times to
Phoenicia, to Greece, to Rome, to Arabia
to Spain. to France, now belongs to Eng
land. The area of the island is about 100
square miles. 1t is in the Mediterranean
Sea, and of such clarity of atmosphere
that Mount Etna, 100 miles away, can be
distinctly seen. The island is gloriously
memorable because the knights of Malta
for long while ruled there, but most ia.
nous because of the apostolic shipwreck.
The bestormed vessel 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 sail:
ors have taken up the Bible account 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 ;jr0iusion of
honey characterized it Ill PauPs time as
well 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 chilled to
the bone, the islanders, though called bar;
Greek. opened their doors to the ship
wrecked unfortunates. My text finds the
ships crew ashore on Malta and around a
hot fire 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 severe sickness IN
the house at that time, his father down
with a dangerous illness. Yea, for three
months they stayed on the island watch
ing for ship and putting the hospitality
of the islanders to severe test. But it
endured the test satisfactorily, and it is
recorded for all the ages of time and eter-
nifty to read and hear in regard to the in
habitants of Malta, 'The barbarous people
showed us no little kindness"
Kindness! What great word that is!
y 1t 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 munifcent word. 1t is a
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 les
lament. Kindness! A word no more
gentle than mighty. I expect it will wres-
tie me down before I get through with it..
1t is strong enough to throw an archan.
GEL But it will be well for us to stand
as Paul and his fellow voyagers stood
around the FIRE on the Island of Malta,
where the Maltese made themselves inn:
mortal in my text by the way they treated
these victims. of the sea- "fhe barbarous
people showed us no little kindness"
Kindness! All definitions of that multi
potent word break down half way. You
say it is. clemency, benignity, generosity;
it is made up of good wishes; it is con-
tribution to the happiness of others.
Some one else says: "Why, can give you
definition of kindness. 1t is sunshine OF
the soul; it is affection perennial; it Is a
cimacteric grace; it is combination OF
all the graces; it is compassion; 1T Is the
perfection of gentle manliness and WON
anliness." Are you all through? You
have made a dead failure in your dehnl.
ton. 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 dramatize it. By the
grace of God you must have it inside you
an everlasting summer, OF, rather, com
bination of June and October, the genial
ity of the one and the tonic of the other
1t cannot dwell with arrogance or spite OF
revenge or malevolence. AT its first APP
pearance in the soul all these Amalekites
and Gergishites and Hittites and Jebu
sites must quit and quit forever. Kind
ness wishes everybody well, every child
well, every bird well, every horse we'll
every dog well, every cat well.
Give this spirit full swing, and you
would have no more need of societies for
prevention of cruelty to animals, no more
need of protective sewing women's asso.
Citations, and it would dull every sword
until it would not cut skin deep and un.
and make gunpowder of no more use in
the world except for rock blasting or py-
rotechnic celebration.
But are you waiting and hoping for some
one to be bankrupted or exposed or dis
comhted or in some way overthrown
Then kindness has not taken possession OF
your nature. You are wrecked ON Malta
where there are no oranges. You are en-
PERTAINING a guest so unlike kindness that
kindness will not come and dwell under
the same roof. The most exhausting and
unhealthy and ruinous spirit on earth is a
revengeful spirit or retaliating spirit as |
know by experience, for have tried it for
five or ter minutes at time. When some
about me, l have felt II will pay him in
his own coin. | will show him up. The
migrate, the traitor, the liar, the villain!'
But five or ten minutes of the feeling has
been so unnerving and exhausting have
abandoned it, and / cannot understand
how people can 60 about torturing them
selves five or ten or twenty years, trying
to get even with somebody. The only
way you will ever triumph over your enc
mics is by forgiving them and wishing
them all good and no evil.
As malevolence is the most uneasy and
proftless and dangerous feeling, kindness
is the most healthful and delightful. And
this is not an abstraction. AS have tried
little Of the retaliatory feeling, so have
tried a little of the forgiving. | do not
want to leave this world until / have
taken vengeance upon every man that ever
Let us all pray for this spirit of kind
ness. 1t will settle a thousand questions.
1t will change the phase of everything. 1t
will mellow through and through our en-
tire nature. 1t will transform lifetime
1t is not feeling got up for occasions,
but perennial. That is the reason I like
petunias better than morning glories