The Iola register., 1902-01-17
A BEAUTIFUL GRACE.
Courtesy Extolled IN This Sermon
by DR.. Talmage.
ThouRbtfuIncss for Others Is Urged
How n Beniennnt spirit May
he Fostcred - what the
world Needs.


how such benignant spirit may be
fostered; text, Peter 2:s: "Be cour-
teous."
In an age when bluntness has been
canonized as a virtue il may be use
full to extol one of the most beautiful
of all the royal family of graces-
courtesy. 1t is graciousness, defer
ence to the wishes of others, good man
ners, affability, Willingness to deny
ourselves somewhat for the advantage
of others, urbanity. But what is the
use of my defining the grace of cour-
tesy when we all know 80 well what it
Is? The botanist might say some very
intere sting ;nir~s about rose, and
the chemist Nigh: discourse about wa
ter or light but without ever seeing
botanist or a chemist we know what
n rose is and what water and light
are. Do not take our time in telling
us what courtesy is. Only show us
how we may get more of it and avoid
what are its counterfeits. Mark you,
Il cannot be put on or dramatized sue
cessfully for a long while. We may
be full of bows and genuhections. and
smiles and plimentary phrase, and
have nothing of genuine courtesy
either in our makeup or in our de-
meanor. A backwoodsman who never
saw a drawing-room or dancing mas
ter or a caterer or fold of drapery
may with his big soul and hard hand
and awkward salutation exercise the
grace, while one born under richest
upholstery and educated in foreign
schools, and bothered to know which
of ten garments he will take from a
royal wardrobe, may be as barren of
the spirit of courtesy as the great Sa-
hara desert is of green meadows and
tossing fountains.
Christian courtesy is born in the
heart by the power of the Holy Ghost,
who has transformed and illumined
and glorified ones nature. Mark you,
am speaking of the highest kind of
courtesy, which is Christian courtesy.
Something like it-ordinary politeness
may grow up with us under the d.
rection of intelligent and watchful
parentage, but l am not speaking of
that which is merely agreeableness of
conversation and behavior. All that
may be matter of tutelage and fine
surrounding and show itself in lifting
the hat to passersby and in a graceful
way of asking about your health and
sending the right kind of acceptance
when you can go and the right kind Of
regrets when YOU cannot 90 and under
st?r5irC ~ ITO Avs &C preference at
table and parlor door, all of which is
well. | am speaking Of a principle of
courtesy soimplanted in ones nature
that his suavity of conversation and
manner shall be the outburst of what
he feels for the happiness and welfare
of Others a principle that will work
in the next world as well as in this
and will be as appropriate in the man
sions of Heaven as in earthly dwelling
places.
Now, you know as well as I do that
some of the most undesirable people
have been seeming incarnations of
courtesy. In our early American his
tory there arose a man of wonderful
talent, an impersonation of all that
can charm drawing-rooms and culti'
waited circles. Aged men who knew
him in their youth have told me that
he was the most irresistible man they
ever met, his voice silvery, his smile
bewitching, his glove immaculate, his
eve piercing, his high fore heaG
wreathed in curls, his attire fascina
ton. He became vice president of the
United States and within one vote OF
being president. Men threw away
their fortunes TO help him in his polit
ical aspirations and to forward him il
a conspiracy to overthrow the govern
ment of the United States, he trying (,
do in America what Napoleon at tha
very time was trying to do in Europ
establish throne for himself. Blu
he was immoral and corrupt He wa
the serpent that wound its way int,
many a domestic paradise. He shot t,
death one of the greatest of American
Alexander Hamilton. The worlt
found out long before he left it tha
the offender I speak Of was an embodi
ment of dissoluteness and base ambi
ton. He was the best illustration tina
know of of the fact that a man ma,
have the appearance of courtesy Will
within he is all wrong.
Absalom, a Bible character, was
specimen of man of polish outsid
and of rottenness inside. Beautiful
brilliant and with such wealth of hal
that when it was cut in each Decen
ber as a matter of pride he had
weighed, and it weighed 200 shekel
He captured all who came near hin
But, oh, what a heart he had-full q
treachery and unfilial spirit and bas'
ness!
In the famous Athenian Alcibiade
history discourses of the same spleI
5o. ~ manner coVerinp inter deDra,
ity. Noble pedigree, transcendent abb
ities, radiant personality, eloqueI
tongue, triumphant warrior, victor {
Olympic games, but debauchee an
an impersonation OF all the vices. Ala
that all up and down history and clef
on into our day there are 30 many