The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05


 so can SOW hls wild oats, l guess we can. If So-and-so can safely cross the rickety bridge spanning the river Of deathi guess We can also trust ourselves upon the swinging span Here goes! llnder is not more apt to take fire once wrote Phillips Brooks. nor wax to take the Impression of the seal nor paper the ink than youth is to follow i'll examples. When the abbot throws the dice goes an old legend "the whole convent will gamble also" the reason the Chinese ladies of today crush and distort their feet is because centuries ago a Chinese empress was born with deformed feet, and they are initiating the deformity By anywhere we find that when great man does wrong his evil conduct Is taken as an example, or rather as an excuse, for hundreds and thousands of similar sins.
 The Artists Masterpiece.
 Never give any man a chance by the recital of some wrong sin to turn his face for one instant from purity and right. When Leonardo da Vinci finished his great painting. the Last Supper, he made cup which was a masterpiece. In form and character and in the luster of the precious metal this central cup was clearly and beautifully wrought out. The common praise which was first heard
  is the art displayed in the wine cup. This eulogium so ncensed the great Italian artist that he took a great brush and plotted out the splendid cup as he said: T meant the face of Jesus Christ to be the only and the central and the most important part of that picture. Whatever draws away the eyes of the beholder from that must be plotted out And so whatever draws away the thoughts and the desires of our hearers and companions from truth and purity and love must be plotted out. And mark you this, my brother, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred no man is as good man after hearing the rehearsal ot scandal or a sin as he was before. mere may be exceptions. There may be times when people, by Illustration, ought to have the red light of warning flashed be- fore their eyes. But in ninetynlne cases out of a hundred a mans spiritual lie is developed better by hearing or the virtues and self-sacrifces and Christian purities of his fellow men than by wal lowing in the mud of scandal and of sin.
 The golden lips of gospel silence never demean their owner in the eyes of his fellow men. When people sit around and hear him talk, If he does talk they say to themselves: Well, I do not know whether he is a good or bad man. One thing l do know-he always speaks well of everybody. That is certainly a good characteristic. l feel that l can trust him on that account l always like him around. l know when I am absent he will speak well of me, as he does of oth- CTS" On the other hand, when man has not the golden lips of gospel silence people say of him: T do not like that man. He may be good, kind and true, but he certainly has a poor way of show ing it. You cannot be in his company five minutes before he is harshly criticising some one. He criticises his wife, his motiI- CT, his employer, his absent friend as well as his absent enemy. I always feel when I am with him that he is watching me, so that he can harshly critcise me when my back Is turned. | do not like such a man around"
 This harsh criticism which we may ut ter against our neighbors always has bad reactionary effect upon those who make 1t. Therefore if we want to have a great influence for good it is very es- sential for us, for the most part, to talk only about the virtues and the good qualities of those with whom we come in contact. The best recommendation that a gospel minister can have is that he speaks well of other ministers; a law yer that he speaks well of lawyers; a doctor. that he has a kind word to speak about his brother physicians; a wife, that she speaks well of other wives and other wives children a servant that she speaks well of her late mistresses. And yet the strange fact of life is many of us think we are enhancing the value of our repu- tations when we are picking flaws in the regulations of others
 The Folly of Samson.
 Blind Samson tumbled down the Da- gon temple upon the heads of the 5000 Phlistines. But when Samson destroyed the enemies of his people he also de- strqyed himself. So when we attempt by harsh criticism to destroy others we con tribute to our own destruction. When party of Alpine climbers wish to ascend the dizzy heights, they bind themselves together with long rope. Slowly and cautiously they creep over the glaciers and stand upon the edges of the black and yawning crevasses. If one of their number falls. the others must be very quick of action. They must not only bury their spiked heels in the ice, but they must jam in the ice staffs also. They know that if they cannot keep their brother from falling he may drag the whole party with him into the opened jaws of death We are all, in one sense, bound together in this journey of life. When we try to fling a brother down, there Is a jerk at our own belts. To greater or less extent we will be drag ged down. But when we try by the gold en silence to screen a fallen brother and make it easier for him to recover and when we refuse to advertise his faults we ourselves are helped up in the strug- gle of life We help ourselves when we try to shield our fallen brethren.
 The golden lips of gospel silence never intentionally speak harsh word against a sinful neighbor Why? Their owner knows that In the sight of God he Is a sinner and that as a lost sheep he has erred and strayed far from the divine pasturage. The better a Christian Is the more he realizes the enormity of his own sins, the more inclined he is to be less harsh upon the sins of others When Paul first had his blind eyes opened by the good Ananias. he was able. to some ex- tent to see his own faults. He wrote, q am the least of the apostles" Then Paul went on in his spiritual growth. He saw his past blacker and blacker in the eyes of God. Then he wrote, Unto me who am less than the least of all saints" Paul went on growing higher and higher in spiritual life until at last, just before his martyrdom, he could cry out in rapture, This is a faithful say Ing and worthy of all acceptation-that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom l am chief" Oh, my brother, by prayer and consecration and by grace cannot and will not you come so near to God that you will cease to condemn your fellow men? Cease be- cause, like Paul, you can feel that you are the chief sinners?
 Would that every one of us could have