The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
sY THE REV. FRANK DE WITT TALMAeE, D. D.

CE ' tAGMFGEG Gs 6A
 I upon his head; then, as the spirit of | the picture bgan to take possession or
 him. he reached up and removed his hat. ] The following day the man came back but this time he had washed his face and his hands. Next day he came again
 and stood before the picture This day ] he had his clothes cleaned. Day after 1 day, as long as that picture was in the | city, this man came. each time improved
 in apparel, each time with more of divine | light and love flooding his heart and soul. | My brothers, if we reach up for lofty | ideals those ideals will lift us up. If we
 only see and talk about the depravities ] in our brothers nature, those evil deeds will drag us down.
 1 The golden lips of gospel silence are i often just as important for our spiritual | development as the silver tongue of
 speech Joseph Addison, the great Eng | fish author and critic, once gave de- l scription of his feelings when listening i to masterpiece rendered by d noted ] orchestra He said that he was not so
 much impressed with the great tidal waves of sound which dashed themselves against his eardrums the waves of the mighty deep in midwinter beat against the Holland dikes or with the volume of mingled sounds, as when the voices of the celestials seemed to blend with the voices of the terrestrials, as he was impressed with the deep silence which suddenly ensued when the orchestra lead CT lifted his baton in the midst of the piece and commanded his musicians to halt. "Methought." he wrote. this short interval of silence had more music in it than any short space of time before or after It." The most eloquent passages of our spiritual development may often be found when we press the golden lips of gospel silence against our neighbor 8 faults, when We are dumb and say noth-
 ing, absolutely nothing.
 Scandals Publish Themselves.
 The golden lips of gospel silence should
 remain closed because, as rule, it is
 not necessary to emphasize scandals | Scandals are always loud voiced. They
 publish themselves. As l speak some one sitting in a pew has been saying to him self: "Is it not right to denounce other peoples faults? Shall we not warn our friends against these sins? Shall we not point out mems errors as wed as their virtues? Did not Paul write to young lmothy enjoining him to rebuke as well as to exhort, to reprove as well as preach the word?" Yes, that Is true; but, as rule, when a man sins he does not find a very great lack of reprovers and re- bukers, while there Is generally a great scarcity of exhorters and encouragers when he does right.
 The late Dr. Joseph Parker, the great London preacher, o:lce said: '"rhe aver age newspaper prefers not to print that which Is only commendatory. If l should arise this morning and preach the most eloquent eVangelistic sermon ever deliver ed from any English pulpit, no special notice would be taken of the same, but If 1 should preach In an alpaca coat and stand under an open umbrella which l might hold in my left hand, every news paper in Australia, New Zealand Amer lea or the British isles would have an account of the same tomorrow morning" Furthermore, In every community there are scores of men and women who con slider themselves self-appointed messen- gers of evil. They are even willing to leave the home on wash Monday or on Saturday afternoon, when they ought to be prepar- ing for the sacred Sabbath, if they can only peddle some story of satanic gossip about the neighborhood. And so my brother, you need not be afraid that enough condemnatory emphasis will not be placed upon your neighbours faults. The simple fact is If some of us do not tell and systematically talk about our neighbours virtues the sinful world may come to the conclusion that they have no virtues; that they are startling ex- amples of total depravity through and through.
 A clean heart instinctively finds some good in every mans nature. A honey bee always scents the flower. 1t Is the firefiy of the night who loves to light his little lantern and to hunt for the creeping vermin in the quagmre and in the disease breeding recesses of the miasmatic swamp. An old and yet a very suggestive story goes thus: One day a wagon was driven up a country road in front of Pennsylvania farmhouse. The driver had all his children and goods and chattes In his vehicle. He was nov ing and wanted to find a new home. He called out to a Quaker farmer sitting up- on the porch: Stranger, what kind of people live In the next town-I mean in that town which is just over the hill? l want to settle there" Well, friend" answered the Quaker farmer, what kind of people did thee leave in the place from whence thee came?' "Oh," replied the farmer, they were the meanest peo- pie on earth Every one of them would stab you in the back if he could. They would cheat you and cut your throat 1 never could get to like them. That is the reason l am leaving and trying to find a new home" Friend" answered the old Quaker farmer, thee will find the same kind of people living in the next town" Next day another emigrant drove up to the same farmhouse. He asked the same question. Friend" asked the Quak- CT farmer what kind of people did thee leave in the place from whence thee came? "Oh," answered this new arrival, they were the kindest, the dearest peo- pie on earth. l would never have left them, but my dear wife died. Then the old homestead became intolerabe Every friend would open the bleeding wound of my heart. l could not believe that any people could ever be so kind as my old neighbors were during my late trouble" Friend" answered the Quaker farmer thee will find the same kind neighbors In the next town as in the place from whence thee came"
 Speak Only of the Good
 Like the old Quaker farmer, l would declare that each nearer can find good in all men or bad in all men Just in pro- portion as his own heart is good or bad And If we have any good in our own makeup 1t is very important that we have the silver tongue of speech in order to talk about other peoples virtues, Let oth- CTS, if they will, advertise the errors; we will only speak about the good.
 The golden lips of gospel silence never foolshly whisper sinful tales into the ears of wrongdoers by which they shall try to justify their own sins. A good ex- ample is infectious. When Mir. Beeeher was young pastor in Indiana he made up his mind that he would try to preach the love of God from a flower garden as well as from his pulpit. He laid out his parsonage grounds in rows of roses and gerauiums, violets and hydrangeas One year he planted a bed of over 5000 hyacinths. At first the village people in great Wonderment would come and look