Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-04-03

pies when the abbot throws the
Dice" goes an old legend. 1.-The whole
convent will gamble also" The reason
the Chinese ladies of today crush ane
distort their feet is because centurie:
ago Chinese empress was born will
deformed feet, and they are initatin,
the deformity. Everywhere we fint
that when great man does wrong hi.
evil conduct is taken as an example, OF
rather rs an excuse. for hundreds anC
thousands of similar sins.
The Artists Masterpiece.
Never give any man a chance by tn,
recital OF some wrong or sin to turn hi,
face for one instant from purity anC
right. When Leonardo da VincI I'm
ished his great painting. the LAS
Supper he made cup which was
masterpiece. In form and characte
and In the luster OF the precious meta
this central cup was clearly and beau
tifuily wrought out. The common
praise which was first heard from ev
cry lip was this: How marvellous Is thu
| art displayed in the wine cup" This
| eulogium so incensed the great italian
| artist that be took great brush ant
blotted ont the splendid cup as he said
II meant the face of Jesus Christ I,
be the only and the central and tn,
most important part OF that picture
| Whatever draws away the eyes OF tn,
beholder from that must be blottet
out" And so whatever draws away
the thoughts and the desires of oul
hearers and companions from trutl
and purity and love must be blottet
out. And mark you this. my brother
In ninety-nine cases out of q hundred
no man is as good man after hearlns
the rehearsal OF scandal or a sin a.
he was before. There may be excep
tons. There may be times when PEG
pie, by Illustration, ought to have the
red light OF warning flashed before
their eyes. But in ninety-nine cases
out OF q hundred q mans spiritual life
is developed better by hearing OF the
| virtues and self sacrifices and Chris
tan purities of his fellow men than by
wallowing 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, IL he does
talk, they. say to themselves: "Well, |
do not know whether he is good or a
bad man. One thing do know-he al.
ways speaks well OF everybody. That
Is certainly d good characteristic.
feel that | can trust him on that &C.
count. ] always like him around. ]
know when 1 am absent he will speak
well of me, as he does of Others" On
the other hand, when n man has no,
the golden lips Of gospel silence people
say of him: 81 do not like that man
lie may be good. kind and true. but he
certainly has poor way of showing
II. You cannot be I'm his company five
minutes before he is harshly criticlsinc
some one. lie criticises his wife his
mother. his employer. his absent friend
as wei! as his absent enemy. always
feel when l am with him that he Is
watching me, so that he can harshly
criuciSe me when my back Is turned
j Go not ike such a man around"
This harsh criticism which we.inay
otter against our neighbors always has
bad reactionary effect upon those
who make II. Therefore IL we want &c
have great influence for good Il is
very essential for US. for the most part
to talk Gully about the virtues and the
good qualities OF those with whom we
cone Ia contact. The best recommen.
dation That gospel minister can have
Is that he speaks well OF other minis
tiers; lawyer. that he speaks well of
lawyers; n doctor. that he has n kind
word TO speak about his brother physi
clans; wife. that she speaks well Of
other wives and other wives children.
servant, that she speaks well of her
late mistresses. And vet the strange
fact or life is many OF us think we are
enhancing the value OF our regulations
when we are picking flaws In the rcpu
tatiors OF others.
The Folly OF Samson.
Blind Samson tumblcd down the Da-
gon temple upon the heads OF the 1000
Philistnes. But when Samson de-
stroyed the enemies OF his pcople he
also destroyed himself So when we
attempt by harsh criticism to DESTROY
others We contribute to our own de-
struction. When party of Amino
climbers wish 10 ascend the dizzy
heights. they bind themselves togeth-
or with long rope. Slowly and eau
uously they creep over the glaciers
and stand upon the edge 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 jun I'm the Ice STATS also
Ihey know that IL 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 iour.
ney or life. When we try to ding a
brother down, there Is a Jerk at our
own belts. To a greater or less extent
we VIII be dragged down. But when
we try by the golden lips OF gospel ST.
lence TO screen a fallen brother and
make 1t easier for him TO recover and
when we refuse to advertise his faults
we ourselves are helped up i'm the
struggle OF life. We help ourselves
when we try to Shield our fallen breth. |
rem.
The golden lips OF gospel silence new.
or Intentionally speak q harsh word
Their owner knows that in the sight |
or God he is a sinner and that as a |
lost sheep he has erred and strayed |
far from the divine pasturnge. The
better Christian Is the more he real |
ICES the enornity OF his own sins. the |
more inclined he Is to be less harsh |
upon the sins OF others. When Paul
hrst had his blind eyes opened by the
good Ananias, he was able, to some ex-
tent, to see his own faults He wrote.
Il am the least OF the apostlcsi' Then
Paul went on In his spiritual growth.
de saw his past blacker and bIacker
10 the eyes OF God. Then he wrote.
Unto me. who am less than the least
or all the saints" Paul went on
growing higher and higher In spiritual
hfe until at last. just before his mar
Iyrdom. he could cry out III rapture
This is faithful saying and worthy
't all acceptation--that Christ Jesus
came into the world TO save sinners.
. 81. Il