Milford chronicle., 1903-04-03

/ AAAaAethNAf a man NrtAA AiAlALtEAAs EOf
ern his thoughts, as he can dirccI.
govern his actions. If a man allow
his eye only to see pure pictures an,
to read good books, his ear to hear Onll
what is good and true in reference t
his fellow men; if a man allows hi
tongue to repeat only that which Il
generous and loving and gentle-tha
mans mind and spirit will becOm,
true and good. If his mind become.
pure, then his thoughts and his de
sires will become pure, as well as his
actions.
Reaching For Lofty Ideals.
A man cannot lift himself up by pull
ing at his boot straps. He must have
a pure ideal to draw him out Of him.
self. When Munkacsy's famous pic
tUre, Christ Before PLATE" was being
exhibited in one of our American cit
les. an unkempt and filthy looking man
was one day seen to enter the room
and TO stand and look for hours upon
the sad and beautiful face of the Sa-
! YiOur. At first he stood before that
| painting with his hat upon his head;
then, as the spirit of the picture began
/ to take possession of him, he reached
up and removed his hat The follow
ing 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
day. as long as that picture was in the
city, this man came. each time i'm
proved 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.
The golden lips of gospel silence are
often just as important for our spirit
ual development as the silver tongue
of speech. Joseph Addison, the great
English author and critic, once gave a
description Of his feelings when listen
ing to a masterpiece rendered by a
noted orchestra. He said that he was
not so much impressed with the great
tidal waves of sound which dashed
themselves against his eardrums as
the waves of the mighty deep in mid
winter 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 en-
sued when the orchestra lender lifted
his baton in the midst of the piece and
his musicians to halt. Me
thought" he wrote, this short inter
val 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 Of
ten be found when we press the golden
lips of gospel silence against our neigh
boris faults, when we are dumb and
say nothing, absolutely nothing.
Scandals Publish Themselves.
The golden lips Of gospel silence
should remain closed because, as
'ule. it is not necessary to emphasize
scandals. Scandals are always loud
DICED. They publish themselves. As
speak some one sitting in a pew has
'een saying to himself: "Is it not right ,
0 denOunce other peoples faults? ,
shall we not warn our friends against
hese sins? Shall we not point out
mems errors as well as their virtues?
Did not Paul write to young Timothy {
njOining him to rebuke as well as to $
Xhort, to reprOye as well as preach I
he wOrdY Yes. that is true: but. as 4
rule, when a man sins he does not )
nd a very great lack Of reprovers and I
while there is generally
reat scarcity Of exhorters and enc0ur- I
gers when he does right. /
The late Dr. Joseph Parker the great 7
,OndOn preacher, once said: THE aver 1
ge newspaper prefers not to print .
hat which IS only commendatOry. If Z
should arise this morning and preach d
ne most eloquent evangelistic sermon n
YER delivered from any English pull d
it, no special notice would be taken =
the same, but if l should preach in +
n alpaca coat and stand under an o
pen umbrella, which l might hold in r
" left hand. every newspaper in Aus II
'alia. New Zealand, America or the -
ritish isles would have an account OF
le same tomorrow morning" Fur
in every community there II
re scores Of men and women who Il
Dnsider themselves self appointed ri
of evil. They are even is
lling to leave the home on wash S
onday or on Saturday afternoon, II
hen they ought to be preparing for al
Ie sacred Sabbath. If they can only Il
eddle some story of Satanic gossip ii
jOut the neighbOrhoOd. And so. my pl
other, you need not be afraid that el
lOugh condemnatory emphasis win al
It be placed upon your neighbOr's el
ults. The simple fact is. If some of al
do not tell and Systematically talk bl
,out our neighbOrs' virtues. the sin 81
] world may come to the conclusion bt
at they have no virtues; that they m
q startling ayamDlps of total danray- X