The Caucasian., 1903-04-02
Is certainly a good characteristic.

is certainly a good characteristic. q
feel that l can trust him on that &C.
count. I always like him around. I
know when l am absent he will speak
well of me, as he does of Others" On
the other hand, when man has noe
the golden lips or gospel silence people
say of him: II do not like mat man
He may be good, kind and true, but be
certainly has a poor way Of showing
1t. You cannot be in his company five
minutes before he is harshly criticising
some one. He criticises his wife, his
mother his employer, his absent friena
as we'll as his absent enemy. | always
feel when [ am with him that he is
watching me, so that he can harshly
criticise me when my back is turned
l do not like such a man around
This harsh criticism which we may
utter against our neighbors always has
a bad reactionary effect upon those
who make it. Therefore if we want to
have a great influence for good it is
very essential for us. for the most part,
to talk only about the virtues and the
come in contact. The best recommen-
dation that a gospel minister can have
Is that he speaks we'll Of other minis
| tiers; lawyer, that he speaks we'll of
| lawyers; doctor, that he has a kind
word to speak about his brother phys-
! clans; wife, that she speaks we'll of
other wives and other wives children;
!
late mistresses. And yet the strange
fact Of life is many Of us think we are
enhancing the value of our regulations
when we are picking flaws in the repu-
tations Of others.
The Folly of Samson.
Blind Samson tvmbled down the Da-
gon temple upon the heads Of the 5000
Philistines. But when Samson de-
stroyed the enemies of his people he
also destroyed himself. So when we
attempt by harsh criticism to destroy
others we contribute to our own de-
struction. When a party of Alpine
climbers wish to ascend the dizzy
heights, they bind themselves togeth-
er with long rope. Slowly and eau
tiously 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 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 jour
ney Of life. When we try to fling a
brother down. there is jerk at our
own belts. To q greater or less extent
we will be dragged down. But when
we try by the golden lips of gospel 81
lence 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
struggle Of life. We help ourselves
when we try to shield our fallen breth-
ren.
The golden lips of gospel silence nev-
er Intentionally speak a 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 Christian is the more he real
ICES 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
70
tent, to see his own faults. He wrote,
81 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 the saints" Paul went on
growing higher and higher in spiritual
life until at last, just before his mar
tyrdom, he could cry out in rapture,
This is faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation-that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners,
of whom am chief" Oh, my brother,
by prayer and conservation and by
grace cannot and will not you come so
near to God that you will cease to eea-
like Paul, you can feel that you are the
! chief Of sinners?
Would that every one of us could
have the beautiful eulogy passed upon
us which President John Adams once
passed upon his great predecessor
When the sage Of Massachusetts, stood
for the first time before Stuart's IA
nous picture of Washington. he said,
There was man who when occasion
required knew enough and had self
control enough to keep his mouth shut
and say nothing" When we hear peo-
pie harshly criticised. may we, in the
name of Christ. say nothing or only, If
necessary, speak up in their behalf as
Christ would have us speak. May we
learn this lesson not by standing be-
fore the picture of an earthly hero bu@
by the tomb of martyred Lord.
copyright, 1903. by Louis Klopsch.s