(2) The Apostle commends hospitality ; the bringing together of our friends to eat and drink and converse, and not only those whose rank is equal to or higher than our own, and who can ask U8 again, but those who are a little depressed in life, and who may be said to correspond to the halt and maimed in the parable of the Marriage Supper. Hospitality may do a great deal of good in the world. It binds men together in ties of friendship and kindness ; it draws them out of their isolation ; it moulds and softens their characters. The pulse seems to beat quicker, and our spirits flow more freely when we are received with a hearty welcome; when the entertainer is obviously thinking not of himself but of his guests, when the conversation has health and life in it, and seems to refresh us after toil and work.
^ Let a man, then, say, My house is here in the country, for the culture of the country ; an eating-house and sleeping-house for travellers it shall be, but it shall be much more. I pray you, 0 excellent wife, not to cumber yourself and me to get a rich dinner for this man or this woman who has alighted at our gate, nor a bed-chamber made ready at too great a cost. These things, if they are curious in, they can get for a dollar at any village. But let this stranger, if he will, in your looks, in your accent and behaviour, read your heart and earnestness, your thought and will, which he cannot buy at any price, in any village or city, and which he may well travel fifty miles, and dine sparely and sleep hard, in order to behold. Certainly, let the board be spread and let the bed be dressed for the traveller ; but let not the emphasis of hospitality lie in these things. Honour to the house where they are simple to the verge of hardship, so that there the intellect is awake and reads the laws of the universe, the soul worships truth and love, honour and courtesy flow into all deeds.*
Ye gave me of your broken meat,
And of your lees of wine. That I should sit and sing for you,
All at your banquet fine.
1 Maurice Maeterlinck, Life and Flowers, 65. ' Emerson.
ROMANS XIII. 8 355
Ye gave me shelter from the storm,
And straw to make ray bed, And let me sleep through the wild night
With cattle in the shed.
Ye know not from what lordly feast
Hither I came this niglit. Nor to what lodging with the stars
From hence I take my tiight.^
(3) It is om- duty to be friendly. Even a single person who has strong affection and principle, and a natm-al gaiety of soul, may have a great influence for good ; without pretending to be wiser or better than others, he may have a form of character which controls them. People hardly consider how much a little kindness may do in this sometimes troubled world. When a man is a stranger in a strange place, a sympathetic word, a silent act of courtesy makes a wonderful impression. The plant that was shrinking into itself brings forth under these genial influences leaves and flowers and fruit. There is probably no one who, if he thought about it, would not contribute much more than he does to the happiness of others.
^ The Kussian reformer, novelist and philanthropist, had an experience that profoundly influenced his career. Famine had wrought great sufi'ering in Eussia. One day the good poet passed a beggar on the street corner. Stretching out gaimt hands, with blue lips and watery eyes, the miserable creature asked an alms. Quickly the author felt for a copper. He turned his pockets inside out. He was without purse or ring or any gift. Then the kind man took the beggar's hand in both of his and said : " Do not be angry with me, brother ; I have nothing with me ! " The gaunt face lighted up; the man lifted his bloodshot eyes; his blue lips parted in a smile. " But you called me brother — that was a great gift." Eeturning an hour later he found the smile he had kindled still lingered on the beggar's face. His body had been cold ; kindness had made his heart warm.^
^ In one of my earliest missions we were using the communion rail for seekers, and I was much puzzled by the conduct of a middle-aged man in the second centre pew from the front. I could see he was broken-hearted and sobbing, but he did not come out. When I went to his side he said he wanted to
* Cicely Fox Smith. ' N. D. Hillis, Investment of Influence, 41.
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be saved and was willing ; but he would not stir. Presently I looked at his boots and saw the reason. He mixed the plaster for some builders, and had come to the service in a pair of big ugly plaster-covered boots, and was ashamed to go to the front in them. I said to him, " Are those dirty boots your hindrance ? " And his answer was, " Yes, sir, they are." " All right," I said, " put mine on to go forward in." When he saw me begin to unloose my boots and realized that I was willing to do this to help a stranger to Christ, he sprang to his feet, boots and all, and was soon kneeling with others seeking the Lord. But my little act of helpfulness so completely moved him that for two or three minutes he could do nothing but laugh and cry at the same time. Ay, and he made a lot of us who were near join him in both.^