The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-09-04
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
An Eloquent Discourse at East
Hampton, N. Y.
Subject: "PIasters That VIII Not Stick,"-
Text: miserable Comforters are We
Au,"Job, Chapter xvi, Verse;.

EAST HAMPTON, n, y, september T.-lSpe-
cial. THE Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage, d. D.,
who spends good part Of his summer rest
here, took for the subject Of his vacation SER
mon of this date, "Plasters That Will Not
Stick" His text was, miserable comforters
are We all.'Job, chapter XVI, verse 2. Fol-
lowing is the sermon:
The man of Uz had great many trials--the
loss of his family, the loss of his property, the
loss Of his health but the most exasperating
thing that came upon him was the tantalizing
talk of those who ought to have sympathized
with him. Looking around upon them, and
weighing what they had said, he utters the
words of my text.
Why did God let sin come limo the world?
1t is a question 1 often hear discussed,
but never satisfactorily answered God
made the world fair and beautiful at the
start. II our first parents had
not sinned in Eden, they might have gone out
OF that garden and found fifty paradises all
around the earth-Europe, Asia, Africa North
and South America-so many flower gardens,
or orchards Of fruit, redolent and luscious.
suppose that when God poured out the Gihon
and the Hiddekel, he poured out at the same
time the Hudson and the Susquehanna; the
whole earth was very fair and beautiful to
look upon. Why did it not stay so? God had
the power to keep back sin and woe. Why did
he not keep them back? Whynot every cloud
roseate, aud every steps joy, and every sound
music, and all the ages long jubilee of sinless
men and sinless women? God can make q
rose as easily as He can make
thorn. Why, then, the predominance
OF thorns? lie can make good, fair, ripe
fruit as well as gnarled and sour fruit. Why
so much, then that is gnarled and sour? lie
can mako men robust in health. Why, then,
are there so many invalids? Why not have
for our whole race perpetual leisure, instead
of this tug and toll and tussle for livelihood?
Twill tell you why God let sin come into the
world-when get on the other side of, the
River of Death. That is the place where such
questions are answered and such mysteries
solved. He who this side that river attempts
to answer the question, only illustrated his
ignorance and incompetency. All [ know is
one great fact, and that is, that q herd of woes
have come in upon us, trampling down every
thing fair and beautiful. A sword at the gate
Of Eden, and sword at every gate. More
people under the ground than on it. The
graveyards in vast majority. The
six thousand winters have made
more scars than the six thousand
summers can cover up. Trouble has taken
the tender heart of this world in its two rough
with the agony. If all the mounds of grave
yards that have been lifted were put side by
size, you might step ON them and on nothing
else, going all around the world, and around
again, and around again. These are the facts
And now l have to say that in a world like
this, the grandest occupation is that of giving
coincidence. This holy science of imparting
comfort to the troubled we ought all Of us to
study. There are many of you who could look
around upon some of your very best friends
m xyig WI
and yet be able truthfully to say to them in
your days Of trouble, miserable comforters
are We ALL"
remark in the first place, that
for tho work OF giving com
fort. Bildad and Eliphaz had the gift of Ian
guage, and with their words almost bothered
Jobs life out. Alas for these voluble people
that go among the houses of the afflicted and
talk. and talk They rehearse their own sor-
rows, and then they tell the poor sufferers that
they feel badly now, but they will feel worse
after awhile. Silence Do you expect with
thin courtplaster of words, to heal wound
deep as the soul? Step very gently around
about broken heart. Talk very softly around
those whom God has bereft. Then 60 your
way. Deep sympathy has not much to say.
A firm grasp of the hand, a compassionate
look, just one word that meaus as much as a
whole dictionary, and you have given, per-
haps, all the comfort that soul needs. A
man has a terrible wound in his arm. The
surgeon comes and binds it up, "Now," he
says, cary that arm in a sling,
and be very careful OF it. Let no
one touch it,. But the neighbors
have heard of the accident, and they
come m and they say, LET us sec it," And
the bandage is pulled Off, and this one
and that one must feel 1t, and see
how much it is swollen; and there is irrta-
ton, aud inflammation, and evaporation,
where there ought TO be healing and cooling.
The surgeon comes i'll and says, What does
all this mean? You have no business to touch
those bandagcs. That wound will never heal
unless YOU lot it alone" So there are souls
broken down in sorrow. What they most
want is rest, or very careful and gentle treat
ment; but the neighbors have heard of the be-
reavement or of tho loss, and they come in to
sympathize, and they say, "Show us now the
wound. What were his last words? Rehearse
now the whole scene. How did you feel when
YOU found YOU were an orphan 2" Tearing off
the bandages here, and pulling them off
there, leaving n CHASTITY wound that the
balm of Gods grace had already begun to
heal, OH let no loquacious people, with ever
rafting tongues. go into the homes of the
distressed
Again l remark, that all those persons are
incompetent TO give any kind OF comfort who
act merely rs worldly philosophers. They
come in and say; why, this is what you
ought 10 have expected. The laws OF nature
must have their way" And then, they get
eloquent over something they have seen in
pOSt-mOrtem examinations, Now, away with
all human philosophy at such q time What
difference does it make TO that father and
mother what disease their son died Of? He is
dead, and ii makes no difference whether the
trouble was in the epigastric or hypogastrio re-
gion. II the philosopher be of the stoical
school, he will come and say "You ought to
control your feelings. You must not cry so.
Tou must cultivate q cooler temperament
You must have self-reiance, self
government, self-control"; an ice
berg reproving a hyacinth for having
a drop of dew in its eye. A vioinist has his
instrument, and he sweeps his fingers across
the strings, now evOking strains Of 10y, and
now strains Of sadness. lie can not play all
the tunes on one string. The human soul is
an instrument of a thousand strings, and all
sorts OF emotions were made TO play on ii.
Now an anthem now dirge. 1t is no evil
dence Of weakness when one is overcome of
sorrow Edmund Burke was found in the pas
ture field with his arms around a horses neck
caressing him, and some one said: "Why,
the great man has lost his mnd!' No; that
horse belonged TO his son who had recently
died, and his great heart broke over the grief
tits no sign of weakness that men are overcome
of their SORROWS. Thank God for the relief of
tears. Have you never been in trouble when
YOU couldn not weep, aud you would have given
or,.ti,ivtr Tor n uDpI rrV9 David fii wall