The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-09-03
WHY SIN WAS PERMITTED
TALMAGE SAYS HE WILL TELL
WHEN HE CROSSES THE STYX.

" ~GN A13S SILSCS6o 11h . a.
"Plasters that VIII Not Stick" the Sub
ject of ttis Sermon at East Hampton
Yesterday-Job's Exclamation. "Mis-
cradle Comforters Are Ye ALL" the
Text from Which He Preached.
EAST HAMPTON, N. Y, Sept. 2.-The
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage. D. D., who
spends good part of his summer rest here,
took for the subject of his vacation sermon
of this date, "Plasters That viii Not
Stick" His text was, Miserable comfort
ers are ye all. Job xvi, 2. Following is
the sermon:
The man of Uz had great many trials
the loss of his family, the loss Of his prop
erty, the loss of his health; but the most
exasperating thing that came upon him
was the tantalizng 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 into the world ?
1t is o question often hear discussed, but
never satisfactorily answered. God made
the world fair and beautiful ab the S art.
If our first parents had not sinned in Eden,
they might have gone out of that garden,
and fou d fifty paradises ell 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 Susque-
hanna; the whole earth vas very fair and
beautiful to look upon. Why did it not
stay sol God had the power 20 keep back
sin and woe. Why did he not keep them
hacks Why not every cloud roseate, and
every step joy, and every sound music,
and all the ages a long jubilee of
sinless men and sinless women God can
a thorn. Why, then, the predominaDce
of thorns' He can make good. fair, ripe
fruit, as well as gnarled aud sour fruit.
Why SO much, then, that is gnarled and
sourl He can make men robust in health.
Why, then, are here SO many invalids?
Why not have for our whole race perpetual
leisure, instead Of this tug and toll and
tussle for a livelihoods l will tell
you why God let sin come into the
the River cf Death. That is the place
where such questions will be answered,
and such mysteries solved. He who this
side that river attempts to answer the
question, only illustrates his own ignorance
and incompetency. All | know is one
great fact, and that is, that herd of woss
nave como in upon us, trampling down
everything fair and beautiful. A sword at
the gate of Eden, and a sword at every
gate. More people under the ground
than on it. The grave-yards 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 hands. and pinched it until
the nations wall with the agony. II all the
mounds Of graveyards that have been lifted
were put side by side, 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
have to say that, in world like this, the
grandest occupation is that of giving condol-
ence. This holy science of inparting COM
fort 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, who wish you well and are very
intellight, and yet be able truthfully to say
to them in your days of trouble: "Misera-
ble comforters are We all"
/ remark, in the first place, that very
voluble people are not competent for the
work of giving comfort. Bildad and
EliphaZ had the gift of language, and with
their words almost bothered Jobs life out
Alas for these voluble people that GO
among the houses of the afflicted and taik,
and talk, and talk, and talkl They rehearse
their own Sorrows and then they tell the
poor sufferers tnat they feel badly now, but
they will feel worse after awhile. Silencei
Do you expect, with thin courtplaster of
words, to heal a wound deep as the soule
Step very gently around about a broken
heart. Talk very softly around those whom
God has bereft Then go your way. Deep
sympathy has not much TO say. A firm
grasp Of the hand, a compassionate look,
Just one word that means as much as
whole dictionary, and you have given. per-
haps, all the comfort that q soul needs. A
man has a terrible wound in his arm. The
surgeon comes and binds 1t up. Now" he
says, "carry that arm In sling, and
be very careful of it. Let no one touch 1t. -
But the neighbors have heard Of the acci-
dent and they come in. and they say, Let
us see it" And the Dandage is pulled OFF,
and this one and that one must feel it, and
see how much it is swollen; and there is
irritation, and Inflammation, and exaspera-
tion, where there ought to be healing and
cooling. The surgeon comes in and says:
What does all this means You have no
business to touch those bandages. That
wound will never heal unless you let it
alone" So there are souls broken down in
sorrow. What they most want IL rest, or
very careful and gentle treatment; but the
neighbors have heard of the bereavement
or Of the loss, and they come In to sympa-
thize, and they say: ''Show us, now, the
wound. What were his last words2 Re
hearse, now, the whole scene. How did you
feel when you found you were an orphan y"
Tearing of the bandages here, and pulling
them of there, leaving ghastly wound
that the balm OF Gods grace had already
begun to heal. Oh, lot no loquacious peo-
pie, with ever-rattling tongues, go into the
homes Of the distresssdi
Again remark, that all those persons are
incompetent to give any kind OF comfort
who act merely as worldly philosophers.
They come in and say, "Why, this Is what
you ought to have expected. Tho 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
timei What difference does il make 10 that
father and mother what disease their son
died Off He is dead, aud itmakes no differ
ence whether the trouble was in tho epigas-
trio or hypogastric region. III the philoso-
pher be Of the stoical school he will come
and say, "You ought to control your feel
ings. You must not cry so. You must
cultivate a cooler temperament. You must
have self-reliance, sslf-government self
control" an iceberg reproving a hyacinth
for having drop Of dew In its eve. A
violiuist has his instrument, and he sweeps
his fingers across the strings, now evol1ing
strains of Joy, and now strains of sadness.
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