The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1888-09-13


play on it-nOw an anthem, now a dirge.
It Is no evidence Of weakness WREN o0g
Is overcome Of sorrow.
Edmund Burke was found In the pasture
field with his arms around a horses neck,
caressing him, and some one said:
"Why, the great man has lost his
mindW No; that horse belonged 10 his
son, ~ho had recently diel. and his great
heart broke OyeT the grief. 1t Is no sign
Of weakness that mn arc overcome Of
their sOrrows. Thank God for the relief
OF tears. Have you never been in trouble
when yUu could not weep, and you would
have given any thing for a good cryf
David did well when he ifiourued for
Absalom: Abraham did we'll when lie he.
III Daned Sarah; Christ did well when He
vert for Lazarus aud the last man /
want TO see cdrre anywhere near me when
have any kind Of tr0uble is worldly
philosopher
Again | remark, that those persons are
incompetent for the work OF comfort
bearing wno have nothing bat cant to
offer. There are those who have the idea
that you must grOan over the distressed
and afflicted. There are times in grief
when one cheerful face dawHing Upon
mans soul is worth one thousand dollars
TO him. D. not whine over the afflicted.
Take the promise Of the Gospel, and ut
ter tlie!r in manly tone. Do not be
afraid TO smile IL you feel like it. Do not
drive any more hearses through that poor
soul. Do not tell him the trouble was
fore ordained; it will not be any comfort
to know it was one million years coming.
II you want to find splints for a broken
bone, do not take cast iron. Do not tell
a. n hot ~,
grief They want now to hear Of Gods
tender mercy. In other words, do not
give them aqua forts W hen they need
valeriau,
Again remark that those pers ons are
poor comfort.rs who have never had any
trouble themselves. a larks pur can not
lecture on the nature Of a snowfake--:t
never saw a snowflake; and those people
who have always lived in the summer of
prosperity clr not talk 10 those who are
frozen in disaster God keeps aged peo-
pie in the world. think. for this very
work of sympathy. They have been
through all these trials. They know all
III at which irritates and all that which
soothes. If there are men and wO II en-
here who have Old people in their Hyuse,
or near at hand SO that they eau easily
reach them, / congratulate them. Some
Of us ha+e had trials III life, and although
we have had many friends around about
us, we have wished tnat father and
mother were still alive that we might go
and tell them. Perhaps they could not
say much, bat it would have been such a
comfort 10 have them around. Tne ged
ones wh6 have been all through the trials
TT life know how TO give COndOlence
Cherish thCmi let them lean on your arm
these aged people. If, when you speak
10 them, they can not hear just what you
say the first time, and you have to say II
second time when you say ii the second
time do not say it sharply. II you do,
you will be sorry for it on the day when
you take the last look and brush back the
sil7ery locks from the wrinkled brow just
before they screw the lid on. Blessed be
God for the old people! They may not
have so much strength to 60 around, but
they are Gods appointed ministers CT
comfort to a broken heart
People who have not rad trials them
selves can not give comfort to others.
They may talk very beautifully, and they
may give you great deal Of poetic senti-
menti but while poetry Is perfume that
smells sweet. it makes a Very poor salve,
If you have a grave in your pathway, aud
with flowers, it Is a grave vet. Those
who have not had grief themselves know
not the mystery of broken heart. They
k; ow not the meaning % childlessness,
and the having no one to put to bed at
night, or the standing in a room where
every book and picture and door is full
Of memores-the dOor-mat where she
sat, the cup out OF which she drank-the
place where she stood at the door and
clapped her hands-the odd figures that
she scribbled, the blocks she built into
house. Ah, no, You must have trouble
yourself before you can comfort trouble
in others. Bat come all We who have
been bereft, and ye who have been com
forted In your sorrows, and stand around
these afflicted souls, and say to them: Il
had that very sorrow myself. God COM
forted me, and He will comfort you" and
that will 60 right to the spot. In other
words, to comfort others we must have
faith in God, practical experience, and
good, sound common sense.
But there are three or four considera-
tions that | will bring this morning to
those who are sorrowful AMI distress ed,
and that we can always bring to them,
knowing that they Will effect a cura. Aud
the first cons liberation is, that God sends
our trouble in love. ] often hear people
in their troubles say: "Why, l wonder
what God has against me!' TAey seem to
think God has some grulge against them
because trouble and misfortune have
come. Oh, no. Do you not remember
that passage of Scripture, "Whom the
Lord loveth He chlsteneth:" A child
comes in with a very bad splinter in its
hand, and you try to extract it. 1t is q
very painful operation. The child draws
back from you, but You persist. You are
going to take that splinter out, SO yoI
take the child with II gentle but firm
grasp; for although there may be pain in
it, the splinter must come out. AID it is
love that dictates it and N Ikes you per-
sist My friends, Ireally think that all
our sorrows in this world are only the
hand of our Father extracting some
thorn. II all these sorrows were sent by
enemies, | would say, arm urselves
against them: and, as in tropical climes,
when tiger comes down from the mount
aims ami carries off a child from the viii
lage, the neighbors baud together and go
into the forest and hunt the monster so
would have you if | thought these mis-
fortunes were sent by enemies, go out and
battle against them. But no; they come
from Father so kind, so loving, so gem
tie, that the prophet speaking of His
tenderness and mercy, drops the idea of
a Father, and says:
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will
l comfor: you.
Again, l remark, there is comfort in
the thought that Go1, by all this process,
is going to make YOU useful. Do you