Sharp County record., 1888-09-20
TALMAGES SERMON.
An Interesting Sermon on An
Everyday Subject.
uPIasters That VIII Not stick" or World
IL Philosophers Versus Christ's Dis
ciples as Ministers to Troub-
led Spirits.

The following sermon was delivered by
Rev T. Dewitt Talmaga at East Hamp-
ton, N. Y, where he is spending his sum-
mer vacation. His text was:
Miserable comforters are We all-Job, xvi, 5.
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 weigh
ing what they had said he utters the
words of my text
Why did God let sin come into the
world? 1t is q question l often hear dis
cussed but never satisfactorily an
swered. God made the world fair and
beautiful at the start. If our first par
ents had not sinued in E den they might
have gone out of that garden and found
fifty paradises all around the earth-Eu-
rope. Asia, Africa, North and South
America-so many flower gardens, or
orchards of fruit, redolent aud luscious.
suppose that when God poured out the
Gihon and the Hiddekel, he poured
out, at the same time, the Hud-
son, and the Susquehanna; the
whole earth was very far 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 tn EN- back!
Why not every cloud poseate, and every
step JOY, aud every sound music, and
all the ages a long jubilee of stnless men
and sinless women? God can make a
rose as easily as He can make thorn
Why, then, the predominance of thorns?
He can make good fair ripe fruit as well
as gnarled and sour fruit Why so much,
then, that is gnarled and sour? He can
make men robust in health, Why, then,
are there so many invalids? Why not
have for our whole race perpetual leisure,
instead of this tu; and toll and tussle for
a livelihood?
l will tell you why God let sin come into
the worId-when get on the other side OF
the River of Death. That is the place
where such questions will be answered
and such mysteries solved. He who this
side of that river attempts to answer this
cues ton, only illustrates his own lgno-
rance and lncompetency, All know is
one great act, and that is, that herd OF
woes have come in upon us, trampllng
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
m. Trouble has taken the tender
heart Of this world in its two rough hands,
and pinched it until the nations wall with
the agony. If all the mounds of grave
wards that have been lifted were put side
bv side, you might step on them, and
nothing else, going all around the world,
and around again, and around again.
These are the facts And now | have to
Il say that, in world like this, the grand
est occupation is that of giving condo
lence. This holy science OF impartlng
comfort to the troubled we ought all.ot
us to study. There are many of you who
could look around upon some of your
very best friends who wish you we'll and
are very intelligent and yet be able
truthfully to say to them in your days OF
trouble:
Miserable comforters are ye all.
l remark, in the first place, that very
voluble people are incompetent 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 20 among the houses of the afflicted
and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk!
They rehearse their own sorrows and
vlen 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
q wound deep as the soul? Step very
gently around about 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, compassionate look,
lust one word that means as much as a
whole dictionary, and you have given,
perhaps, all the comfort that soul
needs. A man has terrible wound in
his arm. The surgeon comes and binds
ltup
"Now," he says, "carry that arm in a
sling and be very careful of it. Let no
one touch it,"
But the neighbors have heard of the ac-
cident, and they come in, and they say:
'Let us see it." And the bandage 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 exas peration, where there ought to be
healing and cooling. The surgeon comes
in and says:
"What does all this mean? You have
no business to touch these bandage5.
That wound will never heal unless you
let it alone"
SO there are souls broken down in sor-
row. What they most want is rest, or
very careful and gentle treatment; but
the neighbors have heard of the bereave- =
ment or of the loss, and they come ia 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"
Tearing off the bandages here, and pull
ing them off there leaving a CHASTITY
wound that the balm of Gods grace had
already begun to heal. Oh, let no loqua-
cious people with ever-rattling tongues 60
into the homes of the distressed,
Again, remark that all those persons
are incompetent TO give any kind of COM
fort who act mel ely as worldly philoso-
pliers. They come in and say:
"Why, this Is what you ought to have
eypected, The laws of nature must have