The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-09-14

one cheerful face dawning upon . mans
soul is worth . thousand dollars to him.
Do not whine over the afflicted. Take the
promises Of the Gospel and utter them in
manly tone. Do not be afraid to smile
If you feel like it. DO not drive any more
hearses through that poor soul. Do not
tell him the trouble was foreordained; it
will not be any comfort to know it was q
million years coming. II you want to find
splints for broken bone do not take cast
iron. Do not tell them it is Gods justice
that weighs out grief. They want now to
hear of Gods tender mercy. In other
words, do not give them aqua fortis when
they need valerian.
Again l remark that those persons are
poor comforters who have never had any
trouble themselves. A larkspur can not
lecture upon the nature Of snowflake
it never saw Q snowflake; and those peo-
pie who have always lived in the summer
of prosperity can not talk to those who are
frozen in disaster. God keeps aged peo-
pie in the world, I think, for this very
work Of sympathy. They have been
through all these trials. They know all
that which irritates and that which soothes.
II there are men and women here who have
old people in the house, or near at hand so
that they can easily reach them. con-
graduate them. Some Of Us have had
trials in life, and although we have had
many friends around about US, we have
wished that father and mother were still
alive that we might go and tell them.
Perhaps they could not say much, but
| it would have been such . comfort to have
them around. These aged ones who have
been all through the trials of life know how
| to give coincidence. Cherish them; let
| them lean on your arm-these aged people.
| II, when you speak to them, they can not
hear just what you say the first time, and
you have to say it q second time, when
you say it 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 silvery locks from the
wrinkled brow just before they screw the
| lid on.
Blessed be God for the old peoplel They
| may not have so much strength to go
| around, but they are Gods appointed min
listers of comfort to a broken heart. Peo-
| pie who have not had trial themselves can
not give comfort to others. They may
talk very beautifully, and they may give
| you great deal of poetic sentiment, but
while poetry is perfume that smells sweet
| it makes very poor salve. II you have q
| grave in your pathway and somebody
comes and covers it all over with flowers it
is a grave yet. Those who have not had
grief themselves know not the mystery of
| broken heart. They know not the mean
| ing Of 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 memOries-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 fig-
ures that she scribbled-the blocks she
built into house. All, no, you must have
| trouble yourself before you can comfort
trouble in others. But come all We who
have been bereft and ye who have been
comforted in your sorrows, and stand
around these afflicted souls and say to
them: ~ had that very sorrow myself.
God comforted me, and He will comfort
you," and that will go 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-
lions that l will bring to those who are
sorrowful and distressed, and that we can
always bring to them, knowing that they
will effect cure. And the first consider
alton is, that God sends our troubles in
love. 1 often hear people in their troubles
say: "Why, wonder what God has a gainst
mel" They seem to think God has some
grudge against them because trouble and
misfortune have come. Oh no. Do you
not remember that passage of Scripture.
"whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth."
A child comes in with a very bad splinter
in its hand and you try to extract it. 1t is
a very painful operation. The child draws
back from you. but you persist. You are
going to take the splinter out, so you take
the child with q gentle but firm grasp; for
although there may be pain in it, the
splinter must come out. And it is love
that dictates it and makes you persist.
Ny friends, really think that nearly all
our sorrows in this world are only the
hand of our Father extracting some thorn.
If all these sorrows were sent by enemies,
I would say arm yourselves against them
| and, as in tropical chimes, when 8 tiger
comes down from the mountains and car
ries of child from the village, the neigh
bors band together and go into the forest
and hunt the monster, % would have
you, if I thought these misfortunes were
sent by an enemy, go out and battle
against them. But no, they come from q
Father so kind, SO loving, SO gentle, that
the prophet, speaking of His tenderness
and mercy, drops the idea of . father, and
saws: Gas one whom his mother comfort
eth. so will comfort you"
| Again. remark, there is comfort in the
thought that God, by all this process, is
going to make you useful Do you know
that those who accomplish the most for
God and Heaven have all been under the
harrow. Show me . man that has done
any thing for Christ in this day, in pub
lie or private place, who has had no
! trouble and whose path has been smooth.
All, no. once went through an axe fac
tory, and I saw them take the bars Of iron
and thrust them into the terrible furnaces.
Then besweated workmen with long tongs
stirred the blaze. Then they brought
out bar Of iron and put it into crush
ing machine, and then they put it be-
tween jaws that bit in twain. Then
they put it on an anvil, and there
were great hammers swung by rnachin-
ery-each one-half q tone in weight-that
went thump! thump! thump! II that iron
could have spoken it would have said:
'Why must be pounded any more than
any other iron:" The workmen would
have said: I'VE want to make axes out
Of you; keen, sharp axes-axes with which
| to hew down the forest and build the ship
| and erect houses and carry on a thousand
enterprises of civilization. That's the rea-
son we pound YOU"
| Now God puts soul into the furnace Of
trial and then it is brought out and run
through the crushing machine, and then il
comes down ON the anvil, and upon it blow
after blow, blow after blow, and the soul
cries out: 20, Lord, what does all this
| IL ~ 90