The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-02-25
DARK SAYINGS ONAHARP
TALMAGB PREACHEs ON THE MYs-
TERIES OF LIFE.

Three or Four Possible Reasons Why
the Useful Are Sometimes Taken
from Earth in Their Prime-why So
Many Good People Have Trouble
Why God Let sin and Trouble Come
into the World-Why Some Have II
Hard and Others Easy.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 24-The audience that
crowded the immense auditorium of the
Brooklyn Tabernacle and the adj ining
lecture room and parlors to-day united in
singing;
Sun OF my soul, thou Saviour dear
II Is not night II thou be near.
DIR. Talmage preached oa the subject:
Ozark Sayings on Harp" text Xix,
Psalm OF David, verse 4; 81 will open my
dark sayings on harp"
The world is full Of the inexpIicable. tho
impassa lie, the unfat omable, the 1nsur-
mountable. We cannot go three steps in
any direction without coming up against a
hard wall Of mystery, riddles, paradoxes,
profundities, labyrinths, problems that we
cannot solve, hleroglyphics that we cannot
decipher, anagrams we cannot spell out.
sphinxes that will not speak. For that rea.
son, David, in my text, proposed to take up
try 10 set them TO sweet music: ~ will
open my dark sayings on harp
so look OFT upon society and find peonle
In unhappy conjunction OF circum tances
and they do not know what it mea S aud
they have right to ask, why is this2 and
whv is that9 aud think will be doing a
good work by trying to explain some OF
these strange things AID make you more
content with your lot, and | suall only be
answeri questions that have often been
asked me. or that we have all a ked our
selves. while try to set these mysteries TO
music and open my dark sayings on harp
QUESTION THAT IS OFTEN ASKED.
Interrogation the first: Why does God
take out CT this world those who are useful
and whom we cannot spare aud leave alive
and In e cd health 20 many who are only
nuisance or a positive injury t. the worlle
! thought | would begun with tho very
toughest OF all the seeming iiscrutables.
Many of the most usetu men and omen die
at ~ o. 30 ears OF age, wnile you often II I'd
useless people alive at go and 70 aud 81.
John Careless wrote to Bradford who
was soon to be put to death, saying:
"Why doth God suffer me and such
other caterpillars 10 live that can do moth
ing but consume the aims of the church,
and take away so many worthy
wo kmen in the l. rd's vineyardP' Similar
questions are often asked. Here are two
men. The one is q noble charac or and a
christian man; he chooses for lifetime C M
panion one who has been tenderly reared aud
shs is worthy of him and he l. worthy Of
her; as merchant, or farmer, or professional
man, or mechanic, or artist, he tolls TO edu-
cate and rear his caildren; he is succeed &,
but he has not yet established for his
family full oompsre cy; he see ms abso-
lutely indispensable to that household, but
one day before he has p i'd off the mortgage
on bis house he is c ming home through a
strong northeast wind aad a chill strikes
through him and four days Of p elmona
end his earthly career, and the wife and
children go into a struggle for shelter and
food. His next door neighhor is a ma who,
though strong and well, lets his wife sup
port him; he is round at the grocery
store or some general loating place
sews; his boys are imitati ~ his
example aud lounge and swagger nd sw ar;
all the use hat man is in that house is TO
rave because the coffee is cold when he
comes to a late bre kfsst, or 10 say cutting
things about his wife's looks when he fur
nishes nothing for her wardrobe. best
thing that could happen to that family
would be that mans funeral but he declines
TO die; be lives on aud on and on. So we
have all noticed that many OF the useful
are ca ly cut off while the parasites Of So
ciety have great vital tenacity.
take up this dark saying on my harp
and give three or four thruus on the string
in the way Of surmising aud hopeful guess.
Perhaps the useful man was taken out Of
the world, because he and his family we're
so constructed tuat they could not have on.
dured some great property that might
have been just ahead, and they al o2ether
might have gone down In the vortex Of
worldliaess which every year swallows
up ten thousand households. And SO
he went while he was humble and
consecrated, and they were by the sever.
fitted for us fulness here and high
seats in heaven; AID when taey meet at
last before the thro Q, b ey will acknowl-
ed that though tle fur iacs was hot, it
purified them, and prepare them for an
ernal career of glory and reward for
whic no Other kind of life could have
fitted them. On the other hand, the useless
man lived on 10 nifty, or sixty, or seventy
yeas, because ali the ease he evor can have
he must have In this world, and you ought
not, therefore, begrudge bim his ear hly
longevity. In all the agos there has not
single loafer ever entered heaven. There Is no
place for him there to hang around. Not in
the temples, for they are full Of the most
vigo GUS, alert and rapturous worship.
Not on the river bank, for tlat Is the place
where the c)nquerors recline Not In the
gates, because there are multitudes enter
ing, and we are told that at each Of the
twelve Rates there is an angel and that celes-
tial < ard would not allow the place to be-
blocked up with idlers. II the gjod and
useful 20 eai ly, rejoice for them that they
have 40 soon got through with hum IN life,
which at best is a struggle. A IL the
useless an the bad ay rel )ice that they
may be out il the worlds fresh air good
many years before their final incarcora-
tion.
Interrogation tho second: Why do so
many good people have so much trouble;
81 kAe's, bankruptcy, persecutIoI J., the three
black vultutes sometimes putting their
fierce beaks into one set Of ! gled nervesi
think now Of a good friend / CO had.
He was a consecfated christian man, an
elder the church and as polished a CHRIS
tian ge ltemnn as ever walked Broadway.
First bis general health gave ut and hs
hobbled around on cane, an old man at
for y. After a while paralysis struck him.
Having by poor health been compelled sud-
denly TO quit business, he LOST what
p operty he had Then his beautiful
daugnihr died. Then a son became hopo
lcssly demented. Anothe- son, splendid OF
mind and commanding OF presence, re-
solved that he woull take care OF bis
fathers household, but under the swoop Of
yellow fever at Feruandina, Fla, he sud
denly expi cd. s. you know god mea and
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