The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-02-27
SAYINGS ON A HARP.
Sermon by Rev. DR.. T. Dewitt
Talmage, D. d.
Some OF the sins and Troubles of Firth
SIT to Music : Why God Seems 10
Neglect and Persecute the Cool
aud Rewar the lad.


open my dark ayings on harp" Follow
ing Is the sermon:
The rd is full OF the inexp'icable, the
inipassube, the unfathomahe the insur.
mountable. We can not go three steps ih
any direction without coming up against
hnrl wall OF mystery. riddles paradoxes,
profundtics, hbvrinths, problems that we
can not solve hieroglyphics that we can not
decinher, anagrams We can not swell out
sphixes tlat will not sIsak. For that
reason, David in my i"xt proposed to ke
up some of these so Ger and dark things
aud try to set tlrm u sweet music. II vail
open my dnr,, sayings on a harp"
SO look OF upon society nd find people
In unhappy co junction OF circumstances
and they do not know what IT means and
they have right 10 ask, why Is thisl and
why is thail ana think ! viii be doing
good work by trying to explain some of
these strange things aud make you more
content with your lot, and ! shall only be
answering quptiOns that have often been
asked me. or hat we have all asked our
selves, while Try TO ct these mysteries IT,
music and open my dark sayin7s on harp.
lnterro alton the first: Why does God
take out OF this world those who are useful
and whom we Can mt SD ire and leave alive
and in good ncath so many who are only a
nuisance or po itiye injury TO the worldil
thought would begin with the very tough-
e.t Of all the eming inscruiables. Manyof
thu most useful men and WON n die at thirty
or forty years OF are, while you often find
useless people alive at sixty and seventy and
eighty. John Careless wrote to Bradford,
who was snon TO be put to death, saying:
"Why doth God suffer me and such other
caterpillars to live that can do nothing but
consume the aims Of the church, and take
away so many worthy workmen In the
Lords vineyurdi" Similar questions are
often asked. Here are two men. The one is
a noble character and Christian man; he
chooses for lifetime companion one who
has been tenierly reared aud she is worthy
OF him and he Is WORTHY OF her; as merchant
or farmer, or professional IN m or mechanic
or artist, he toil4 to elucIe and rear his
children; he Is succeeding. but he has not yet
established for his fam ly full competency;
he seems absolutely Indispensable TO that
household, but one day before he has paid
of the mortgage on his no, SO he is coming
home through strong northeast wind, and
chill strikes through him and four days Of
tHu HIS anu lno
wife and children 90 into a struggle for
shelter and food. His next door neighber
l. a man who. though strong and well, let's
his wife support him; he Is round at the
grocery store or some general loahng place
In the evenings while his wife sews; his
boys are initiating his example and lounge
aud swagger and swear; all the use that
man Is In that house Is 10 rave because the
coffee is cold when he comes TO late
breakfast, or TO saw cutting things about his
wife's looks when he furnishes nothing for
her wardrobe The be . thing that cou d
happen 10 that family would be that mans
funeral; but he declines TO die; he lives on
and on aud on. 80 we have all noticed that
many OF the useful are early cut on while
the parasites OF society have great vital
tenacity.
take up this dark saying on my harp and
give three or four thrums on the string In
the way OF snrmising and hopeful guess.
Perhaps the useful mau was taken out Of
the world, because he and his family were
90 construct d that they could not have en-
dured some great prosperity that might
have been Just ahead and they altogether
might have gone down in the vortex OF
worldliness which every year swallows up
ten thousand hou .eholds. And so he went
while he was humble and consecrated. and
they were by the seventies Of life kept
close 10 Christ and fitted for usefulness hero
and high seats In heaven; and when they
meet at lat before the throne, they will NC
know,e edge that though the furnace was hot,
II purified them, and prepared them for an
eternal career Of glory and reward for which
II no other kind OF life could have fitted them.
On the o. sr hand. the useless man lives on
10 fifty. or sixty, or seventy years, because
N all the ease he ever can have he must have
II In this world, aud you ought not there
II fore, begrudge him his earthly lon
| gevity. In all the ages there has not a
single loafer ever entered heaven. There Is
l no place for him there 10 hang ar und. Not
| In the temples, for they are full OF tho most
II vigorous alert and rapturous worship. Not
on the river bank. for that is the place
lIwhere the conquerors recline. Not In the
gates, because there 4ie multitude' enter
II ing, and we are told that at each OF the
II twelve gates there Is an angel, and that CO.
lestial guard would not allow the place 10 be
blocked up with idlers. II the good aud
useful 20 early, rejoice for them that they
have so soon got through with human life,
which at best Is a struggle. And II the use
less and bad stay, rejoice that they may be
out In the worlds fresh air good many
years before their final Incarceration.
Interrogation the second: Why do so many
good people have so much trouble, sickness,
bankruptcy, persecution, the three blacd
llvultures sometimes putting their fierce
lIbeaks into one set OF tangled nervesl think
lhow oil good friend once had He was a
l|consecrated Christian man, an elder In the
lIchurch and US polished O Christian gentle
l|man as ever walked Broadway. First bis
llgeneral health gave out and he hobbled
Iaround on a cane, an old man at forty. After
s'fA while paralysis struck him. Having by
poor health been compelled suddenly 10
quit business, he lost what property no had.
Then his beautiful daughter died. Then a
son became hopelessly demo-tod. Another
son, splendid OF mind and commanding Of
prescpcc, resolved that he would take care
OF his fathers household, but under the
swoop OF yellow fever at Fernandna Fla,
he suddenly expired. So 20 know good
men and women who have had enough
troubles, you think, 10 crush fifty people
l No worldly philosophy could take such q
trouble and set II 70 music, or play Il on
violin, or flutc, or dulcimer, or sackbut, but
! dare " open that dark saying on a gospe
harp.
You wonder that very consecrated peopl,
have troubled Did you ever know any verj
consocrated man or woman who had no
had great troubei Never. II was through
\ their troubles sanctiHed that they wer,
made very good. II you find anywhers Il
this city q man who has now and Away