Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-05-26
MISERABLE COMFORTERS
Sympathy Irritatingy and Awkwardly
txprc ssed.
NoIubl- People WI" open Wounds Afrcsh
and Dtp'ay iars "f Tact Most
ENa~prratincly sermon 10y
Rev. Dr. Taimsge. DID,

Kew bf' iaihaE'' W."
The awkward and irritating mode
of tying Ia CEN ort pcol lc in trouble
is here : forth bv DIR. Taimag", anti
"A better way of dealing with broken
hearts is recommended. Text, job
xvi. -: Miserable comfortcrs are We
all"
The man of IL had great many
trial>-thc loss of his family, the loss
of his property, the loss "f his health;
hut the most cNaspcrating thing that
came upon him was the tantalizing
talk of those who ought tn have sym
pathiZcd with him. And looking
around upon them, and weighing what
they had said, he utters the words of
my text.
WHY did God let sin come into the
world? II is a question | often hear
discussed. hut never satisfactorily an
bwcrcd God made the world fair and
beautiful at the start II our first pa
rents had not sinncd in Eden they
might have gone out of that garden
nnd found 30 parndiscs all around the
.hSlt. 4Nilhd uhh WI VI
and South America-so many flower
gardens or orchards of fruit. rcdolent
and luscious. suppose that when
tod poured out the Gihon and the
Iliddekel lie poured out at the same
time the Hudson and Su>quchanna; tine
whole earth was very fair and beauti-
full To look upon. Why did it not stay
So? God had the power to keep back
sin and woe Why did lie not keep
roscatc, and every step joy, and
every sound music. and all the ages
long jubilee of sinless men and sinless
women? God can make rose as easily
as He can make a thorn. Why, then.
the predominancc 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 81 many invalids? Why
not have for our whole race perpetual
leisure instead of this tug and toll and
tusSle for livelihood?
| will tell you why God let sin come
into the world when | get on The
other side of the river of death. That
is the place where such questions will
be answered and such mysteries solv-
ed. lie who this side that river at
tempts to answer the question only
illustrates his own ignor ance and in
competency. All known is one great
fact, and that is, that a herd of woes
has come in upon us, trampling down
everything 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 sum-
mcrs can cover up. Trouble has taken
the tender heart of this world in its
two rough hands and pinched until
the nations wall with the agony. II
all the mounds of grave yards that
have been raised were put side by side.
you might step OIL them and nothing
else going all around the world, and
around again, and around again.
These are facts. And now | have to
say that in world like this the grand
est occupation is that of giving con-
dolence. The holy science of impart-
ing comfort to the troubled we ought
all OF Us to study. There are many of
you who could look around upon some
of your very best friends, who wish
you well, and are very intelligent, and
yet be able truthfully to say to them
in your days of trouble: "Misera BILE
comforters are We all"
l remark in the first place that very
voluble people are incomneten' for the
work of giving com .o='t. 90 dad and
Eliphaz had the gift of ianensgs-sn.
with their words almost bothered
Jobs life out. Alas. for these voluble
people that go among the houses of the
afflicted, and talk, and talk, and talk,
and talk. They rehearse their own sor-
rows, and then they tell the poor suf-
ferers that they feel badly now, but
they will feel worse after awhile.
Silence! DO you expect with thin
courtplaster of words to heal a 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. A
firm grasp of the hand. a compassion
ate look, just one word that means
as much as whole dictionary. and you
have given, perhaps, all the comfort
that soul needs. A man has a terri
BILE wound in his arm. The surge on
comss and binds it up. Now" he
says, carry that arm in a sling, and
be very careful of it. Let no one touch
4 n,,t ha III H., -
the accident, and they come in, and
they say: Let us see it." And the
bandage is pulled off, and this one and
that one most feel it, and see how much
it is swollen, and there is irritation,
and Inflammation, and evaporation,
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 those band
ages. That wound will never heal
unless you let it alone" So there
are souls broken down in sorrow.
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 in
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 pulling
them off there, leaving CHASTITY
wound that the balm of Gods grace
had already begun to heal Oh, let no
loquacious people, with ever-rattling
tongues, so into the homes of the dis
tressed!
Again l remark: that all those per-
sons are incompetent to give any kind
of comfort who act merely as worldly
philosophers. They come in and say:
why, this is what you ought to have
expected. The laws of nature must
have their way" and then they get elo-
quent over something they have seen
in post-mortem examinations Now
away with all human philosophy at
such a time. What difference does it
make to that father and mother what
disease their son died of? He is dead,
and it makes no difference whether
the trouble was in the epigastric or
hypogastric region. If the philoso-
pher be of the stocal school, he will