The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-06-03

w Sc NOA4C hCchA NAACA
have any kind of trouble is a worldly
philosopher.
Again L remark that those persons
are incompetent for the work of com.
fort-bearing who have nothing but
cant to offer. There are those who
have the idea that you must groan over
the distressed and afflicted. There are
times in grief when one cheerful face
dawning upon mans soul is worth a
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 com.
fort to know it was a million years
coming. If you want to ind splints
for broken bone do not take cast iron.
Do not tell them it is Gods justice that
weighs out grief. They want to hear
of Gods tender mercy. In other words,
do not given them aqua FORTS when
they need valerian.
Again l remark that those persons
are poor comforters who have never
had any trouble themselves. A lark
spur can not lecture on the nature of a
snowfiale-it never saw n snowflake;
and those people who have always
lived in the summer of prosperity can
not talk to those who are frozen in
disaster. God keeps aged people in the
world, | think, for this very work of
sympathy. They have been through
all these trials. They know all that
which irritates and all that which
soothes If there are men and women
here who have old people in the house,
or near at hand SO that they can easily
reach them, | congratulate you 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. Per-
haps they could not say much, but it
would have been such a 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. If, when you
speak to them, they can not hear just
what you say the first time, and you
have to say it u second time, when you
say it a second time do not say it
sharply. If you do, you will be sorry
for 1T on the day when you take the
last look and brush back the silvery
locks from the wrinkled brow just be-
God for the old people! They may not
have much strength to go around, but
they are Gods appointed ministers of
comfort to a broken heart.
People who have not had trials them
selves 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 a very poor
salve. If you have a grave in a path
way, and somebody comes and covers
it all with wild flowers, it is a grave
yet. Those who have not had grief
themselves know not the mystery of
broken heart. They know not the
meaning of childlcssness. and the hav-
ing no one to put to bed at night, or
the standing in room where every
book and picture, and door are full of
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
figures that she scrubbed, the blocks
that she built into n house. All! no,
you must have trouble yourself before
you can comfort trouble in others.
But come all We who have been bereft,
and we who have been comforted in
your sorrows, and stand around these
afflicted souls and say to them: Il had
that very sorrow myself. God COM
forted me AMI H. will comfort you;"
and that will go right to the spot. In
other words, to comfort others, we
must have faith in God, practical ex-
pericnce, and good, sound, common
sense.
But there are three or four consid-
erations that will bring to those who
Ire sOrrOwful and distressed, and that
we can always bring to them, knowing
hat they will effect cure. And the
first consideration is that God sends
our troubles in love. L often hear peo-
pie in their troubles say: "Why, / |
wonder what God has against me?"
They seem to think God has some
yrudge against them because trouble |
md misfortune have come. Oh, no.
Do you not remember that passage of |
Scripture: Whom the Lord Ioveth He |
A child comes in with a |
yery bad splinter in it's hand, and you
ny to extract it. 1t is a very painful |
operation. The child draws back |
rom you, but you persist. You are |
,oing to take that splinter out, SO
-ou take the child with a gentle |
,ut firm grasp, for, although there |
nay be pain in it, the splinter must |
ome out. And it is love that dictates |
t, and makes you persist. My friends, !
really think that nearly all our sor- |
ows in this world are only the hand |
# our Father extracting some thorn. |
f all these sorrows were sent by |
l would say, arm yourselves |
.gainst them, and as in tropical climes, |
When a tiger comes down from the |
and carries off a child from |
he village, the neighbors band to-
-ether and go into the forest and hunt |
he monster, SO l would have you, if |
bought these misfortunes were sent bv |
N enemy, go out ana battle against |
hem. But no, they come from Fa-
her so kind, so loving, so gentle, that
he prophet, speaking of His tender
less and mercy, drops the idea of IA
her, and says: "As one whom his
nother comforteth, SO Will 1 comfort
ou."
Again / remark, there is comfort in
he thought that God. bv all this nro-
ess, is going to make you useful. Do
on known that those who accomplish
he most for God and Heaven have all