Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1898-05-25
MISERABLE CoMFORTERs
Sympathy Irritatingy and A~kwardiy
Expressed.
YoIuble People who Open Wounds Afresh
and Display a Lack of Tact Most
ESaspcrstingly - Sermon by
Rev. DIR. Talmage. DID.

a better way of dealing with broken
hearts Is recommended. Text. job
xvi. .; Miserable comforters are We
all"
The man of u had great many
trials-thc loss of his family, the loss
of his property, the loss of his health:
but the most eNasperating thing that
came upon him was the tantalizinv
talk OF those who ought to have sym.
pathized 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 question often hear
discussed. but never satisfactorily an
swereo. God made the world fair and
beautiful at the start If our first pa.
rents had not sinned in Eden they
might have gone out of that garden
and found so paradises all around the
earth-Europe, Asia, Africa and North
and South America-so many flower
gardens or orchards of fruit, redolent
and luscious. i suppose that when
God poured out the Gihon and the
Hiddekel He poured out at the same
time the Hudson and Susquehanna: the
whole earth was very fair and beauti-
full TO look upon. Why did IL not stay
so? God had the power to keep back
sin and woe. Why did He not keen
them back? Why not every cloud
roSeate, and every step joy. and
every sound music, and all the ages a
long jubilee of sinless men and sinlcss
women? God can make rose ns easilv
rs He can make thorn Why. then.
the predominance of thorns? He can
ma al Got .f,,
gnarled and sour fruit. Why SO much.
then, that is gnarled and sour? He
can make men robust in health. WHY.
then, are there so many invalids9 WHY
not have for our whole race perpetual
leisure instead OF this tug and toll and
tusslc for a livelihood?
will tell you why God let sin come
into the world-when / get on he
other side OF the river of death. That
is the place where such questions will
be answered and such mysteries solv-
ed. He who this side that river at
tenpts TO answer the question only
illustrates his own ignor ance and in
competency. All known is one great
fact, and that is that n herd OF woes
mas come in upon us, trampling down
everything fair and beautiful A
sword at the gate of Eden and a 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
, mers 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 on 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 n 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 20 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 10 say TO them
in your days of trouble: Miserable
comforters are We all"
remark in the first place that very
voluble people are incompetent for the
work OF giving comfort Bildad and
Eliphaz had the gift of language. and
with their words almost bothered
Jobs life out. Alas! for these volublcs
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 viii feel worse after awhile
Silencel DO you expect with a thin
courtplaster of words 20 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 com passion
ate look, just one word that means
as much as "a whole dictionary. and you
have given. perhaps, Hll the comfort
that a soul needs. a man has n terri
bic wound in his arm. The surgeon
comes and binds il up. Now" he
says, carry that arm in n sling. and
be very careful Of it. Let no one touch
IT. But the neighbors have heard OF
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 il. and see how much
II is swollen. and there Is irritation.
and Inflammation. and evaporation.
where there ought 10 be healing and
cooling The surgeon comes in and
says: What does all this mean? You
have no business 60 touch those band
ages That wound will never heal
unless you let IL alone" So there
are souls broken down in sorrow.
What they most want is rest. or very
careful and gentle treatment; but the
ncighbors have heard Of the bereavo-
ment or Of the loss. and they come in
to sympathize. and they say. show
MS now the wound What were his
last Words Behcarse now the whole
scene How did you feel when you
found you were an orphan?r Tearing
of the bandages here. and pulling
them of there, leaving CHASTITY
wound that the balm Of Gods grace
had already begun 90 heal Oh. let no
loquacious people, with over-rattlinr
tongues. go into the homes OF the dis
tressed.
Again ] remark. that all those pcr-
sons are Incompetent Co give any kind
81 comfort who act merely as worldly
philosophers. They come in and say.
Why. this is what you ought To- have
expected. The laws 81 nature must
have their way:' and then they get elo-
quent ever something they have seen