The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-23
MISERABLE CoMF0RTERS.
THE WRONG AND THE RIGHT WAY
OF GIVING CONSOLATION.


Washington. May 22.-The awkward and
Irritating mode of trying to comfort peo-
pie in trouble, is here set forth by Dr.
TaImage, and a better way of dealing VITA
broken hearts is recommended. Text JOB
1872: Miserable comforters are We all
The man OF u had a great many trials
the loss of his family. the loss of his
property, the loss of his health; but the
most exasperating thing that came upon
him was the tantalizing talk of those who
ought TO have sympathized 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?
1t is a question I often hear discussed, but
never satisfactorily answered. God made
the world fair and beautiful at the start.
If our first parents had not sinned in Eden
they might have gone out of that garden
and found fifty paradises all around the
earth-Europe Asia Africa, North and
South America-so many hower-gardens
or orchards of fruit, redolent and luscious.
I suppose that when God poured out the
Gihon, and the Hidekel he poured out,
at the same time, the Hudson and the Sus-
ouehanna; the whole earth was very far
and beautiful to look upon. Why did it
not say so? God had the power to keep
back sin and woe Why did he not keep
them back? Why not every cloud roseare,
and every step a joy, and every sound mu-
sic, and ali the ages a long jubilee of SIN
less men and sinless women? God can
make rose as easily as he can make
thorn. Why, then, the predominance of
thorns? He can make good fair, ripe
fruit as well as gnarled and sour frui
Why so much, then, that is gnared and
sour? He can make men robust in health.
Why, then, are there so many invalids2
Why not have for our whole race peIpet-
ual leisure instead of this tug, and toll,
ard tussle for livelihood I Will tell you
Why God let sin come into the world
when I get on the other side of the river
of death. That is the place where such
q lestions will be answered and such mys-
teIies solved. He who this side that river
attempts 10 answer the question only IL
illustrates his own ignorance and incompe-
Jency. All 1 know is one great fact and
that as, that herd of woes has come in
upon us, trampling down everything fair
and beautiful A sword at the gate OF
Eien and a sword at every gate.
More people under the ground than on
IL. The graveyards in vast majority. The
six thousand winters have made more
scars than The six thousand summers can
cover up. Trouble has taken the tender
heart of this world in its two rough hands
and plnehed 1t until the nations wall with
the agony. If 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 the facts. And now l have to
say that, in a world like this, the grandest
occupation is that of giving coincidence
I he holy science of imparting 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 truthfuly 10
say to them in your days of trouble: Mis-
cradle comforters are We all
1 remark in the first place, that very
Volube people are incompetent for the
work of giving comfort. Bildad and Eli
phaz had the gift of language, and with
their words almost bothered Jobs life out
Alas. for these volub.e people that go
among the houses of the afflicted and
talk and talk, and talk, and talk. They
Tehearse their own sorrows, and then they
tell the poor sufferers that they feel badly
now, but they will feel worse after awhile.
Silence! Do you expect with a thin court
plaster of words to heal a wound deep as
the soul? Step very gently around about
a broken heart. Talk very softly around
those whom God has bereft Then so
your way. Deep sympathy has not much
TO say. "A firm grasp of the hand, a COM
passionate look, just che word that means
as much as a whole dictionary, and you
a1n fo-s .t,,f
a soul needs. A man has a terrible wound
in his arm. The surgeon comes and
binds ii up. Now" he says, carry that
arm in a sling, and be very careful of il.
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 must 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 bust
ness TO touch those bandages. 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 neighbors have heard of the bereave-
ment or of the loss, and they come in to
sympathize, and they say: "Show us now
Rehearse now the whole scene. How did
you feel when you found you were an or
phan?" Tearing off the bandages here,
and pulling them off there, leaving a
CHASTITY wound that the balm of God 5
grace had already begun to heal. Oh,
let no loquacious people. with ever-rattling
tongues, go into the homes of the dis
tressed!
Again I remark, that all those persons
are incompetent to give any kind of conf
fort VINO act merely as worldly philoso-
piers. 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 eloquent over something
they have seen in post-mortem eXamina-
tons. Now. away with all human philoso-
Jhy at such a time. What difference does
il make TO that father and mother VIVA,
disease their son died Of? He is dead,
and il makes no difference whether the
trouble was in the epigastric or hypogas-
trio region. If the philosopher be of the
stoical school, he wiz come and say: you
ought to control your feelings. You must
not cry so. You must cultivate a cooler
temperament. You must have self-relance,
lf-government self-control;" an ice
berg reproving a hyacinth for having a
drop of dew in its eye. A violinist has