Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-05-23
TANTALTZING TALK.
JOBS COMFORTERS THE SUBJECT or
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON.


kCopyright. 1885, by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
WASHINGTON, May 22-The awk-
ward and irritating mode of trying t.
comfort people in trouble is here sci
forth by DR.. Ta1mage, and better
way of dealing with broken hearts is
recommended; text, Job xvi, 2. Mis-
cradle cOnforterS are We all .
The man of Uz had d 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 syrnpathized
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? It is q question | often hear dis
cussed, but never satisfactorily answer
cd God made the world fair and beau
tiful at the start. If our first parents
had not sinned in Eden, they might
have gene out of that garden and found
so paradises all around the earth-Eu-
rope, Asia, Africa, North and South
orchards Of fruit, redolent and luscious
/ suppose that when God poured out
the Gih0n and the Hiddekel he poured
out at the same time the Hudson and
the Susquehanna. The whole earth was
very fair and beautiful to look upon.
Why Gid 1T not stay SO? God had the
power TO keep back sin and woe. Why
did he not keep them back? Why not
every cloud roseate, and every step a
joy, and every sound music. and all the
ages q long jubilee Of sinless men and
sinless women? God can make a 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 fruit. Why SO much
then. that is gnarled and sour? He can
make men robust in health. Why, then,
are there SO many invalids? Why not
have for our whole race perpetual lei
sure instead of this tug and toll and
tussle for livelihood? | viii tell you
why God let sin come into the world
when / get on the other side of the riv-
er of death That is the place where
such questions will be answered and
such mysteries solved. He who this side
that river attempts to answer the cues
ton only illustrates his own Ignorance
and inconpetency. All know 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 a sword
at every gate
Comforting the Troubled.
More people under the ground than
ON it. The graveyards in vast majority.
The 5000 winters have made more scars
than the 5000 summers can cover up.
Trouble has taken the tender heart of
this world in it's two rough hands and
pinched it 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 Oh 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 q world like this,
the grandest occupation is that of Civ
ing coincidence. The holy science Of i'm
parting 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, Miserable COM
forters are ye all
l remark, IN the first place, that very
voluble people are incompetent for the
work Of giving comfort Rildad and
Eliphaz had the gift of language, and
with their words almost bothered Jobs
Life out. Alas for these vofuble people
that go among the houses of the affiict-
ed, and talk AID talk and talk and talk
They rehearse their own sorrows, and
then they tell the poor sufferers that
they feel badly now, but they viii feel
worse after awhile. Silence! Do you ex-
to heal wound deep as the soul? Step
very gently around about a broken heart
Talk very softly around those whom
God has berefe Then go your way.
Deep sympathy has not much to say. A
firm grasp of the hand, a compassionate
look, just one word that means as much
as whole dictionary. and you have
given, perhaps, all the comfort that q
soul needs A man has terrible wound
In his arm The surgeon comes and
binds it up Now" he says. carry
that arm in sling and be very careful
of it. Let no one touch it. But the
neighbors have heard of the accident,
md they come in and they say, LET US
Zee 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 are irritation and Inflammation and
fr,h r,
healing and cooling. The surgeon comes
In and says: "What does all this mean?
You have no business to touch those
bandages- 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