Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-05-27
TANTALIZING TALK.
JOBS cOMFoRTERS THE SUBJECT OF
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON.

copyright 1898. by American Press Asso-
clation.l
WASHINGTON, May 22.-The awk-
ward and irritating mode Of trying to
comfort people in trouble is here set
forth by DR.. Talmage, and a better
way Of dealing with broken hearts is
recommended; text, Job xvi, 2, mis-
erable comforters are ye all.
The man of Uz had 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 l often hear dis
cussed, but never satisfactorily answer
ed God made the world fair and beau
tiful at the start. If our first parents
had not sinned in Eden, they might
have gone out Of that garden and found
so paradises all around the earth-Eu-
rope, Asia, Africa, 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
the Susquehanna. The whole earth was
very fair and beautiful TO look upon.
Why did it 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 a lopg 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 inyalids? Why not
have for our whole race perpetual lei
sure 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 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 10 answer the ques-
tion only illustrates his own ignorance
and incompetency. 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 6.00O winters have made more scars
than the 5000 summers can cover up.
| Trouble has taken the tender heart OF
| this world in its two rough hands and
pinched it until the nations wall with
the agony. If all the mounds Of grave
! wards 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 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
vou 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.
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 job S
life out. Alas for these voluble people
that 90 among the houses Of the affiict-
cd. and talk and talk and talk and talk
They rehearse their own sorrows, ana
then they tell the poor sufferers that
they feel badly now, but they will feel
worse after awhile. Silencel Doyou ex-
pect with thin court plaster OF words
10 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.
Deep sympathy has not much to say. A
firm grasp of the hand, a compassionate
look. lust one word that means as much
as a whole dictionary, and you have
eiven. perhaps all the comfort that a
soul needs. A man has terrible wound
in his arm The surgeon comes and
binds it up. Now" he says, carry
that arm in a sling and be very careful
of il. Let no one touch 1t. ." But the
neighbors have heard Of the accident,
and they come in and they say, Let us
see it," And the bandage is pulled on
and this one and that one must feel II
and see how much it is swollen, ano
there are irritation and inflammation ano
exasperation where there ought to bt
healing and cooling. The surgeon comes
in and saws: "What does all this mean
P You have no business to touch those
handages. That wound will never hea
nnless you let it alone" So there art
souls broken down in sorrow. Wha
they most want is rest, or very careful
and gentle treatment, but the neighbour
: have heard of the bereavement or O.
the loss, and they come in to sympa
thize. and they say: "Show us now th'
wound. What were his last words! Re
y hearse now the whole scene. How di'
you feel when you found you were al
a orphan?p Tearing off the bandages her
and pulling them off there, leaving
0hastly wound that the balm Of God
grace had already begun to heal On
h let no loquacious people, with ever rat
Ting tongues, go into the homes OF tn
distressed
weakness OF Philosophy
- Again, l remark that all those per
B; sons are incompetent to give any KIM
~ comfort who act merely as worldly
u philosophers. They come in ana say
h,yhy. this is what you ought TO nav
expected. The laws of nature must nav
their way" And then they get eloquen
k over something they have seen IN pos
,,ortem examinations. Now, away VIII