The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-06-03
USES OF ADVERSELY.
The Worth of Silent Sympathy
When in Trouble.
Rev. DIR. TaImage Draws Some Valuable
Lessons from the TribuIatiOns of
JOb-GOd Sends Our Trou-
bIes In Love.

The text Is:
Miserable comforteTs are &c all-JOb xvi, 2
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 exaspcrating thing that
came upon him was the tantalizing
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? 1t is a question 1 often hear
discussed, but never satisfactorily
answered. God made the world fair
and beautiful 1t the start. If our first
| parents had not sinned in Eden they
might have gone out of that garden
and found 50 paradises all around the
earth - Europe, Asia, Africa, North
/ and South America-SO many flower
| gardens or orchards of fruit, redolent
and luscious. L suppose when God
| poured out the Gihon, and the Hidde-
KEEL, lie poured out, at the same time,
the Hudson and the Susquehanna; the
whole earth was very fair and beauti-
| full To look upon. Why did it not stay
50. God had the power to keep back
sin and woe. Why did lie not keep
| 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 sin
less women? God can make a
rose as easily as lie can make a
thorn. Why, thea, the predOminance
of thOrns? He can make good, fair,
ripe fruit As well as gnIrleI and sour
fruit. Why SO much, then, that is
gnarlcd and sour? lie can make men
robust in health. Why, then, are there
SO many invalids? Why not have our
whole race perpetual leisure instead of
this tug, an / toll, and lie for Il live
iihOod? l will tell you why God let sin
come into the world-when l get on
the other sids of the river of death.
That is the place where such queS-
lions will be answered and such mys-
terieS solved. lie who this side that
river attempts to answer the question
only illustrates his own ignorance and
incompetency. All | know is one
great fact, and that is, that herd of
woes has come in upon Us, trdmpling
down everything fair and beautiful. \
sword at the gate of Eden and a sword
at every gate.
Iremarl1, in the first place, that very
volubIe 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 voluble peO-
pie that go among the houses of the
afflicted, ard talk, and talk, and talk,
and talk. They rehearse 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 go your way. Deep
sympathy has not much to say. A
firm grasp OF the hand, n compassion
ate look, just one word that means as
much as Il whole dictionary, and you
have given, perhaps, all the comfort
that Il soul needs. \ man has terri
Bile wound in his arm. The surgeon
comes and binds it up. Now" he
says, carry that arm in Il sling, and
be very careful of it. Let no one
touch it" But the neighbors have
heard of the accident, AMI they come
in, and they say: Let us see it. "
And the blndage 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 ex-
ASPIRATION, where there ought to be
healing and cooling. The surgeon
comes in and says: What does 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 and gentle treatment; but the
have heard of the bereave-
meut, or of the loss, and they come in
to sympathiZs, and they say: SHOW
Us now the wound. What were his
last words? Rehearse now the whole
scene. How did yOa feel when you
found yOu were an Orphan?' Tearing
of the baudages here, and pulling
them off there, leaving a CHASTITY
wound that the balm of Gods grace |
had already begun to heal. Oh, let no |
lOquaciOus people, with ever-rattling |
go into the homes of the dis !
trcsSed,
Again l remark that all those per-
sons are incompetent to give any kind |
Of comfort who act merely as worldly |
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 examinations. |
Now, away with all human philosophy |
at such time. What difference does |
what disease their son died of? He is |
dead, and it makes no difference /
the trouble was in the epigas-
trio or hypOgastric region. If the |
be of the stoical school. !
be will come and say: You ought to /
control your feelings. You must not |
cry SO. You must cultivate a cooler |
You must have self
self-government, self-control"
an iceberg reproving a hyacinth
for having a drop of dew in
its eye. \ violinist has his in
Strument, and he sweeps his
fingers across the strings, now evoking
strains of joy, and now strains of sad
ness. He can not play all the tunes on
Dne string. The human soul is an in
strument of thousand strings, and all
sorts of emotions were made to play On
It. Now an anthem, now d dirge. 1t
Is no evidence of weakness when one is
overcome of sorrow. Edmund Burke