Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-01-31
SERMON
Rev. DR.. Ca'n.a

V\V> Oo> NWutasss
Subject: The Affairs of Otbers-The Bnay-
body Has n Mission to Perform When
His Motive il Good-Search Out the
Miserable and Offer Them Consolation.
! Copyright, Louis Klopsch. 1901
] WASHINGTON, D. C.-In this discourse Dr.
Talmage shows how We should interest
, ourselves in the affairs of others for their
benefit, but never for their damage; text,
Peter, iy., Is, "a busybody in other mem 5
Matters
! Human nature ia the same in all ages.
In the second century of the worlds ex-
istence people had the same characteristics
as people in the nineteenth century, the
only difference being that they had the
characteristics for a longer tine. 1t was
| 5OO years OF goodness or 500 years OF mean
ness instead OF goodness or meanness for
| forty or fifty years. Well, Simon Peter,
| who was keen observer of what was going
on around him, one day caught sight OF "a
man whose characteristics we're severe
| inspection and blatant criticism of the af
fairs belonging to people for whom he had
no responsibility, and with the hand once
Drowned and hardened by fishing tackle
drew this portrait for all subsequent ages,
"A busybody in other mems matters"
/ That kind OF person has been a trouble
stood. Appointing himself to the work of
exploration and detection, he goes forth
mischief making. He generally begins by
reporting the infelicitv discovered. He Is
the advertising agent of infrmitieS and
domestic inharmony and occurrences that
| but for him would never have )me to the
/ public eye or ear. He feels that the secret
ought to be hauled out into light and her
aided. II he can get one line of it into
the newspapers, that he feels to be noble
achievement to start with. But he must
not let it stop. He whispers it to his
neightors, and they in turn whisper it to
their neiGhbors, until the whole town is
aouZz and agoS. You can no more catch
il or put 1t down than you can malaria.
1t Is In the air End on the wing and afloat.
Taken by Itself, it seems OF little impor-
tance, but after hundred people have ham
died 1t and each has given 1t nn additional
twist 1t becomes story in size ana shape
marvellous. II 1t can be kept going, after
awhile 1t will be large enough to call the
attention Of the courts or the presbyteries
or conferences or associations. The most
OF the scandals abroad are the work of the
one whom Peter in the text styles "a busy
body in other mems matters"
First, notice that such II mission is most
undesirable, because we all require all the
time we can get to take care of our own
! affairs. To carry ourselves through the
treacherous straits of this life demands
that we all the time keep our hand on the
wheel of our own craft. While, Gs l shall
show you before get through, we allfhave
a mission OF kindness to 9th re-, we have
no time to waste in doing that which is
damaging to others.
| There is our worldly calling, which must
be looked after or it Will become failure.
Who succeeds in anything without concen-
| trutiDg all his energies upon that one
thing? All those who tryto domnny things
| go to pieces either as to their health
their fortune. They go on until they pay
ten cents on the dollar or pay their body
into the grave. We cannot manage the
affairs Of others and keep our own. affairs
prosperous. While we are inquiring
how precarious Is the business of an-
{ other merchant and finding out how many
notes he has unpaid and how soon he viii
probably be wound up or make an assign
ment or hear the sf1eriff's hammer 'smite
his counter our own affairs are getting
mixed up and endangered. While we are
criticising our neighbor for his poor crops
We are neglecting the fertilization Of our
owns fields or allowing the weeds to choke
our own corn. While we are trying to ex-
tract the mote from our neighbor's eye we
fall under the weight of the beam In our
own eye. Those men disturbed by the faults
of others are themselves the depot at which
whole trains of faults arrive and from which
whole trains of faults start. The men who
have succeeded in secular things or relig-
ious things will tell you that they have no
time for hunting out the deficits OF others.
On the way to their counting room they
may have heard that firm in the same
line of business was in trouble, and they
said, "Sorry, very sorry" But they went
In and sat down at their table and opened
the book containing a full statement of
their affairs to see If they were In peril of
being caught in similar cyclone.
Gadders about town, with hands in
pockets and hats set far back on the head,
waiting to hear baleful news, are failures
now or will be failures. Christian men
and women who go round with mouth
and looks full of Interrogation points to
find how some other church member Is
given to exaggeration or drinks too much
or neglects his home for greuter outside
attractions have themselves so little grace
In their hearts that no one suspects they
have any. In proportion as people are
consecrated and holy nnd useful they are
lenient with others and disposed to say:
''Wait until we hear the other side OF that
matter. cannot believe that charge made
against that man or woman until we have
some better testimony than that given
BY BY these Il scandal m0nsers' 1suess it is
Furthermore. we are incapacitated for
the supervisal of others because we cannot
see all sides of the affair reprehended.
People are generally not 50 much to blame
as we suppose. 1t is never right to do
wrong, but there may be alleviations.
IQere may nave arisen Il conjunction OF
circumstances which would have flung any
one Of US. The world gives only one side
of the transaction, and that is always the
worst side. That defaulter at the bank
wio loaned money he ought not to have
loaned did it for the advantage of another,
not for his own. That young man who
purloined from his employer did so be-
cause his mother was dying for the lack of
medicine. That young woman who went
wrong did not get enough wages to keep
her from starving to death. Most people
who make moral shipwreck would do right
In some exigency, but they have not the
courage 90 say mo "
Furthermore, We make ourselves n dis
gusting spectacle when We become busy
bodies. What a diabolical enterprise those
undertake who are ever looking for the
moral lapse or downfall of others! As the
human r1ce Is most imperfect race, all
such hunters find plenty OF game. There
have been sewing societies in churches
which tore to pieces more regulations than
they made garments for the poor. With
their sarcasms and sly hints and deprecia-
tion of motives they punctured more good
names than they had needles. With their
scissors they cut character bias and back
stitched every evil report they got hold of.
Meetings of boards of directors have some
times ruined good business men by insinu-
ations against them. The bad work may
not have been done so much by words, for
they would be Iibelous, but by twinkle of
the eye or a shrug OF the shoulder or a
sarcastic accentuation of a word. Yes,
he is all right when he is'sober." "Have
you inquired into that mans history2"
DO you know what business he was in be-
fore he entered this2" 81 move that the
application be laid on the table until some
investigations now going on are consum-
mated 1t is easy enough to start a sus-
picion that will never down, but what a
despicabie man is the one who started It'll
All people make mistakes-say things
that afterward they are sorry for and miss
opportunity of uttering the right word and
doing the right thing. But when they say
their prayers at night these defects are
sure to. be mentioned somewhere between
the name of the Lord, for whose mercy
they plead, and the amen that closes: the
supplication. "That has not been my OBJ
serNation." saws some one. Well AN