The Missouri messenger., 1900-01-26
INTEREST In OTHERS
d.. Talmage Poruays Two KINDS
of Busy bodies.
The Gift Of Evil speech of some Peo-
DIe-HOw We May Have a Ben
evOIent Interest In the At
fairs Of Others.
IcOpyright. 1900. by Louis Klopsch J


the affairs of others for their benefit
but never for their damage. Text
Peter, 4:15: "A busy6ody in other
mems matters"
Human nature is the same in all
ages. In the second century of the
worlds existence people had the same
characteristics as people in the nine
teenth century, the only difference be-
ing that they had the characteristics
for a longer time. 1t was 500 years
Of goodness or 500 years of meanness
instead of goodness or meanness for
40 or so years. Well, Simon Peter.
who was a keen observer of what was
going on around him, one day caught
sight of a man whose characteristics
were severe inspection and blatant
criticism of the affairs belonging to
people for whom he had no RESPONSE
bility, 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 maker in every country since
the world stood. Appointing himself
to the work of exploration and detec-
ton, he goes forth mischief making
he generally begins by reporting the
infelicity discovered. He is the adver-
tising agent of infirmities and domes-
tic inharmony and occurrences that
but for him would never have come
TO the public eye or ear. he feels that
Ehe secret ought to be hauled out into
light and heralded. If be 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 neighbors,
and they in turn whisper it to their
neighbors, until the whole town is
a-buzz and agog. You can no more
catch ii or put it down tnan you can
q malaria. 1t is in the air and on the
wing ard afoat. Taken by itself it
seems of little importance. but after
a hundred people have handled it and
each has given it an additional twist
it becomes a story in size and shape
marvellous. If it can be kept going,
after awhile it will be large enough to
call the attention of the courts or the
presbyteries or conferences or associ-
ations. 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 mission is
most undesirable, because we all Ie-
quire al the time we can get to take
care of our own affairs. To carry orr
selves through the treacherous straits
of this life demands that we all the
time keep our hand on the wheel of
cur own craft. While, as shall show
you before | get through, we all have
q mission of kindness to others, 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 concentrating all his energies
upon that one thing? All those who
try to do many things go to pieces,
either as to health or 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 will probably be wound up or
make an assignment or hear the sher-
ifs 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
own fields or allowing the weeds to
choke cur own corn. While we are try
ing to extract 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 religious 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 trou-
bic, ard they said: Sorry, very sor-
rY," but they went in ind sat dorn
at their table and opened the book
containing a full statement of their
Affairs 10 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. Chris
tian men and women who go round
with mouth and looks full of interro-
CATION points to find how some other
church member is given to exaggera-
tion or drinks too mnrh or nr"lects
his home for greater outside attrac-
tions have themselves so little grace
ia their hearts that no one suspects
they have any. In proportion as people
are consecrated and holy and useful
they are lenient with others and dis
posed 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
4hasa scandal mOnCers | ruesS il is