The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-01-26
INTEREST IN OTHERS
Dr.. Talmage Portrays Two Kinds
of Busybodies.
rhe GIFT of Evil speech of Some PeO-
pIe-HOw We May Have Ben
evOlent Interest In the Az
fairs Of OsSe-s.
ICopyright, 1900, by Louis Klopsch.1
WaShfnpfOn

ICopyright. 1900. by Louis KIopsch.1
! Washington.
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,
l Peter, 4:15: "A busybody 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 be had no RESPONSE
bility, and with the band 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-
81 49,
but for him would never have come
10 the public eve or ear. He feels that
the secret ought to be hauled out into
light and heralded. If he can get one
line of it into the newspapers, that he
feels to be a noble achievement to
start with. But be must not let it
stop. He whispers it to his neighbOrs,
and they in turn whisper it to their
neighECrs, until the whole town Is
a-buzZ and agog. You can no more
catch it or put it down than you can
a malaria. 1t is in the air and on the
wing ard afloat. Taken by itself it
seems of little importance. but after
z hundred people have handled it and
each has given it an additional twist
il 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 sea ldals
abroad are the work of the one whom
Peter in the text styles "a busybody in
other mems matters"
First, notice that such a mission is
most undesirable, because we all re-
quire al. the time we can get to take
care of our own affairs. To carry orT-
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
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
d 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
low 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
neighbor's eye we fall under the
weight of the beam in our own eve.
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
III secular things or religious things
will tell you that they have no time
tor hunting out the deficits of others.
On the way TO their counting-room
they may have heard that a firm in
the same line of business was in trou-
hle, ard they said: Sorry, very sor-
ry," but they went in rnd sat doEn
st their table end opened the book
containing a full statement of their
affairs to see if they were in peril of
being caught in a similar cyclone.
GadGers about town, with hands in
pockets and hats set far back on the
head. waiting to hear baleful news. are
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-
ton or drinks too much or neglects
his home for greater outside attrac-
tions have themselves so little grace
in 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
these scandal mongers. guess it is
a Ee"
How is ii that vou can always find
two opinions about anyone and those
two opinions exactly opposite? | will
~ Hn IL &c q