The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-02-06
DR.. Talmage Sets Forth the
Evils of Gossip.
VULTURES THAT REND AND RUIN
Have Been Keeping the wsrld in Trouble
since the Beginning Report Flies
Faster Than Praise-Need All Our Time
for Our Own Afairs-Our Duty To Help
Upward and Not PHsh Dawn Oar Fellow
man-Example of Jesus Quoted.

He took for his text l Peter. iv:l5. and
spoke as follows:
Human nature is the same in all ages.
In the second century of the worlds ex-
istenee people had the same Characters
ties as people in the nineteenth century,
the only difference being that they had
the Characteristics for longer time. IL
was five hundred years of goodness or
five hundred years Of meanness, instead
OF goodness or meanness for forty or fifty
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 al
fairs belonging TO people for whom ne
had no responsibility, and with the hand
once Drowned and hardened by fishing
tackle drew this portrait for all subse-
quent 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 detection. he goes forth
misunderstanding. He generally begins by
reporting the infelicity discovered He is
the advertising agent of infrmities and
domestic inharmony and occurrences that
but for him would never have come to the
public eye or ear. He feels that the secret
ought to be hauled out into light and her
aided. If he can get one line Of it into
the newspapers, that he feels to be
noble achievement to start with.
How scandal Flies.
But he must not let it stop. He whis-
pers it to his neighbors, and they, in turn,
whisper 1t to their neighbors. until the
whole town IS abuzz and agog. You can
no more catch it or put il down than you
can malaria. II is In the air and on the
wing and afiOat. Taken by itself, it seems
OF little Importance, Out after a hundred
people have handled it, and each has
given II an additional twist, il becomes a
story, in size and shape marvellous. If 1t
can be kept going, after a while il 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 Pc
ter in the text styles "A busybody in other
mems matters
First, notice that such a 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, as l shall show you before / get
| through, we all have a mission of kind
ness TO others, we have no time to waste
in doing that which is damaging to 9th
! ers.
There is our worldly calling which
must be looked after or it will become a
failure. Who succeeds in anything with
out concentrating all his energies upon
that one thing? All those who try TO do
many things go TO pieces, either as 70
their health or their fortune. They go on
| until they pay 10 cents on the dollar or
| ray their body into the grave. We can
/ not manage the affairs of others and
| Keep our own affairs prosperous. While
we are inquiring how precarious is the
/ business Of another 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 sniite his counter, our own
affairs are getting mixed up and endan-
gered. While We are criticising our neigh
4 Dor for his poor crops We are neglecting
the fertilization of our own fields or
allowing the weeds to choke our own corn
l While we are trying to extract the mote
/ from our neighbours eye. we fail under
| the weight of the beam in our own eye.
] Those men disturbed bV the faujtS 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 70
! their eounting-rocm 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 heir table, and opened the book
! containing a full statement of their af-
! fairs TO see II they were in peril Of be-
ing caught in a similar cyclone.
Gadders Are Fixtures.
"Gadders about town, with hands ir
! 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 20 round with
mouth and looks fun Of Interrogation
points to find how some other church
( member Is given TO exaggeration. or
drinks too much, or neglects his home for
! greater outside attractions. have them
selves so little grace In their hearts that
10 one suspects they have any. In pro-
PORTION as people are eonsecrated and
holy and useful, they are lenient with
others and disposed TO say: Wait until
we hear the ether side of that natter. I
NCannot believe that charge made against
/ that man or woran until we have some
better testimony than that given by these
scand2l-mongers. l guess it is a lie.'
/ If God had given us whole weeks and
months and days with nothing 10 do but
gauge and measure and scrutinize the az
| fairs Of others, there might be some ex-
| cuse for such employment, but 1 do not
| know any one who has such a surplus OF
time and energy and qualificat ton that he
can afford much Of the time to sit as q
. coroner upon the dead failures OF others.
l can imagine that an astronomical crank
could get so absorbed in examining the
spots on the sun " 10 neglect clearing
the spots of his own character. A very
successful man was asked how he had
accumulated such vast fortune. He re-
piled: L have accumulated about one
half Of my property by attending strictly
to my business. and the other half by let
ting other peoples alone
| Furthermore, We are incapacftated FOR
/ the suDerVisal OF others becaure we car
rot see all sides OF the affair reprehended
Feople are generally not so much "a
blame as We suppose. Is is never right
10 do wrong. but there may be auevia.
| tons. There may have arisen 4 confunc.
ton OF circumstances which would have
hung any one OF US. The world gives
only one side of the transaction. and
that is always the worst side. That de-
faulter at the bank who loaned money
he ought not to have loaned did IL FOR
the advantage OF another not for his
own. That young man who puriOinec
from his employer did 50 because his
mother was dying for the lack OF nedL
cine. That young woman who went
wrong did not get enough wages TO keet
her from starving 10 death. Nest peoria
who make moral shipwreck would "a
right in some exigency but they have
not the courage to say no.
Always BE Charitable.
Better die than DO the least wrong
but moderate your snsthema against N,
wrongGoer by the circumstances which
may yet develop. Be economical Of YOU
curses when all the community i hound
ing some man or woman. Wait, consider
pause. and hore that which II change
Is base fabrication. Do not be Ike !
jury who should render verdict agains
the defendant without allowing him q
present his side OF the case. / know moi
what your observation has been, but
l h.. ~ AZ 4