The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-07-09
.Calnnage
Sermon Sermon.
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, D. d.

Los Angeles, Cal, July Ito all
who are burdened with a sense of
dependency on account of sickness,
loss Of friends or fortune or the fall
ure Of worldly prospects this sermon
comes as message Of consolation and
encouragement. The text Is Psalm
XXX. 5, Weeping may endure for a
night, but JOY cometh in the morning"
The Bible declares that it Is better
to 60 to the house Of mourning than
to join In the frollcs of the merrymak-
ers. But that does not mean that we
should talk to those In trouble with
the lugubrious and sepulchral coun-
tenance Of an undertaken officiating at
funeral. II there Is any time in life
when we need the curtain up and the
sunlight flooding every room in the
house, 1t Is when the dark clouds Of
bereavement have showered the hearth
stone of the home with bitter, scald-
Ing tears. II there is ever a time
when visitor should enter room
with smile upon the lip and with Il
ringing note Of Joy in his salutation
and with hope and peace and comfort
radiating from every feature of his
countenance. that time is when he is
standing by a sickbed or is extending
the warm clasp Of affection to one who
Is bowed under the heavy burdens of
grief. Yet the strange fact Is that not
one In fifty knows how to enter the
house Of mourning Instead Of going
there with message of comfort and
peace and hope. the average man en-
tering the house of trouble depresses
the barometer Of suffering and makes
the gloomy days Of trouble still more
gloomy.
Like Jobs Comforters.
Almost all of us hold IN memory the
recollection Of the agonizing visits
which some weeping Jeremiahs made
to us whal our cup of anguish was
tilled to the brim and overlooking
They came to us with long tales of
woe to tell us that If we had only gone
to their physician and used his medi-
cines our baby would not have died.
Or they came to tell us that perhaps
God took away our dear ones because
we were not living close enough to him
and had not fully consecrated our lives
to his service. Or they came to us and
said, "My dear friend, you should
thank God that he has taken away
your boy, because your child might
have lived to grow up very bad man,
to be some day executed for the crime
Of murder, or he might have become a
libertne or thief" 20
Or they entered Our sickrooms and
homes of death as the miserable com
forters Of Job came to the patriarch
after he had lost money. children and
health. Those men had the idea that
heavy trouble was the result of hei
nous sin. They believed that God pun
islled man i'm this way when he had
done wrong. So when they saw Job
suffering the loss of property and chill
dren and health they concluded that
he had committed some serious crime
They limited their belief to him and
urged him to repent and confess. and
when the poor harassed man insisted
that he was innocent they warned him
not to make his case worse by hypoc-
risy. Thus they aggravated Jobs trou-
BILE, and he exclaimed, miserable com
forters are We alip
But though the world may have its
Eliphazes and Zophars and Bildads,
thank God that the human race also
has its Davids. 1t has the noble men
and women who, in times Of great
trouble, can come into our lives and
speak the sympathetic word in just
the right way. These men may have
4 tear in the eye, but they always have
a smile beaming on the lip. They
come to us in our distress and say:
Brother, 1t may be dark for you now,
but believe me, God is good. From my
own personal experience can testify
that all things will come out right, If
we only trust him and live for him.
Weeping may endure for night, but
Joy cometh In the morning Thank
God, the sunrise of gospel truth can
always follow the darkest nights Of
despair" zl.f,t - sf.
David could speak from experience
about nights of weeping. He was no
novice In sorrow. He had tasted the
bitter cup of woe and had drunk its
to the dregs.5 And as por-
tray the sufferings of the shepherd boy
who afterward became the king Of
israel, ! want his experience to help
you to find the peace that passeth all
which the sweet singer
Of Israel enjoyed d i5aas
David, in the first place, knew oil
about the mental sufferings Of an I'm. 2
happy child. He knew what 1t was to
have little boys henri beat and throb
with anguish. He knew what It was
10 90 sobbing night after night to bed.
He may have known what 1t was to
crave for parental love and receive It
not. And OF all child's troubles l
believe there is not one greater than
to feel that father or n mother loves
The rest Of the children better than they
love him. Oh. the awful sufferings that
come from parental favoritism! God
nl<~, <t,x, t,,,,e, thu e,fp1, NH 40 a