Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-07-12
Calmase
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmsee, ID. ID.

LOS Angeles, Nal., July 10 all
who are burdened with sense OF
dependency ON account of sickness
loss of friends or fortune or the fail
ure CT worldly prospects this sermon
comes as message OF consolation and
encouragement The text is Psalm
Xxx, 8. Weeping may endure for a
night, but joyeometh I'm the morning."
The Bible declares that 1t Is better
to go TO the house of mourning than
to JOIN In the frolics 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
a 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. If there is ever a time
when visitor should enter q room
with smile upon the lip and with a
ringing note OF joy in his salutation
aud 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
hn oil 4
gloomy.
Like Jobs comforters.
Almost all of us hold in memory the
recollection of the agonizing visits
which some weeping Jeremiahs made
to us when our cup of anguish was
hlled to the brim and OVERLOOKING.
They came to us with long tales OF
woe to tell Us that IL 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
ana had not fully consecrated our lives
TO his service. Or they came to MS and
said, MY dear friend, you should
thank God that he has taken away
your boy, because your child might
nave lived TO grow up very bad man,
to be some day executed for the crime
or murder, or he might have become a
drunkRrd, a libertine or n thief"
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-
ished a man in 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 CON-
forters are We allr'
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. I'm times OF great
trouble, can come into our lives and
speak the sympathetic word in lust
the right way. These men may have
tear in the eye. but they always have
smile beaming on the lip. They
come TO us I'm our distress and say:
Brother, IL may be dark for you now,
but believe me- God is good. From my
own personal experience I can testify
that all things will come out right, IL
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"
David could speak from experience
about nights Of weeping. He was no
novice I'm sorrow. He had tasted the
bitter cup of woe and had drunk its
contents to the dregs. And as por-
tray the sufferings OF the shepherd boy
who afterward became the king of
Israel, i want his experience to help
you to find the peace that passeth all |
understanding which the sweet singer |
OF Israel enjoyed.
David, In the first place, knew all |
about the mental sufferings of an I'M |
happy child He knew what ii was to |
have little boys heart beat and throb |
with anguish. He knew what it was
TO go sobbing night after night to bed.
He may have known what it was to
crave fol. parental love and receive 1t
not. And Of all childs troubles
believe there is not one greater than
to feel that father or mother loves
the rest of the children better than they
love him. oh, the awful sufrerings that
come from parental favoritism! God
pity the boys or the girls who have
TO bear that heavy trial in their youth.
A Family Story.
l never had this fact more power
fully illustrated than at my own din
ing room table. IL you will not think
the personal history impertinent, 1 may
tell you that my boys and my girls and
i are one. We play together; we laugh
together; we joke together; we live to
gether as one Paul said: when
was child, spake as child, 1 un-
derstood as child, 1 thought as a
child But when l became a man. / |
put away childish things" But in ref.
erence to my children, / have never be-
come man. l have never ceased to
be child. Well, one day at tile din
ing room table was joking with one
or my children. Some people might
think was teasing her. After the
dinner was over and the children had
left for school, gentleman who was
n guest at the table said: 'Afr. Tai