The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-09-04
A sAruRDAY SERMON.
mo doubt but We are the people and
wisdom shall die with you.''-Job 12-2.

/
| Job was replying to his comforters
when he INDUCED in the above sar-
! casm. His family and property had
been swept away and he lay, covered
with boils. upon a bed of pain, when
his friends came to see him and
ostensibly to help him by their pres
ence and words of sympathy. The
expression, Jobs comforters, has
been a proverb from that day to this.
and his replies to the reproaches and
gibes and bad advice of these friends
go to form the grandest and most
beautiful philosophy OF which man
kind has a. record.
Some authorities claim that the
book of Job was not inspired, but the
plain. simple man, reading his Bible,
pays no attention to the auth orities;
he finds more comfort for his
miseries and foundation for his hopes
in this book than elsewhere in the
Bible, excepting always the sermon
on the mount.
Job had mountain of troubles
pressing down upon him, but the
visitations of his friends was the
worst of his miseries. He had lost
his wives and his children, his herds
had been carried off by robbers and
his houses had been thrown down by
high winds out of the desert. But
these calamities only brought forth
from him that immortal reply: "The
Lord gave and the Lord taketh
away; blessed be the name of the
Lord Then his body was afflicted
with boils and his wife turned on
him with tongue sharper than a
serpent's tooth, but old Job was a
philosopher still, for he only said:
shall we receive good at the hand
of God, and shall we not receive
evil?'
But when his friends came to gloat
over him and speak in endless SEN
fences from soulless lips then Jobs
resignation left him and he replied
with heat and anger. Under the
scourge of his 7comforters he ad-
mitted that Man that is born of
woman is of few days and full of
trouble"
Jobs comforters did not die, but
rather they multiplied and are with
us to this day. When a good man
goes wrong or meets trouble face to
face his heaviest cross in the hour of
his undoing is the presence of false
friends who put salt in his wounds
by their words and actions while
pretending to help and console. Job,
who was rich and powerful and good.
had not one real friend in the time of
adversely. The man of today who
counts his friends by the score is for
tunate If he has one out of the lot
who is worthy the name.
The trouble is that we think we are
the people and that all wisdom will
die with US. Job covered all the
frailties of human nature in that
sentence which is used as the text for
this sermon. Instead of being sim
pie and modest and unaffected when
to a friend In trouble we
are inclined to mount upon a pinnacle
and faunt our own virtues and SNUG.
self satisfied success in his face. We
are inclined to be argumentatfve
rather than sympathetic. We cannot
resist saying, ct told you so.' We
cast stones Of reproach instead of
offering the bread of healing.
If everyone, before calling upon a |
friend in trouble, would read the
book of Job, then would mankind be
blessed. Thou 1ookest narrowly
unto all my paths" complained Job
to his sanctimonious friends, and
that is still the trouble with too |
many Christian people today. Their
good example is lost in their narrow
pride in their own cheap virtues. Re-
member that Job. possessing a. |
patience Beyond that of mortal man. |
blessed with a. philosophy that is the
Of the ages, suffered |
more at the hands of his fool friends
than he did from all his flood Of |
niseries, and misfortunes. Forget |
and think only of your
friend; then you will have brought
real cheer and comfort Get rid of |
he idea that wisdom will die with
you. Conceit is the commonest and
worst of frailties and for every con-
'eited man who dies a Solomon takes
lis place in the world.