7 Z&:
..
MISERABLE COMFORTERS.
RCV. DR. .TALMAGE DISCOURSES
AT EAST HAMPTON, L. I.
"Mliy 1)1.1 God Ixt Sin Come Into thm
World? No One Can Tell Until II GeU
on the Otlicr tilde of the Itlver of IJcatlu
Imparting Comfort to the Troubled.
East Hampton, N. Y.t Sept. 2. Tlie
Rev. T. Do Witt Talmago, D. D., who
spends a good part of his summer rest
liere, took for the suhject of liia vacation
Hcrmon of this date, "Plasters That Will
Not Stick." His text was, ''Miserable
comforters aro yo all." Job xvi, 2. Fol
lowing is the sermon :
Tho man of Uz liad a great many
triald tho loss of his family, tho loss of
hi3 pioj)erty, tho loss of his health; but
tho most exasperating thing that camo
upon him was tho tantalizing talk of
thoso who ought to have sympathized
with him. Looking around upon them,
and weighing what they had said, he
utters tho words of my text.
Why did God let tsin como into tha
world? It is a question I often hear dis
cussed, but never satisfactorily answered.
God made tho world fair and beautiful
nt tho start. If our first parents had not
sinned in Eden, they might have gono
out of that garden and found fifty para
dises all around the earth Europe, Asia,
Africa, North and South America, so
many flower gardens, or orchards of
fruit, redolent and luscious. I suppose
that when God poured out the Gihon and
tho Iliddekel, ho joured out, at the same
time, tho Hudson and tho Susquehanna;
tho whole earth was very fair and beau
tiful to look upon. Why did it not 6tay
bo? God had tho power to keep back sin
and woe. Why did ho not keep them
back? Why not every cloud roseate,
and every step a joy, and every sound
music, and all the ages a long jubilee of
sinless men and sinless women? God
can make a roso as easily as he can make
a thorn. Why, then, the predominance
of thorns? Ho can make good, fair,
ripo lnuc as wen as gnarieu and sour
fruit. Why so much, then, that i3
gnarled and sour? Ho can make men
robust in health. Why, then, aro there
so many invalids? Why not have for
our whole race perpetual leisure, instead
of this tug and toil and tusslo for a live
lihood? I will tell you why God let sin
como into tho world when I get on the
other sido of tho Kiver of Death. That
is the place where such questions will be
answered and such mysteries solved.
Ho who this sido of that river attempts
to answer the question only illustrates
his own ignorance and incompetency.
All I know is one great fact, and that is
tliat a herd of woes have come in upon
us, trampling down everything fair and
beautiful. A sword at the gate of Eden,
and a sword at every gate. More peoplo
under tho ground than on it. The grave
yards in vast majority. The six thousand
winters have mado more scars than the
six thousand summers can cover up.
Trouble has taken the tender heart of
this world in its two rough hands and
pinched it until tho nations wail with the
agony. If all tho mounds of graveyards
that havo been lifted were put side by
side, you might step on them and on
nothing else, going all around the world,
and around again, and around again.
These are the facts. And now I have to
say that, in a world like this, the grand
est occupation is that of giving condo
lence. This holy science of imparting
comfort to the troubled we ought all of
us to 6tudy. There are many of you
who could look around upon some of
your very best friends who wish you
well and are very intelligent, and yet be
able truthfully to say to them in your
days of trouble, "Miserable comfortera
are ye all."
I remark, in the first place, that very
voluble peoplo are incompetent for the
work of giving comfort. Bildad and
Eliphaz had the gift of language, and
with their words almost bothered Job's
life out. Alas for these volublo people
that go among tho houses of the -afflicted,
and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk!
They rehearse their own sorrows, and
then they tell the poor sufferers that they
feel badly now, but they will feel worse
after awhile. Silence! Do you expect,
with a thin court plaster of words, to heal
a wound deep as the soul? Step very
gently around about a broken heart.
Talk very softly around those whom God
lias bereft. Then go your way. Deep
sympathy has not much to say. A firm
grasp of the hand, a compassionate look,
just one word that means as much as a
whole dictionary, and you have given,
perhaps, all the comfort that a soul
needs. A man has a terrible wound in
his arm. The surgeon comes and binds
it up. "Now," he says, "carry that arm
in a sling, and be very careful
of it. Let no one touch it." But
the neighbors havo heard of the accident,
and they come in, and they say, "Let us
Bee it." And the bandage .is pulled off,
and this ono and that one must feel it,
and see how much it is swollen; and
there is irritation, and inflammation, and
exasperation, where there ought to be
healing and cooling. The surgeon comes
in, and says, "What does all this mean?
You havo no business to touch those
bandages. That wound will never heal
unless you let it alone." So. there are
souls broken down in sorrow. What
they most want is rest, or very careful
and gentle treatment; but the neighbors
liave heard of the bereavement or of the
loss, and they come in to sympathize,
and they say, "Show us the wound.
What were his last words? Rehearse
now the whole scene. How did you feel
when you found you were an orphan?"
tearing off tho bandages here, and pull
ing them off there, leaving a ghastly
wound that the balm of God's grace had
already begun to heal. Ob, let no loqua
cious people, with ever rattling tongues,
go into the homes of the distressed !
Again I remark, that all thoso persons
are incompetent to give any kind of
comfort who act merely as worldly phil
osophers. They como in and say:
"Why, this is what you ought to have
expected. The laws of nature must have
their way," and then they get eloquent
over something they have seen in post
mortem examinations. Now, away
with all human philosophy at such a
time! What difference doe3 it make to
tliat father and mother what diseas9
their son died of? He is dead, and it
makes no difference whether the trouble
was in the epigastric or hypogastric re
gion. If tho" philosopher bo of tho sto
ical school ho will como and say: "You
ought to control your feelings. You
must not cry so. You must cultivate a
cooler temicrament. You must have
Bclf reliance, Belf government, self con
trol;" an iceberg reproving a hyacinth
for having a drop of dew in its eye. A
violinist has his instrument, and he
sweeps his fingers across the strings, now
evoking strains of joy, and now
strains of sadness. Ho can not
play all the tunes on ono string.
The human soul is an instrument of a
thousand strings, and all sorts of emotions
were made to play on it. Now an
anthem, now a dirge. It is no evidence
of weakness when ono is overcome of
sorrow. Edmund Burke was found in
the pasture field with his arms around a
horse's neck, caressing him, and some
ono said, "Why, the great man has lost
las mind! Iso; that horse belonged to
his Bon who had recently died, and his
great heart broke over the grief. It is
no sign of weakness that men are over
come of their sorrows. Thank God for
the relief of tears. Have you never been
in trouble when you could not weep, and
you would have given anything for a
good cry? David did well when he
mourned for Absalom, Abraham did well
when he lemoaned Sarah, Christ did well
when ho wept for Lazarus; and the last
man l want to see come anywnere near
me when I havo any kind of trouble is a
worldly philosopher.
Again I remark, that those persons are
incompetent for the work of comfort
bearing who have nothing but cant to
offer. There are those who have the idea
that you must groan over tho distressed
and afflicted. There are times in grief
when one cheerful face dawning upon a
man's soul is worth a thousand dollars to
him. Do not whine over the afflicted.
Take tho promises of tho Gospel, and
utter them in a manly tone. Do not bo
afraid to smile if you feel like it. Do
not drive any more hearses through that
loor soul. Do not tell him the trouble
was foreordained; it will not be any com
fort to know it was a million years com
ing. If you want to find splints for a
broken bone do not take cast iron. Do
not tell them it is God's justice that
weighs out grief. They want now to
hear of God's tender mercy. In other
words, do not give them aqua fortis
when they need valerian.
Again I remark that those persons are
poor comforters who have never had any
trouble themselves. A larkspur cannot
lecture on the nature of a snowflake it
never saw a snowflake; and those people
who have always lived in the summer of
prosperity cannot talk to those who are
frozen in disaster. God keeps aged jhk
plo ia tho world, I think, for this very
work of sympathy. They have been
through all these trials. They know all
that which irritates and all that which
soothes. If there are men and women
here who have old people in the house,
or near at hand so they can easily reach
them, I congratulate them. Some of us
have had trials in life, and although we
have had many friends around about us,
we have wished that father and mother
were still alive, that we might go
and toil them. Perhaps they could
not say much, but it would have
been such a comfort to have them around.
These aged ones who have been all
through the trials of life know how to
give condolence. Cherish them; let them
lean ca your arm these aged people. If,
when you speak to them, they cannot
hear just what you say the first time, and
you have to say it a second time, when
you say it the second time, do not say it
sharply. If you do, you will be sorry for
it on the day when you take the last look
and brush back the silvery locks from tho
wrinkled brow just before they screw the
lid on. Blessed be God for the old peo
ple ! They may not have so much strength
to go around, but they are God's ap
pointed ministers of comfort to a broken
heart.
Peoplo who havo not had trial them
selves cannot give comfort to others.
They may talk very beautifully, and
they may give you a great deal of poetio
sentiment; but while poetry is perfume
that smells sweet, it makes a very poor
salve. If you have a grave in your path
way, and somebody comes and covers it
all over with flowers, it is a grave yet.
Those who have not had grief them
selves know not the mystery of a broken
heart. They know not the meaning of
childlessness, and the having of no one
to put to bed at night, or the standing in
a room where every book and picture and
door is full of memories tho door mat
where she sat, the cup out of which she
drank the place where she stood at the
door and clapped her hands the odd fig
ures tliat she scribbled the blocks 6he
built into a house. Ah no, you must have
trouble yourself before you can comfort
trouble in others. But come all ye who
have been bereft and ye who have been
comforted in your sorrows, and 6tand
around these afflicted souls, and say to
them, "I had thafc-rery sorrow myself.
God comforted me, and he will comfort
you;" and that will go right to the spot.
In other words, to comfort others, we
must liave faith in God, practical ex
perience, and good, sound coniniou sense.
But there are three or four considera
tions that I will bring this morning to
those who are sorrowful and distressed,
and that we can always bring to them,
knowing that they will effect a cure.
And the first consideration is that God
sends our troubles in love. I often hear
people in their troubles 6ay, "Why, I
wonder what God ha3 against mel"
They seem to think God has some grudge
against them because trouble and mis
fortur.o have come. Oh, no. Do you
not remember that passage of Scripture,
"Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth?"
A child comes in with a very bad splinter
in its hand and you try to extract it. It
is a very painful operation. The child
draws back from you, but you persist.
You aro going to take that splinter out,
so you take the child with a gentlo but
firm grasp, for, although there may be
pain in it, the splinter must ' come out.
And it is love that dictates it, and makes
you persist. My friends, I really
think that nearly all cur sorrows in tlus
world are only the hand of our Father
extracting some thorn. If all these sor
rows were sent by enemies, I would say,
arm yourselves against them ; and, as in
tropical climes, when a tiger comes down
from tho mountains and carries off a
child from the village, the neighbors
hand together and go into the forest and
hunt the monster, bo I would have you,
if I thought these misfortunes were sent
by on enemy, go out und battle against
them. But no; they como from
Father so kind, so loving, so gentle, that
the prophet, speaking of his tenderness
and mercy, drops the idea of a father,
and says, "As one whom hia mother
coinforteth,' so will I comfort you."
Again I remark, there is comfort in
the thought tliat God, by all this process,
is going to make you useful. Do you
Lnow that thoso who accomplish the
most for God and heaven have nil been
under the liarrow? Show me a man that
has done anvthing for Christ in this day.
in a public or private place, who has had
no trouble and whoso path has been
smooth. Ah, no.
I once went through an ax factorv,
and I saw them take tho bars of iron and
thrust them into tho terrible furnaces.
Then besweated workmen with long
tongs stirred the blaze. Then they
brought out a bar of iron and put it into
a crushing machine, and then they put
it between jaws that bit it m twain.
Then they put it on an anvil, and there
wero great hammers swung by ma
chinery eacii one a halt ton in
weight that went thump! thump!
thump! If that iron could have
spoken it would have said, "Why
all this beating? Why mtist I be
pounded any more than any other iron?"
The workmen would have said: "We
want to make axes out of you, keen.
sharp axes axes with which to hew
down the forest, and build the ship, and
erect houses, and carry on a thousand
enterprises of civilization. That's the
reason we pound you." Now, God puts
a soul into the furnace of trial, and then
it is brought out and run through the
crushing machine, and then it comes
down on tho anvil, and upon it blow
after blow, blow after blow, and the soul
cries out, "O Lord, what does all this
mean?" God says, "I want to make
something very useful out of you. You
shall be something to hew with
and something to build with
It is a practical process through
wnicn i am putting you.' Acs, my
Christian friends, we want mo6 tools in
the church of God. Not more wedges to
split with; we have enough of these. Not
more bores with which to drill; we have
too many bores. "What we really want
is keen, sharp, well tempered axes, and
if there be any other way of making them
than m the hot furnace, and on the hard
anvil, and under tho heavy hammer, I
do not know what it is. Remember that
if God brings any kind of chastisement
upon you, it is only to make you useful
Do not sit down discouraged, and say,
"I have no more reason for living, I
wish I were dead." Oh, there never
was so mucn reason lor your living as
now ! By this ordeal you have been con
secrated a priest of the Most High God.
Go out and do your whole work for the
Master.
Again, there is comfort in the thought
that all our troubles aro a revelation.
Havo you ever thought of it in that con
nection? The man who has never been
through chastisement is ignorant about a
thousand things in his soul he ought to
know. For instance, here is a man who
prides himself on his cheerfulness of
character. He has no patience with any
body who is depressed in spirits. Oh, it
is easy for hini to be cheerful, with his
fine house, his filled wardrobe and well
strung instruments of music and tapes
tried parlor and plenty of money in the
bank waiting for some permanent in
vestment. It is easy for him to be cheer
ful. But suppose his fortune goes to
pieces and his house goes down under
the sheriff's hammer and the banks will
not have anything to do with his paper.
Suppose those people who were once
elegantly entertained at his table get so
short sighted that they cannot
recognize him upon the street. How
then? Is it so easy to be cheerful?
It is easy to be cheerful in the home,
after the day's work is done, and the
gas is turned on, and the house is full of
romping little ones. But suppose the
piano is shut because the fingers that
played on it will no more touch the keys,
and the childish voice that asked so
many questions will ask no more. Then
is it so easy? When a man wakes up
and finds that his resources are all gone,
he begins to rebel, and he says, "God is
hard, God is outrageous. He had no
business to do this to me." My friends,
those of us who liave been through
trouble know what a sinful and re
bellious heart we have, and how much
God has to put up with, and how much
we need pardon. It is only in the fight
of a flaming furnace that we can learn
our own weakness and our own lack of
moral resource.
There is also a great deal of comfort in
the fact that there will be a family re
construction in a better place. From
Scotland, or England, or Ireland a child
emigrates to this country. It is very
hard parting, but he comes, after a while
writing home as to what a good land it
is. Another brother comes, a sister
comes, and another, and after a while
the mother comes, and after a while th
father comes, and now they are all here,
and they have a time of great congratu
lation and a very pleasant reunion.
Well, it is just so with our families ; they
are emigrating to a better land. Now,
one goes out. Oh, how hard it ia to part
with him! Another goes. Oh, how
hard it is to part with her! And an
other, and another, and we ourselves
will after a while go over, and then we
will be together. Oh, what a reunion 1
1 1 1 ? .1 ,(TT .
jju you ueueve mat." xes, you say.
You do not! You do not believe it as
you believe other things. If you
did, and with the same emphasis,
why, it would take nine-tenths of your
trouble, off your heart. The fact
is, heaven to many of us is a great fog.
It is away off somewhere, filled with an
uncertain and indefinite population. That
is the kind of heaven that many of us
dream about; but it Is the most tremen
dous fact in all tho universe this heaven
of the Gospel. Our departed friends are
not afloat. The residence in which you
five is not so real as the residence in
winch they stay. You are afloat, you
who do not know in the morning what
will happen before night. They are
housed and safe forever. Do not, there
fore, pity your departed friends who have
died in Christ. They do not need any of
vour pity. You might as well send a
letter of condolence to Queen Victoria on
her obscurity, or to the Rothschilds
on their poverty, as to pity those
who have won the palm. Do not
say of those who are departed,
"Poor childl" "Poor father!" "Poor
mother!" They are not poor. You are
poor you whose homes have been shat
tered not they. You do not dwell
much with your families in this world.
All day long you aro off to business.
Will it not be pleasant when you can bo
together all the while? If you liave had
four children and one is gone, and any-
ixxiy asks now many children you have,
do not bo so infidel as to say three. Say
four ono in heaven. Do not think that
tho grave 13 unfriendly. You go into
your room and dress for some grand en
tertainment, and 3'ou como forth beauti
fully appareled; and the grave is only
the place where we go to dress for the
glorious resurrection, and wo will come
out radiant, radiant, mortality havim
become immortality. Oh, how much
condolence there is in this thought ! I
expect to seo my kindred in heaven; I
expect to see them as certainly as I ex-
Iect to go home today. Ay, I shall
more certainly see them. Eight or ten
will como up from the graveyard back
of Somerville; and one will come up
from tho mountains back of Amoy,
China; and another will come up from
the sea off Cape Hatteras; and thirty will
come up from Greenwood; and I 6hall
know them better than I ever knew them
here. And your friends they may be
across the sea, but the trumpet that
sounds here will sound there. You will
come up on just the same day. Some
morning you have overslept yourself,
and you open your eyes, and see that the
sun is high in the heavens, and vou say.
"I have overslept, and I must be up and
off." So jou will open your eyes on the
morning of the resurrection, in the full
blaze of God's light, and you will say,
- i must oe up ana away. un yes, you
will come up, and there will be a reunion,
a reconstruction of your family. I like
what Halburton, I think it was good old
Mr. llalburton said m his last moments.
"I thank God that I ever lived, and that
I have a father in heaven, and a mother
in heaven, and brothers in heaven, and
sisters in heaven, and I am now going
up to see them. "
T 1 . mm
x remaric once more, our troubles in
this world are preparative for glory.
vv hat a transition it was for Paul from
the 6lippery deck of a foundering ship to
the calm presence of Jesus! What a
transition it was for Latimer from the
rtake to a throne! What a transition it
was for Robert Hall from insanity to
glory! What a transition it was for
Richard Baxter from the dropsy to the
"saint's everlasting rest!" And what a
transition it will be for you from a
world of sorrow to a world of joy! John
Holland, when he was dying, said,
"What means this brightness in the
room? Have you lighted the candles?"
"No." they replied, "we have not
lighted any candles." Then said he,
"Welcome heaven!" the light already
beaming upon his pillow. O ye who are
persecuted in this world! your enemies
will get off the track after a while, and all
wui speak well of you among the thrones.
..lol ye who are Bick now, no medicines
to take there. One breath of the eternal
hills will thrill you with immortal vigor.
And ye who are lonesome now, there
will be a thousand spirits to welcome you
into their companionship. O ye bereft
souls 1 there will be no grave digger's
spade that will cleave the side of that
hill, and there will be no dirge wailing
from that temple. The river of God,
ueep as me joy or neaven, will roil on
between banks odorous with balm, and
over depths bright with jewels, and under
skies roseate with gladness, argosies of
light going down the stream to the stroke
of glittering oar and the song of angels !
JNot ono sigh in the wind; not one tear
mingling with the waters.
There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest.
And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peivceful breast.
Castelar's Expulsion from Rom 4
Senor Castelar gives a dramatic pictur
of his expulsion from Rome, in the days
before V ictor Emanuel entered that capi
tal. The landlord of his hotel, having
received a domiciliary visit from the
police, went to his guest and asked him
in a terrified manner, "Why did vou
conceal your rank from me?" "Mv
rank? I have none to conceal. " "Your
importance?" "I am not of any conse
quence. i ou are a distinguished per
son. "I distinguished?" said Senor
Castelar; "bah! you are mocking me."
L have kept the police from coininsr to
your chambers by saying that I would
communicate to you their orders.
"What orders?" "The orders to leave
Rome immediately." Senor Castelar
had written books that were on the "In
dex Expnrgatorius," and besides he was
told that he was a friend of Garibaldi
and Mazzini, a democrat and revolution
ist, and that if he did not leave Rome by
the hrst train in the morning he would
bo imprisoned, and might even be
hanged. It was then 9:30: the next
train left at 10, and Eniilio Castelar left
in it. New York Tribune
A Prediction Concerning Gladstone.
The golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs.
Gladstone, which was celebrated recently.
recalls a reminiscence of the day, now
more than half a century distant, when
Mrs. Gladstone first saw her future hus
band. It was at a dinner party in Lon
don, where the younger Miss Glynne's
attention was directed by an eminent
statesman who was by her side to a tall.
handsome young member of parliament
who sat opposite. "Do you see that
young man?" Baid he, "note him well
and mark my words. If his life is spared
ho will one day be prime minister," Miss
Glynne naturally took keen note of Mr.
Gladstone, but they did not 6peak, nor
was it until some time afterward that
she made his acquaintance in Italy. The
prediction, however, has been thrice ful
filled, and Mrs. Gladstone will probably
have the gratification of seeing it fulfilled
the fourth time before long. Home
Journal.
Great Britain's Itet Addition.
The latest addition to the British em
pire is a small island in the Pacific ocean,
lying south of the Sandwich Islands and
about two degrees north of the equator.
It is a small and almost barren island,
and received its name of Christmas Island
because Capt. Cook spent Christmas on it
110 vears ag o last winter. Once a W eek.
Pieces of cotton batting dipped in hot
water and k;pt applied to old sores, new
cuts, bruises and sprains, is a treatment
now adopted in hospitals.
fV2 POUND
THE CELEBRATED NERVE TONIC.
A Word to the Nervous IZoZ
A healthy boy has as many as you, but he doesn't know it. That is
the difference between "sick" and "well."
Why don't you cure yourself? It is easy. Don't wait. Painc's
Celery Compound will do it. Pay your druggist a dollar, and enjoy
life once more. Thousands have. Why not you ?
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RETAIL
AFFORDS ALWAYS ON HAND.
of OYSTERS, in cans and hulk, at
AND RETAIL.
CALIj
opt Etsa&y.
- Plattsmonth..
County.
constantlv on Iianrl. Hmr-h llV.ncp
J. M. RoEEKlS.)
a full and complete stock of pure
IQUORS.
er,
FRiCKE&CO.,
Oils
S