Dodge City times., 1889-11-14


Tho Giories Of Heaven GIowinsiy Por
hsyed.
Tert-.God shall wipe away all tear
from their eyes" Rev. vii, II.
hiding across q Western prairie, viii,
dowers up to the hub of the carriag
wheel, and while long distance fron
any shelter, there came a sudden shower
and while the rain was falling in tor
rents, the sun was shining as bright,
as 1 ever saw it shine; and I thought
what beautiful spectacle this is! S,
the tears of the Bible are not midnigh
storm, but rain on pansied prairies il
Gods sweet and golden sunlight. Yo,
remember that bottle which DaviG
labeled as containing tears, and Mary
tears, and Paufs tears, and Christ
tears, and the harvest of JOY that is t.
spring from the sowing of tears. Goo
mikes them. God rounds them. Goo
shows them where to fall. God exhales
there is q record as to the momen,
when they are born, and as to the place
of their grave. Tears of bad men are
not kept. Alexander, in his sorrow, haG
the hair clipped from his horses and
mules, and made a great ado about his
grief; but in all the vases of Heaven
there 10 not one of Alexanders tears.
speak of the tears of the good. Alas
mel they are falling all the time. In
summer, you sometimes hear the growl-
ing thunder, and you see there is q
storm miles away; but you know from
the drift of the clouds that it will not
come anywhere near you. So, though il
may be all bright around about us, there
Is shower of trouble somewhere all
the time. Tears! Tears,
What is the use of them anyhew:
Why not substitute laughter2 Why not
make this a world where all people are
we'll and eternal strangers to pain and
achesy What is the use of an eastern
storm when We might have a perpetual
norvester? Why, when family is put
together, net have them all stay, or if
they must be transplanted ID to make other
homes, then have them all live? the
family record telling q story of mar
riages and births, but of no deaths.
Why not have the harvests chase each
other with out fatiguing toll? Why the
hard pillow, the hard crust, the hard
struggle? 1t is easy enough to explain
smile, or success, or a congratu la
tion; but, come now, and bring all your
dictionaries and all your PHILOSOPHERS
and all your religions, and help me ex-
plain tear. A chemist will tell you
that it is made up of salt and lime and
other component parts; but he misses
the chief ingredients-the acid of
soured life, the yiperine sting of a Bit
ter memory. the fragments of broken
heart. will tell you what a tear is; 1t
il agony in solution.
Hear me, then, while discourse to YOU
of the uses of trouble.
First-It is the design of trouble to
keep this world from beingto attractive.
Something must be done to make us
willing to quit this existence. If it
were not TO- trouble this world would
be good enough Heaven for me. You
and would be willing to take lease
of this life for a hundred millien years
II there were no trouble. The earth
cushioned and upholstered and pillared
and chandeliered with such expense, no
story of other worlds could enchant
as. We would say: Let well enough
alone. If you want to die and have your
body disintegrated in the dust. and your
soul go out on a celestial adventure,
then you can go; but this world is good
enough for me-" You might as we'll GO
to q man who has just entered Louvre at
Paris, and tell him to hasten off to the
picture galleries of Venice or Florence.
why, he would say, what is the use
of my going there There are Rem
brandts and Rubens and Raphaels here
that haven't looked at yet"
No man wants to 60 out of this world,
or out of any house, until he has bet
ter house. To cure this wish to stay
here, God must somehow create a dis
gust for our surroundings. How shall
he do it? He cannot afford to deface
his horizon, ar to tear off a fiery
panel from the sunset, or to subtract
IN anther from the water lily, or to ban
ish the pungent aroma from the mig
0onette, or to drag the robes of the
morning in mire. You cannot expect a
Christopher Wren to mar hi. own st.
PauTs cathedral, or Michael Angelo
to dash out his OWE Last Judgment"
or Handel to discord his Israel in
Egypt; and sou cannot expect God to
spoil the architecture and music of his
own world. How then are we to be made
willing to leave? Here is where the
trouble comes in. After man has had
q great deal of trouble he says: Well,
I am ready to go. If there is house
somewhere whose roof doesn't leak, I
would like to live there. II there is an
atmosphere somewhere that does not
distress the lungs, I would like to
breathe it. If there is a society some-
where where there is no tittle-tattle, 1
would like to live there. If there is a
home circle somewhere where I can find
my lost friends, 1 would like tc GO
there" He used to read the first part
of the Bible chiefly. Why has he
changed Genesis for Revelations? All.
he used to be anxious chiefly to know
how this world was made, and all about
its geological construction. Now he is
chiefly anxious to know how the next
world was made, and how it looks, and
reads Revelations ten times now where
he reads Genesis once. The old story,
In the beginning God created the heav-
ems and the earth The old mans hand
trembles as he turns over this apocalyp-
tic leaf, and he has to take out his
handkerchief to wipe his spectacies.
That book of Revelations is pros
pectus now of the country in which he
is soon to immigrate; the country in
which he has lots already laid out. and
avenues opened, and trees planted, and
mansions built.
The thought of that blessed place
comes over me nightly, and I declare
that if this house were a great ship, and
you all were passengers on board it, and
one hand could launch that ship into
the glories of Heaven, l should be
tempted to take the responsibility and
launch you all into glory with one
stroke, holding on to the side of the !
boat until could get in myself. And
yet there are people here to whom this |
world is brighter than Heaven. Well, |
dear souls. l do not blame you. 1t is /
natural. But after while you will be |
ready to 60. 1t was not until Job had
been worn out with bereavement and |
carburcles and pest of q wife that he |
wanted to see God. 1t was not until the |
prodiga, got tired of living among the
hogs that he wanted to 60 to his
Fathers rouse. 1t is the ministry of
trouble to make this world worth less
and Heaven worth more.
Again, it IS the use of trouble 10 make
as feel our complete dependence upon
God. King A.pnonso said that if he had
been present IT the creation he coufd
have made a Detter world than this.
What pity he vas not present! I do
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