Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-07-16

"Oh," you say, "a tear Is nothing but a
drop OF limpid fluid secreted by the lach-
rynal gland-it is only a sign Of weak
eyes" Great mistake It Is one OF the
Lords richest benedictions to the world.
There are people in Blackwells Island in
sane asylum, and at Utica, and at all the
asylums OF this land, who were demented
by the fact that they could not cry at the
right time. Said a maniac in one of our
public institutions, under Gospel sermon
that started the tears; "Do you see that
teari that is the first | have wept for
twelve years. think it will help my
brain"
There are great many in the grave who
could not stand any longer under the
glacier of trouble. If that glacier had only
melted into weeping they could have en-.
dured il. There have been times in your
life when you would have given the world,
If you had possessed it, for one tear. You
could shrek, you could blaspheme, but you
could not cry. Have you never seen a man
holding the hand of dead wife, who had
been all the world to him3 The temples
livid with excitement, the eye dry and
frantic, no moisture on the upper or lower
lid. You saw there were bolts of anger in
the cloud, but no rain. To your Christian
comfort, he said, Don't talk to me about
God; there is no God, or if there is | hate
him; don't talk to me about God; would
he have left ne and these motherless chill
dren?"
But few hours or days after, com.
ing across some lead pencil that she owned
in life, or some letters which she wrote
a
outcry that appals, there bursts the foun-
tain of tears, and as the sunlight of Gods
consolation strikes that fountain of tears,
you find out that it is a tender hearted.
merciful, pitiful and all compassionate
God who was the father of that rain. "Oh,"
you say, sit is absurd to think that God
Is going to watch over tears" No, my
friends. There are three or four kinds of
them that God counts, bottles and eter
nizes. First, there are all parental tears,
and there are more of these than of any
other kind, because the most of the race die
in infancy, and that keeps parents mourn
ing all around the world. They never get
over it, They may live to shout and sing
afterward, but there is always corridor
in the soul that is silent, though it once re-
sounded
My parents never mentioned the death
of child who died fifty years before with
out a tremor in the voice and sigh, oh,
how deep fetched 1t was better she should
die. 1t was mercy she should die She
would have been lifelong invalid But
you cannot argue away parents grief.
How often you hear the moan, "Oh, my
child, my childW Then there are the filial
tears. Little children soon get over the
loss of parents. They are easily diverted
with new toy. But where is the man
that has come to thirty or forty or fifty
years of age, who can think of the old
people without having all the fountains of
his soul stirred up2 You may have had to
take care of her good many years, but
you never can forget how she used to take
care Of you
There have been many sea captains con-
verted in our church, and the popularity
of them was that they were nearly all
prayed ashore by their mothers, though
the mothers went into the dust soon after
they went to sea. Have you never heard
an old man in delirium of some sickness
call for his mother? The fact is we get
SO used to calling for her the first ten years
of our life we never get over it, and when
she goes away from us it makes deep sor-
row. You sometimes, perhaps, in days of
trouble and darkness, when the world
would say, you ought to be able to take
care of yourself"-you wake up from your
dreams finding yourself saying, "Oh, moth
erl motherp' Have these tears no divine
origin2 Why, take all the warm hearts
that ever beat in all lands, and ia all ages.
and Ru6 thota h0getAF a2d tkair sAsazd
throb we<ld b weak aoia pared witt sha |
1hrob OF Gods eternal sympathy. Yes,
God also is father Of all that rain of re. |
0entance
Did you ever see rain of repentances Do
you know what it is that makes Il man re.
'entS see people going around trying to
'epent. They cannot repent. Do you
lnow no man can repent until God helps
him to repent? How do knowp By this
passage, Him hath God exalted to be
prince and Saviour to give repentance.
Oh, it is tremendous hour when one
wakes up and says: II am bad man.
lave not sinned against the laws of the
and, but have wasted my life; God
sked me for my services and | haven't
,iven those services. Oh, my sins; God
orgive me-" When that tear starts it
hrills all heaven. An angel cannot keep
lis eye off it, and the church of God assem-
lies around, and there is acommingling of
ears, and God is the Father of that rain,
he Lord, long suffering, merciful and gra,
ious.
THE CRY OF A MOTHERS HEART.
In religious assemblage man arose
nd said: II have been very wicked man;
broke my mothers heart. | became an |
nfdel, but have seen my evil way, |
nd | have surrendered my heart to |
rod, but it is grief THAT / never can
et over that my parents should never |
ave heard Of my salvation; don't know
Thether they are living or dead" While
ct he was standing in the audience q
oice from the gallery said, "Oh, my son,
~ sonP' lie looked up and he recognized |
er. 1t was his old mother She had been
raging for him a great many years, and
'hen at the foot of the cross the prodigal |
on and the praying mother embraced each
bher, there was rain, u tremendous rain,
tears, aud God was the Father of chose
ears Oh, that God would break us down
nth sense of our sin, and then lift us
18th an appreciation of his mercy Tears
YER our waStpd life Tnars avar a c,r;ayod