Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-07-11


may no longer be held in vapor, and it fails
And they tells us that some of the clouds
that look to be only as large as a mans hand,
and to be almost quiet in the hea vens, ara
great mountains Of mist four thousand feet
from base to top, and that they rush miles
minute.
But after all the brilliant experiments Of
Dr. James Hutton, and Saussure, and other
scientists there is an infinite mystery about
therain. There is an ocean of the unfath-
enable in every raindrop, and God says to-
day as He said in the time OF Job .If you
cannot understand one drop of rain, do not
be surprised if Ny dealings with yon are in
expIicable.D Why does that aged man, de-
crepit, beggared, vicious, sick OF the world,
and the world sick of him, live on, while
here is a man in mid life, consecratsd to
God, hard working, useful in every respect,
who diesl Why does that old gossip, gad-
ding along the street about every oody's bust
ness but her owa, have such good health,
while the Christian mother, with flock OF
little ones about her whom She is preparing
for usefulness an for heaven-ths mother
who you think could not be spared an hour
from that hoaseaold-whS does she lie down
anu die with a cancer?
Why does that man, selfish to the core, 20
on adding fortune to fortune, consuming
everything on himself, continue TO prosper
while that man, who has been giving ten per
cent. of all his income to God and the church,
goes into bankruptcy? Before We make
stark fools OF ourselves, let US stop pressing
this everlasting Why Let US worship
where we cannot understand. let man
take that one question, Why" and follow
it far enough, and push it, and he will land
in wretchedness and per.fition. We want nj
our theology fewer Interrogation marks and
more exclamation points. Heaven is the
place for explanation. Earth is the place for
trust. Ii you cannot understand so minute
a thing a rainlrop, how can you expect
to understand Gods dealingsS Hath the
rain a fathern
Again, my text makes me think that the
rain of tears is Of divine origin. Great
clouds of trouble sometimes hover over US.
They are BLACK, and they are gorged, and
they are thua1erous. They are more por-
tentious than Salvador or Claude ever
painted-clouds of poverty, or persecution,
or Bereavement. They hover over us, and
they get darker and blacker, and after
awhile tear starts, and we think by an
extra pressure of the eyelid to stop it. 9th
ers follow, and after awhile there is a show
er of fearful emotion. Yea, there is rain
of tears. Hath that rain a father?
''Oh,H you say, "a tear is nothing but
drop of limpid fluid secreted by the ZACH
rymal gland-it is only a sign of weak eyes"
Great mistake. 1t is one OF the Lords rich
est benedictions to the world. There are
people ia Biaekwells Island insane asylum,
and at Utica. and at all the asylums of this
land, who wefs dementei 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 tear3 that is the first
have wept for twelve years. ! think ii will
help my BRAIN
There are great many in the grave who
could not stand any longer under the glacier
Of trouble. II that glacier had only melted
into weeping they could have endured 1t.
There have been times in your life when you
would have given the world, if you had pos
sessed it. for one tear. lou could sarieEi
YOU could blaspheme, but you could not cry,
Have you never seen man holding the hanl
OF dead wife, who had been all the world
to him? The temples liyid with excitement.
the eye dry and frantic, no moisture on the
upper or lower lid Xou 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 II
there is l hate Him: don't talk to me about
God;would He have left me and these mother
less children
But a few hours or days after, coming
across some leal pencil that she owned IN
life, or some letters which sac wrote when
he was away from homa, with an outcry that
appals there bursts the fountain of tears,
and as the sunlight OF Gods consolation
strikes that fountain OF tears, you find out
that it is tender hearted merciful, pitiful
and AL comnassonate God who was the
Father of that rain. SON. you say, ''it ia
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 an l etegnizss First, there are all
parental tears, ana there are more of these
than any other kind, because the most q
the race die in infancy, and that keeps pg
rents mourning all around the world. They
never get over it. They may live to shout
and sing afterward, but there is always a
corridor in the soal that is silent, though ii
once resoun1ed.
My parents never mentioned the death Of a
Child who died fifty years before without a
trelnor IL the voice and a sigh, oh. how deep
fetched II was better she should die. TWAS
a mercy she should die She would have
been a lifelong invalid. But YOU cannot argue
away parents grief How often YOU hear
the noani 'Oh, my child, my ohilim Then
there arc the lilial tears. Little children soon
get over tile loss of parents. They are easily
diverted with new toy: Brt where is tho
man that has come to thirty or forty 0T Fifty
years OF age, who can think of the old peo-
pie without having all the fountains Of his
soul stirred UP? You may have had to take
care Of her good many years but you
never can forget how she used to take caro-
CT 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 sorrow You sometimes per-
haps, in days of trouble and darkness, wnen
the world would say, You ought to be able
to take care of yourselt"-you wake up from
your dreams finding yourself saying, "Ol,
mother motherr' Have these tears no d.
vine origin? Why, take all the warm hearts
that ever beat in all lands, and in all ages,
and put them together and their united tnrou
would be weak compared with the throb OF
Gods eternal sympathy. Yes, God also is
father of all that rain of repentance,
Did you ever see rain of rs9entance1 Do
you know what it IS that makes man re-
pent? l see people going around trying 20
repent. They caniiot repent. Do you know
10 man can repent until God helps him tG
repent? How do know? BY this passage.
Hin hath God exatel TO be prince AMI
Saviour to give repentance" On, it is tre-
nlt ndous hour when one wakes uD an says;
II am bad man. | have not sinned against
the laws of tho land, but | have wasted my
life; God askei me for my services ami /
haven't given those services. Oh, my SINS;
God forgive me-" When that tear starls it
thrills all heaven. An angel cannot keep his
eyes off it, and the church of God assemblies
around, aud there is a commingling of telra,
and God is the Father OF the rain, the Lord,
long suff 4ring meyciful and gracious.
In religious assealblage man arose and
said: Il have been very wicked man; /
broke my mothers heart. / became an inf
de- but have seen my evil way, and have
surrendered my heart to God. but it is a
grisf that l never can get over that my
parents should never have heard of my sal
walton; don't know whether they are living
or dead" While he was yet standing in the
audience voice from the gallery said ''0h.
my sou, my son" He looked up and he reg
ogEized her. 1t was his Old mother She
had been praying for him a great many
years, and when at the foot Of the cross the
prodigal sol and the praying mother en-
braced each Other, there was a rain, 4 tire
men3ou5 rain, of tears, an God was the
Father of those tears. Oh. that God would
break us down with sense OF our SIN, ana
then lift us up with an appreciation of His
mercy. Tears over our wasted life. Tears
over a greiyad spirit. Tears over an in
jured fsther. o., that Goi wouli move
upon this audience with great wave OF re-
hgious emotionl
The king OF Carthage was Diet hrored.
His people rebelled against him. He was
driven into Punishment, dis wife and
children were outrageously abused. Years
went by, and the king OF Carthage made
many friends. He gathered up great
army. He marched again toward Car
thage. Reaching the gates of Carthage
the bsst men of the pace came out bare
footei and bareheaded and with ropes
around their neclss. crying for mercy.
They said. I've abused you and we abused
your family, bit we cry Tor mercy The
King o. Cartbage looko1 down upon the