Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-07-17
God:would He have left me and these mother

God;would He have left me and these mother
less children"
But a few hours or DAYS after. coming
across some lead pencil that she owned In
life, or some letters which she wrote when
he was away from home, with an outcry that
appals, there bursts the fountain Of tears.
and as the sunlight of Gods consolation
that it is a tender-hearted, merciful, pitiful
and all compassionate God who was the
Father of that rain. ''Oh," you say, 1T IS
absurd to think that God is going 70 watch
over tears" No, my friends. There are
three or four kinds of them that God counts.
bottles and eterniZes. First, there are all
parental tears, and there are more OF these
than any other kind, because the most of
the race die in infancy, and that keeps pa
rents mourning all around the world. They
never get over it. They may live to shout
and sing afterwarj, but there is always a
corridor in the soul that Is silent, though 1t
once resounded.
Ny parents never mentioned the death of a
child who died fifty years before without a
tremor in the voice and sigh, oh, how deep
fetched! 1t was better she should die. It was
a mercy she should die. She would have
been lifelong invalid. But you cannot argue
away a parents grief. How often you hear
the moan: 'tOh, my ciild, my childr' 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 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 care
of you.
There have been many sea captains con-
verified in our church, and the peculiarly of
them was that they were nearly all prayed
ashoreby their mothers, though the mothers
went into the dust soon after they went to
sea. Have you never heard an old man in
deiirium 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, 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,
mother! motherm Have these tears no di-
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 throb
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 sea rain of repentance? Do
you know what it is that makes man re-
pent? l see people going around trying to
repent. They cannot repent. Do you know
no man can repent until God helps him to
repent? How do know? By this passage
Him hath God exalted to be prince and
Saviour to give repentance" Oh, 1t IS a ire
mendous hour when one wakes up and says:
II am bad man. I have not sinned against
the laws of the land, but L have wasted my
life; God asked me for my services and
haven't given those services Oh, my sins;
God forgive me-" When that tear starts it
thrills all heaven. An angel cannot keep his
eyes off it, and the church of God assemblies
around, and there is commingling of tears,
and God is the Father of the rain, the Lord,
c11ffo roaroifnl nd
In religious assemblage man arose and
said: II have been very wicked man; l
broke my mothers heart. [ became an inf
DEL but have seen my evil way, and have
surrendered my heart to God. but it Is
grief that I 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, "Oh.
my son, my sonr He looked up and he rec
ognized 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 son and the praying mother en-
braced each other, there was rain, ire
mendous rain, of tears and God was the
Father of those tears. Oh, that God would
break us down with sense Of our sin, and
then lift US up with an appreciation Of His
mercy. Tears over our wasted life. Tears
over greived spirit. Tears over an in
jured father Oh, that God would move
ligious emotion!
The king of Carthage was Diet hroned.
His people rebelled against him. He was
driven into Punishment. His wife and
children were outrageously abused. Years
went by, and the king of Carthage made
many friends. He gathered up a great
army. He marched again toward Car
thage. Reaching the gates of Carthage
the best men Of the place came out bare
foote1 and bareheaded and with ropes
around their necks, crying for mercy.
They said. ave abused you and we abused
your family, but we cry for mercy" The
king of Carthage looked down upon the
people from his chariot and said: II came
to bless / didn't come to destroy. You
drove me out, but this day | pronounce
pardon for all the people. Open the gates
and let the army come in" The king
marched in and took the throne, and the
people all shouted, Long live the kingW
My friends, you have driven the Lord
Jesus Christ. the King of the church, away
from your heart; you have been maltreating
Him all these years; but He comes back to-
day. He stands in front of the gates OF
your soul. If you will only pray for His
pardon He will meet you with His gracious
spirit and He will say: Thy sins and thine
iniuuities I will remember no more. open
wide the gate I will take the throne. My
peace I give unto you" And then, all
through this audience from the young and
from the old, there will be a rain OF tears,
and God will be the father of that raiEl