The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-09-07


and the vile, and the sin burned, and tie
passion blasted appealing for mercy to
| compassionate God, exclaim in ecstasy
and triumph, "More tears for Gods bot
tle!"
Again, God keeps tender remem-
brance Of all your sicknesses. How
many of you are thoroughly sound in
body? Not one OUT ten! / do not ex-
aggerate. The vast majority of the race
are constant subjects Of ailments. There
is some one form of disease that you are
particularly subject to. You have a
| weak side or back or are subject to
headaches or faintnesses or lungs easily
distressed. It would not take very
strong blow to shiver the golden bowl
of life or break the pitcher at the foun-
tain. Many of you have kept on in life
through sheer force Of will. You think
no one can understand ySur distresses.
Perhaps you look strong, and it is cup
posed that you are a hypochondriao.
They say you are nervous-as if that
were nothing! God have mercy upon
any man or woman that is nervous
At times you sit alone in your room.
Friends do not come. You feel an indie
scribable loneliness in your sufferings,
but God knows; God feels; God COM
passionates. He counts the sleepless
nights. He regards the acuteness Of the
pain. He estimates the hardness Of the
breathing. While you pour out the
medicine from the bottle and count the
drops, God counts all your falling tears.
AS you look at the walls filed with maui
seous drafts and at the bottles of dis
tasteful tonic that stand ON the shelf, re-
member that there is larger bottle than
these, which is filled with no mixture by
earthly apothecaries, but it is Gods bot
tie, in which he hath gathered all our
tears.
THE SORROWS OF POVERTY.
Again. God remembers all the sorrows
Of poverty There is much want that
never comes to inspection. The deacons
Of the church never see it. The comp
trollers of almshouses never report it. 1t
comes not to church, for it has no appre-
pirate apparel. Itmakes no appeal for
help, but chooses rather to suffer than
expose its bitterness. Fathers who fail
to gain livelihood, SO that they and
their children submit to constant priva-
ton; sewing women, who cannot ply
the needle quick enough to earn them
shelter and bread.
But whether reported or uncomplain-
ing, whether in seemingly comfortable
parlor, or in damp cellar, or in hot gar
ret, Gods angels of mercy are on the
watch. This moment those griefs are
being collected. Down on the back
streets, in all the alleys, amid shanties
and log cabins, the work goes on. Tears
Of want seething in summers heat or
freezing in winters cold-they fall not
unheeded. They are jewels for heavens
casket They are pledges of divine sym
pathy. They are tears for Gods bottle.
Again, the Lord preserves the remem-
brance Of all paternal anxieties. You
see man from the most infamous sur
roundings step out into the kingdom Of
God. He has heard no sermon. He has
received no startling providential warn
ing. What brought him to this new
mind? This is the secret-God looked
over the bottle in which he gathers the
tears of his people, and he saw paren
tai tear in that bottle which has been
for 40 years unanswered. He said, $50
to, now, and let me answer that tear"
and forthwith the wanderer is brought
home to God.
Oh, this work of training children for
God! It is tremendous work. Some
people think it easy. They have never
tried it. A child is placed in the arms
of the young parent. 1t is beautiful
plaything. You look into the laughing
eyes. You examine the dimples in the
feet. You wonder at it's exquisite or
ganism. Beautiful plaything But on
some nightfall as you sit rocking that
little one voice seems to fall straight
from the throne of God, saying: "That
child is immortal! The stars shall die,
but that is an immortal! Suns shall
grow old with age and perish, but that
is an immortalr'
GOD UNDERSTANDS YOUR HEART.
Now, know with many Of you this Is
the chief anxiety. You earnestly wish
your children to grow up rightly, but
YOU ma IL Q4Iu WOIk w AldfAc tu0uu w
as you wish. You check their temper.
You correct their waywardness; in the
midnight your pillow is wet with weep
ing. You have wrestled with God IN
agony for the salvation Of your children.
You ask me if all that anxiety has beer
Intellectual. / answer, No. God I'M
derstands your heart. He understands
how hard you have tried to make thai
daughter do right, though she is so very
petulant and reckless, and what pains
you have bestowed in teaching that SOL
to walk in the path Of uprightness,
though he has such strong proclivities
for dissipation.
I speak cheering word. God heard
every counsel you ever offered him. God
has known all the sleepless nights you
have passed. God has seen every sink
ing Of your depressed spirit. God re-
members your prayers. BE keeps eter-
nal record of your anxieties, and in his
Acknowledgement such as stood in an
Gent tomb, but in one that CLOVIS and
glitters beside the throne Of God--he