News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-08-31
A BOTTLE OF TEARS.
DR.. TALMAGE CHOOSES A UNIQUE
THEME FOR HIS DISCOURSE.


a Text That Carries Consolation to tn
Weary and Heavy Laden-The Griefs an
Trials of This World Accrue to Our GIor
Hereafter.
BROOKLYN, Aug. 27.-Rev. T. De Wit
Talmage chose a unique theme as hi
subject for tOday-viZ, ga Bottle Q
Tears" the text selected being Psalm
lvi, s, ''Put thou my tears into thy bot
tle."
Hardly mail has come to me for
years that has not contained letters say
ing that my sermons have comforted tn
writers of those letters. l have not thi
summer nor for 90 years spoken on tn
platform of any outdoor meeting bu
coming down l have been told by hun
dreds of people the same thing. So
think will keep on trying to be a ''sol
of consolation"
The prayer of my text was pressed on
of David's soul by innumerable calami
ties, but it is just as appropriate for thu
distressed of all ages. Within the pas
century travellers and antiquarians have
explored the ruins of many of the an
Gent cities, and from the very heart o.
those buried splendors of other days
have been brought up evidences of Gus
toms that long ago vanished from thu
world From among tombs of those
ages have been brought up lachryma
tories, or lachrymals, which are vials
made of earthenware. 1t was the Gus
e., L. IN 10
that they wept over their dead in bot
tie, and to place that bottle in the graves
of the departed, and we have many
specimens of the ancient lachrymatories,
or tear bottles, in our museums.
TEAR BOTTLES FROM CYPRUS.
When on the way from the Holy Land
our ship touched at Cyprus, we went
back into the hills of that island and
bought tear bottles which the natives
had dug out of the ruins of the old city.
There is nothing more suggestive to me
than the tear bottles which 1 brought
home and put among my curiosities.
That was the kind of bottle that my
text alludes to when David cries, "Put
thou my tears into thy BOTTLE"
The text intimates that God has an in
innate acquaintance and perpetual re-
membrance of all our griefs, and vial,
or laehrymatory, or bottle, in which he
catches and saves our tears, and 1 bring
to you the coincidence of this Christian
sentiment. Why talk about grief? Alas,
the world has its pangs, and now, while
1 speak, there are thick darknesses of
soul that need to be lifted. There are
many who are about to break under the
assault of temptation, and perchance,
if no words appropriate to their case be
uttered, they perish. come on no FOOLS
,errand. Put upon your wounds no salve
compounded by human quackery; but,
pressing straight to the mark, l hail you
as vessel midsea cries to a passing
craft, ship ahoyr' and invite you on
board vessel which has faith for rud-
der, and prayer for sails, and Christ for
captain, and heaven for an eternal har-
Dor.
Catherine Rheinfeldt, a Prussian,
keeps a boat with which she rcscues the
drowning. When a storm comes on the
coast, and other people go to their beds
to rest, she puts out in her boat for the
the drowning has she brought safely to
the beach. In this lifeboat of the Cos
pei put out today, hoping, by Gods
help, to bring ashore at least one soul
that may now be sinking in the pillows
of temptation and trouble. The tears
that were once caught in the lachryma-
tories brought up from Herculaneum
and Pompeii are all gone, and the bottle
is as dry as the scoria of the volcano that
submerged them, but not SO with the
bottle in which God gathers all our tears.
First, l remark that God keeps perpet-
ually the tears of repentance. Many
man has awakened in the morning so
wretched from a nights debauch that he
has sobbed and wept. Pains in the head,
aching in the eyes, sick at heart and I'M
fit to step into the light. He grieves, not
about his misdoing, but only about its
consequences. God makes no record of
such weeping. OF all the million tears
that have gushed as the result of such
Imisdemeanor, not one ever got into
Gods bottle. They dried on the fevered
cheek or were dashed down by the bloat-
ed hand or fell into the red wine cup as it
came again to the lips, foaming with still
worse intoxication.
But when man is sorry for his past
and tries to do better-when he mourns
his wasted advantages and bemoans his
rejection of Gods mercy and cries amid
the decorations of an aroused con-
science for help out of his terrible pre-
dicament, then God listens; then heaven
bows down; then scepters of pardon are
extended from the throne; then his cry
ing rends the heart of heavenly compass
sion; then his tears are caught in &C rs
bottle.
PARADISE AND THE PERL
You know the story of paradise and
the peri. | think it might be put to
higher adaptation. An angel starts from
the throne of God to find what thing it
Tan on earth worthy of being carried
back to heaven. 1t goes down through
the gold and silver mines of earth, but
finds nothing worthy of transportation
tothe celestial city. 1t goes down through |
the depths of the sea, where the pearls |
lie, and finds nothing worthy of taking |
back to heaven. But coming to the foot |
or mountain 1t sees q wanderer weep |
ing over his evil ways. The tears of the |
prodigal start, but do not fall to the |
ground, for the angels wing catches |
them, and with that treasure speeds back |
to heaven. God sees the angel coming |
and says, Behold the brightest gem of |
earth and the brightest jewel of heaven
the tear of a sinners repentance"
Oh, when | see the heavenly Shepherd |
bringing lamb from the wilderness:
when I hear the quick tread of the prodi- |
gal Fastening home to find his father; |
when see sailor boy coming on the |
wharf and hurrying away to beg his |
mothers pardon for long neglect and un-
kindness; when see the houseless COM
ing TO God for shelter, and the wretched.
md the vile, and the sin burned, and the
passion blasted appealing for mercy to a
God, / exclaim in ecstasy
and triumph, more tears for Gods bot
tler'
Again, God keeps a tender remem-
brance of all your sicknesses. How
many of you are thoroughly sound in
body? Not one out of ten l 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
1t would not take q 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 your distresses.
Perhaps you look strong, and it is sup.
posed that you are a hypochondriac.
They say you are nervous-as if that |
were nnthinol God have mercy nnnn