The Penn's Grove record., 1893-09-01
REV. DR.. TALMAGF
The Brooklyn Diyine's
(. Sunday Sermon.
Subject: "A Bottle of Tears"

lNAfS VNN bo' NV ~ 1AJ AHH
that my sermons have eomforted the writers
ofthosa letters. I have not this summer nor
for twenty years spoken on the platform of
any outdoor meeting but coming down l
have been told by hundreds Of people the
same thing. So / think I will keep on trying
to be a ''son OF consolation"
The prayer OF my ext was pressed out Of
David's soul by innumerable calamitles, but
1t is just as appropriate for the distressed OF
all ages. Within the past century travellers
and antiqaIrians have explored the ruins OF
many of the ancient cities. and from the very
| heart of those buried splendors of other days
have been brought up evidences of customs
that long ago vanished from the world.
From among tomhs OF those sges have been
brought up lachrymatories, or lachrymals,
| which are walls made of earthenware. 1t
! was the custom for the a~ncients to catch the
fears that they wept over their dead in O bot
tie, and to place that bottle In the graves Of
the departed, and we have many specimens
of the ancient l~achrymatories, or tear bottles,
In our musuems.
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 bot
ties 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
brought home and put among my curiosl-
ties. That was the inc Of bottle that mytext
alludes to when David cries, 'Put thou my
tears into thy bottle"
The text intimates that God has an init
mate acquaintance and perpetual remem-
brance of all our griefs, and a vial, or lachry-
matory, or bottle. in which He catches and
| saves cur tears, and 1 bring to you the con-
doience of this Christian sentiment. Why
talk about grief? Alas, the world has its
pangs, and now, while I speak, there are
thick darknesses of soul that need to be
liz '. There are many who are about to
br * under the assault OF temptation, and
perchance, If no words appropriate to their
case be uttered, they perish. l come on no
fools GRAND. Put upon your wounds. no
salve compounded by human quackeE3ss3Gn,
pressing straight TO the mark, L hail you'ass
vessel midsea cries to q passing craft,
"Ship ahoy!' and invite you IN board q
! vessel which has faith for a rudder, and
prayer for sails, and Christ for captain, and
heaven for an eternal harbor.
Catherine Rheinfeldt. a Prusslan, keeps 4
boat with whicl' she rescues the drowning.
| When a storm comes on the coast, II other
people go to their beds to rest, she puts out
in her boat for the relief of the distressed,
| and hundreds OF the drowning has she
brought safely to the beach. In this lifeboat
of the Gospel 1 put out to-day, hoping, by
Gods help, to bring ashore of least one soul
that may now be sinking in the pillows of
temptation and trouble. The tears that were
I hAAspN AtNhk IA hAc ANAlA NecH
| up from Hereulaneum 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 Goo gathers all our
tears.
First, I remark that God keeps p~erpetually
| the tears of repentance. Many a man has
| awakened N 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 unfit to step into the light.
| He grieves, not about his misdoing, but only
| about It's consequences. God makes no rec
| ord OF such weeping. OF allthe million tears
that nave gushed as the result OF such mis-
demeanor, not one ever got INTO gods bot
tie. They dried on the fevered cheek or
| were dashed down by the blosted hand or
| fell into the red vine cup as 1t came again,to
the lips, foaming with still worse intoxica-
ton.
But when a man is sorry for his past md
tries to do better-when he lnournS his wasted
advantages and bemolns his rejection OF
Gods mercy, and cries amid the decorations
of an aroused conscience for help out OF his
terrible ~predicament, 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 compassion I;
then his tears arecaught in Gods Bottle.
Oh, when 1 see the heavenly Shepherd
| bringing a lamb from the wilderness when
1 hear the quick tread OF the prodigal has
Iteniny home to find his father when l see u
sailor boy coming on the wharfandhdrrying
| away TO beg his mothers pardon for long
| neglect and unkindness when l see the
| houseless coming to Cos for shelter, and the
| wretched, and the vile. and the sin burned,
| and the passion blasted appealing Tor mercy
to a compassionate God, 1 exclaim in ecstasy
| and triumph: 'More tears for Gods bottle y
| Again, God keeps tender remembrance OF
| all your sickness"s. How many of you are
| thoroughly sound in bodyp Not one out OF
ten l dc not exaggerate. 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. IL
| would not take a very strong blow to shiver
| the golden bow of fe or break the pitcher
| at the fountain. Many of you nave kept on
in life through sheer force OF will. You
| think no one can understand your distresses.
Perhaps you look strong. and 1t is supposed
| that you are a h~ypochondriae. Tney say
| YOU are neryous-as il that were nothing !
God have mercy upon any man or woman
| tha ia nervous!
At times you sit alone In your room.
| Friends do MT come. You feel an indie
| scribable lonliness in your ~sufferings, but
God knows; God feels God compassion
| ates. 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 out the drops, God counts
| all YOUR falling tears. As you look at the
1 walls filed with nauseous drafts and at the
bottles OF distasteful tonic that stand on the
shelf. remember that there is a larger bottle
than these, which Is filed with no mixture by
| earthly apcthecaries, but It Is Gods bottle, In
| which he hath gathered all our tears.
Ain God ramanhaFa nil the SOFFOwS OF
| noyerty, Thereis much want that never ZONES
| 10 inspection. The deacons OF the church
| never see it. Tho comptrollers OF the aims
| houses never report it. 1t ONES not to
| church, for 1t has no appropriate apparel.
| 1t makes no appeal for help, but chooses
| rather to suffer than expose It's bitterness.
| Fathers who fail to gain a livelihood, so that
| they and their children submit to constant
| prlyation sewing women, who cannot ply
| The needle quick enough to earn them shell
| ter and bread.
But whether reported or accomplishing,
| whether in seemingly comfortable parlor, or
| in damp cellar, or in hot garnet, God'sansels
| of mercy are on the watch. This moment
| those criefs are being collected. Down on
| the back streets, In all the alleys, amid shan
| ties and log cabins, the work goes on. Tears
| of want-seething in summers heat or lreezr
* in winters ~cold-they fall not UNDECIDED.
They are jewels for heavens casket. They
are pledges Oh ulVins Synpatuy. Iney Rre
tears for Gods bottle.
Again, the Lord preserves the remem-
brance of all paternal anxieties. You see a
man from the most infamous surroundings
step out into the kingdom OF God. He has
heard no sermon. He has received no
| startling providential warning. 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 a parental tear in that bottle which has
been for 40 years unanswered. He said, $50
too, now, and let Me answer that tear! r and
forthwith the wanderer is brought home to
God.
oh. this work OF training children for God
II is a tremendous work. Some people think
1t easy. They have never tried it. A child
is placed in the arms OF the young parent. /,
is a beautiful plaything. You look into the
laughing eyes. You examine the dimples in
the feet. You wonder at its exquisite organ
ism. Beautiful playthinS! But OF some
nightfall as you sit rocking hat little one q
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
hfhaf Ia an fmmortal ~