Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-08-28
GODS TEAR BOTTLE.
IN IT ARE PRESERVED ALL TIE TRIALS
TEMPTATIONS AND
sorrows Of EarA-Soms Day These Tears viii
Be Pearls Adorning the Diadsm in the Golden
Oiy-Psaos and Oonhrt for tbs Troubled.

BRooELYN, Aug. 27.-Rsv. T. De-
wit Ialmage chose unique theme as
AIS seoJe:t for to-day, viz: "a Bottle
OF Tears" the, text selected being
fsaims 90: S, Put thou my tears into
Hardly mail has come TO me for
twenty years that has not contained
letters saying that my sermons have
eomiorted the writer's OF those letters.
nave not this summer nor for twenty
years spoken on the platform OF any
outdoor meeting, but coming down
have been told By hundreds OF people
The same thing. SO j think l will
keep on trying 10 be a "Son Of Conso-
lation."
The prayer Of my text WAS pressed out
or David's soul by innumerRble calami-
ties; but IL is just as appropriate for the
distressed Of all ages. Within the past
century, travellers and antiq0arians
have explored the ruins OF many OF the
ancient cities, and from the very heart
or those buried splendOrs OF other days
have been brought up evidences OF Gus
toms that long ago vanished from the
world. From among tOmbs or those
ages have been brought up lachryma-
tories, or lachrymals, which are walls
made Of earthenWare, 1t was the Gus
tom Tor the ancients TO catch the tears
that they wept over their dead IN a
bottle, and to place that bottle in the
graves OF the departed; and we have
many specimens OF the ancient lachTy-
matOries, or
TEAR-BOTTLE, II OURMUSEUMS.
When on the way from the Holy Land
our ship touched at Cyprus, we went
back into the hills of that Island and
dug out OF the ruins OF the old city.
There is nothing more suggestive 10
me than the tear-bOttleS which /
brought home and put among my curl
Osities. That was the kind Of bottle
that my text aludes TO, when David
cries, "Put thou my tears into thy bot
tie"
The text intlmates that God has an
intimate acquaintance and perpetual re-
membrance Of all our greis, and vial,
or lachrymatory, or bottle, In which be
catches and saves our tears: and bring
10 you the coincidence Of this Christian
sentiment Why talk about grief? Alas!
the world has It pangS, aud now, while
! speak, there are thick darknesseS OF
soul that need 20 be lifted. There are
many who are about to break under the
assault OF temptation, and perchance, il
no words appropriate to their case be
uttered, they perish. come on no FOOLS
errand. Put upon your wounds 20 Salve
compounded by human quackery, but,
pressing straight to the mark, l hall you
as a vessel mid-sea cries 20 a passing
craft, "Ship ahoy." and invite you on
board vessel which has Faith for a
rudder, and Prayer for sails, and Christ
for Captain, and Heaven for an eternal
harbor Catherine Rheinieldt, Prus-
sian, keeps a boat with which she res
cues the drowning. When storm
comes on the coast, and other people 90
TO their beds to rest, she puts out In her
boat for the relief OF the distressed,
and hundreds.of the droWniD- has she
brought Tho 5each. II this
hfe-e ~ Of the Gospel put out to-day,
hoping, by Gods help, 70 bring ashore
at least one soul that may now be sink
ing IN the pillows and temptation and
trouble. The tears that were once
caught I'm the lachrymatOries brought
up from Herculaneum and Pompeii are
al gone, and
THE BOTTLE IS AS DRY
as the scOria Of the volcano that sub
merged theml but not so with the bot
lie In which God gathers all our tears.
First, i remark that God keeps per-
petually the tears OF repentance. Many
a man has awakened IN the morning so
Wretched from the nights debauch that
he has sObbed and wept. Pains In the
head, aching In the eyes, sick at heart,
aud unfit to step into the light. de
grieVes, not about his misdOing, but
only about its consequences. God
makes no record Of such weeping. or
all the million tears that have gushed
as the result OF such misdemeanOrs, not
one ever got into Gods bottle. They
dried on the feyered cheek, or were
dashed down by the bloated hand, or
fell 10 20 the red wine cup as IL came
again 70 the lips, foaming with still
worse inLOXicatiOn. But when man Is
sorry for his past and tries to do better
when be mourns his wasted advan-
taRes and bemOans his rejection of
Gods mercy, and cries amid the lacera-
tiOns Of an aroused conscience for help
out Of his terrible predicament, then
p God listens; then heaven bows
down; then sceptreS Of pardon are ex-
tended from the throne; then his crying
ICNQa hAu nNaA Va ANe4 hNAtg NNAAA ktto
sion; then his tears are caught in Gods
bottle.
You know the story Of Paradise and
the Peri. / think IL might be put to
higher adaptation. An angel starts
from the throne Of God to find what
thing IL can on the earth worthy OF be-
ing carried back TO heaven. It goes
down through the gold and silver mines
OF earth, but finds nothing worthy OF
transportation to the Celestial City. 1t
down through the depth OF the sea,
re the pearls lie, and finds nothing
by Of taking back 70 heaven. But
n. TO the foot OF a mountain 1t sees
terer weeping over his evil ways.
TEARS OF THE PRODIGAL
at do not fall TO the ground, for
ahgePs wing catches them, and with
nat 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.
Obi when l see the Heavenly Shep-
herd bringing a lamb from the wilder
ness: when hear the quick tread OF the
prodlgal fastening home to ind bis
f..bor. vyhen / see q sailor boy coming