Connecticut western news., 1893-08-31
A BOTTLE OF TEARS.
DR. TAlMAGE CHOOSES A UNIQUE THEME FOR HIS DISCOURSE.

DR. TALMAeE CHOOSES A UNIQUE
 THEME FOR HIS DISCOURSE. A Text That Carries Consolation to the
 Weary and Heavy Laden-The Griefs and
 Trials of This World Accrue to Our Glory
 Hereafter.
 BROOKLYN, Aug. 27.-Rev. T. De Witt Talmage chose unique theme as his subject for today-viz, "A Bottle of Tears" the text selected being Psalms Wi, 8, 'Put thou my tears into thy bot tle."
 Hardly mail has come to me for 20 years that has not contained letters say ing that my sermons have comforted the writers of those letters. have not this summer nor for 20 years spoken on the platform of any outdoor meeting but coming down have been told by hun dreds of people the same thing. So I think will keep on trying to be a "son of consolation"
 The prayer of my text was pressed out of David's soul by innumerable calami- ties, but 1t Is just as appropriate for the distressed of all ages. Within the past century travellers and antiquarians have explored the ruins of many of the an cient cities, and from the very heart of those buried splendors of other days have been brought up evidences of cus- toms that long ago vanished from the world. From among tombs of those ages have been brought up lachryma- tories, or lachrymals, which are vials made of earthenware. It was the cus- tom for the ancients to catch the tears 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 I 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- timate acquaintance and perpetual re- membrance of all our griefs, and vial, or lachrymatory, or bottle, in which he catches and saves our tears, and bring to you the condolence of this Christian sentiment. Why talk about grief? Alas, the world has it's bangs, and now, while I 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. I come on no fools errand. Put upon your wounds no salve compounded by human quackery; but, pressing straight to the mark, hail you as vessel midsea cries to a passing craft, "Ship ahoyp 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- bor.
 Catherine Rheinfeldt, 8 Prussian, keeps boat with which she rescues the drowning. When storm comes on the coast, and 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 Hfeboat of the gos- pei I 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 Pompen 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, remark that God keeps perpet- ually the tears of repentance. Many man has awakened in the morning so wretched from nights debauch that he has sobbed and wept. Pains in the head, aching in the eyes, sick at heart and un- 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 misdemeanor, 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 fntuxication.
 But when a 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 Gods bottle.
 PARADISE AND THE PERI.
 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 1t can on earth worthy of being carried back to heaven. It goes down through the gold and silver mines of earth, but finds nothing worthy of transportation tothe celestial city. It 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 of a mountain 1t sees 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 sinners repentance"
 Oh, when see the heavenly Shepherd bringing a lamb from the wilderness; when I hear the quick tread of the prodi- gal hastening 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, and the vile, and the sin burned, and the passion blasted appealing for mercy to g compassionate God, I exclaim in ecstasy and triumph "More tears for Gods bot,