Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1893-09-08
REV. DR.. TALNAGB.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine'S Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject, GA Bottle of Tears"
TEXT "PM thou my tears into ny bot
Tie. Psalms lvi., s.

TEXT: "Pm thou my tears into ny bot
tle. Psalms lvi., 8.
Hardly mail has como to me for twenty
years that has not contained letters saying
that my sermons have comforted the writers
ofthose letters. have not this summer nor
for twenty years spoken on the platform OF
any outdoor meeting but coming down 1
have been told by hundreds of people the
same thing. SO think will keep on trying
to be ''son of consolation"
The prayer OF my text was pressed out OF
David's soul by innumerable calamities, but
it 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 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 tomts of those ages have been
brought up lachrymatories, or lachrymals,
which are vials made of earthenware. 1t
was the custom for the ancients TO catch the
tears that they wept over their dead in q tI0t-
tle 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 musuems.
When on the way from the Holy Land our
ship touched at Cyprus, we went back into
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 curiosi-
ties. That was the kind of bottle that mytext
alludes TO when David cries, "Put thou my
tears into thy bottle"
The text intimates that God has an intl-
mate acquaintance and perpetual remem-
brance OF all our griefs, and a VIAL or lachry-
matory, or bottle in which He catches and
saves our tears and l bring to you the con-
dolence of this Christian sentiment. Why
talk about grief? Alas, tho world has its
pangs, and now, while l 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. l 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 ahoy p and invite you on board q
vessel which has faith for rudder, and
prayer for sails, and Christ for captain, and
heaven for an eternal harbor.
Catherine Rheinfeldt, a Prussian, keeps
boat with which she rescues the drowning.
When q 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 lifeboat
of the Gospel 1 put out to-day, hoping, by
Gods help, to bring ashore at least one soul
that may now be sinking in the pillows OF
and trouble. The tears that were
once caught in the lachrymatories brought
up from Herculaneum and Pompeii are all
gone. and the bottle is as dry as thescorif OF
the volcano that submerged them, but MOI SO
with the bottle in which God gathers all our
tears.
First Iremark that God keeps perpetually
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 unfit 10 step into the light.
He grieves, not about his misdoing, but only
about its consequences. God makes no rec
ord of such weeping. OF allthe million tears
that have gushed as the result OF such mis-
demeanor, not one ever got into Gods hot
tie. They dried on the fevered cheek or
were dashed down by the b!oated hand or
fell into the red wire cup as it came again to
the lips, foaming with still worse intoxica-
ton.
But when man is sorry for his past and
tries TO do better-when he mourns his wasted
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;
then bis tears are caught il Gods bottle.
Oh, when l see the heavenly Shepherd
bringing lamb from the wilderness when
/ hear the quick tread of the prodigal has
tening 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 unkindness when l see the
houseless coming to God for shelter, and the
wretched. and the vile and the sin burned,
md the passion blasted appealing Tor mercy
TO a compassionate God, l exclaim in ecstasy
and triumph "More tears for Gods bottle"
Again, God keeps tender remembrance Of
all your sicknesSes. How many OF you arc
thoroughly sound in body? Not one out OF
ten , do 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 weak
side or back or are subject to headaches or
faintnesses or lungs easily distressed. 1t
would not take very strong blow to shiver
the golden bowl of | fe or break the pitcher
at the fountain. 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 supposed
that YOU are a hypochondriac. 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 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
walls filed with nauseous drafts and at the
bottles of distasteful tonic that stand on the
shelf. remember that there is larger bottle
than these, which is filed with no mixture by
earthly apothecaries, but it is Gods bottle, in
which he hath gathered all our tears.
Again, God remembers all the sorrows OF
poverty. THERE'S much want that never comes
10 inspection. The deacons OF the church
never see it. The comptrollers of the aims
houses never report it. 1t comes not to
church, for it has no appropriate apparel. I
It makes no appeal for help, but chooses
rather to suffer than expose its bitterness.
Fathers who fail to gain a livelihood, so that
they and their children submit to constant
privation 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 il hot garnet, God'sangels
of mercy are on the watch. This moment
those griefs are being collected. Down on
the back streets, in all the alleys, amid shan
ties and log cabins, the work goes on. Tears