Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1893-09-02
EARTHLY GRIEFS.
DR.. Talmage on Gods Intimate
Acquaintance with Them.
bottle In which Are Preserved the Tears
of Humanity-Comfort for the Re-
pentant, the Sick, the Poor
and the Bereaved.


Talmage for sermon lately deliv-
cred at Brooklyn, the text selected
being Psalms, lvi. s: Put Thou my tears
into Thy bottle" DIR. Talmage said:
Hardly mail has come to me for
twenty years that has not contained
letters saying that my sermons have
comforted the writers of those letters
have 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 think | will keep
on trying to be ''son of consolation. y
The prayer of my text was pressed
out of David's soul by innumerable ca
lamities, but it is just as appropriate
for the distressed of all ages. Within
the past century travellers and anti
auarians have explored the ruins OF
many of the ancient cities and from
the very heart of those buried splen-
doris of the other days have brought up
evidences of customs that long ago
vanished from the world. From among
tombs of those ages have been brought
up lachrymatories, or lachrymals,
which are walls made of earthenware.
1t was the custom of the ancients to
catch the tears that they wept over
their dead in bottle, and to place that
bottle in the graves of the departed;
and we have many specimens of the an
cient lachrymatories, or tear-bottle, in
onr museums.
The text intimates that God has an
intimate acquaintance and perpetual
remembrance of all our griefs, and a
vial, or lachrymatory, or bottle, in
which he catches and saves our tears:
and bring to you the coincidence OF
this Christian sentiment. Why talk
about grief? Alas. the world has its
pangs, and now, while we 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 ut
tered, they perish. l come on
no FOOLS errand. Put upon your
wounds no salve compounded
by human quackery, but, pressing
straight to the mark, hail you rs n
vessel mid-sea cries to n passing craft,
..Ship ahoy." and invite you on board
a vessel which has faith for rudder.
and prayer for sails, and Christ for
captain, and Heaven for an eternal
harbor.
First. 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 and unfit4o 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 bloated hand, or
again to the lips, foaming with still
worse intoxication. But when man
is sorry for his past and tries to do bet
ter-when he mourns his wasted ad-
vantages and bemoans his rejection of
Gods mercy, and cries amid the lacera-
tions of IN 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 crying rends
the heart of heavenly compassion; then
his tears are caught in Gods bottle.
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 can on the earth worthy of be-
ing carried back to Heaven. 1t goes
down through the gold and silver
mines of earth, but finds nothing
worthy of transportation to the Celes-
tial 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 of a mountain it sees wanderer
weeping 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 bright
est jewel of Heaven-the tears OF sin
ner's repentance"
Oh! when / see the Heavenly Shep-
herd bringing lamb from the wilder
ness; when l hear the quick tread OF
the prodigal fastening home to find
his father; when / see a sailor-boy
coming on the wharf, and hurrying
away to beg his mothers pardon for
long neglect and unkindness; when /
see the houseless coming to God for
shelter, and the wretched and the vile,
and the sin-burned, and the passion
blasted appealing for mercy to COM
passionate God, exclaim in ecstasy