The Red Cloud chief., 1893-09-08
EARTHLY GRIEFS.
Talmage on Gods Intimate
Acquaintance with Them.
Bottle In Which Are Preserved the Tears
or Iiumanity-Comfort for the Rc-
pentant. the Sick. the Poor
and the Bereaved.

"A Bottle Of Tears was the UNIQUE
Theme chosen by Rev. r. Dewitt
Ialmagc for a sermon lately dcliv-
cred at Brooklyn. the text selected
being Psalms, lvi. s: put Thou my tears
into Thy bottle" DR.. Talmage said:
Hardly a mail has come to me for
twenty years that has not contained
letters saying that my sermons have
comforted the writer's Of those letters.
l have not this summer nor for twenty
years spoken on the platform of any
outdoor meeting, but coming down I
nave been told by hundreds of people
the something. so I think I will keep
on trying to be n ''son Of consolation
The prayer Of my text was pressed
out of David's soul by innumerable ca
lainities, but IL is just as appropriate
for the distressed Of all ages. Within
the past century travellers and anti
quarians 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 a 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
museums
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 ma
tives had dug out of the ruins of the
old city. There is nothing more sug-
gestive to me than the tear bottles
which 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
intimate acquaintance and perpetual
remembrance of all our griefs, and n
vial, OF 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
appropriate to tin. zoe, ho ~.
: tered, they perish. l come Z.
: no FOOLS errand. Put upon you
wounds no salve compounded
[ by human q%uackcry, but, pressing
, straight to the mark, l hail you as
: vessel mid-sea cries to u passing craft
, "Ship ahoy!" and invite you on boart
u vessel which has faith for a rudder
and prayer for sails, and Christ 70
captain, and Heaven for IN eterna
harbor. Catherine Rheinfcldt, a Prus
sian, keeps a boat with which she res
cues the drowning. When a storm
comes on the coast, and other people &,
to their beds to rest, she puts out il
her boat for the relief of the distresse,
u and hundreds Of the drowning has sh'
brought safely to the beach. In thi
: life-boat Of the gospel ! put out to-day
hoping, by Gods help, to bring ashor
i Mt least one soul that may be now sink
0 ing in the pillows Of temptation ant
= trouble. The tears that were one
caught in the lachrymatories brough
3 up from Herculaneum and Pompeii ar
@ all gone, and the bottle is as dry as tn
Q scoria of the volcano that submerge
s them; but not SO with the bottle /
which God gathers all our tears.
4 First, ! remark that God keeps pei
petually the tears of repentance. Man
g n man has awakened in the morning S
wretched from the nights debaucl
that he has sobbcd and wept. Pains i
the head, aching in the eyes, sick q
heart and unfit to step into the light
lie grieves, not about his misdoing, bu
y only about its consequences. Go
makes no record Of such weeping. @
all the million tears that have gushe
4 as the result of such misdemeanor, nc
one ever got into Gods bottle. The
dried on the fevered cheek, or wer
dashed down by the bloated hand, Q
fell into the red wine cup as II cam
again to the lips, toaming with sti
worse intoXication. But when n ma.
Is sorry for his past and tries to do be-
ter-when he mourns his wasted nc
y vantages and bcmoans his rejection
IT Gods mercy, and cries amid the LAGER;
tons of an aroused conscience for hel
n out Of his terrible predicament, the
God listens; then Heaven bows dow
then scepters of pardon are extende
y from the throne; then his crying reno
% the heart of heavenly compassion; the
'r his tears are caught in Gods bottle.
is You know Che story of paradise an
is the Peri. think it might be put I
,e higher adaptation. An angel star
from the throne OF God to find whi
thing it can on the earth worthy of b
ing carried back to Heaven. 1t go'
~ down through the gold and silv'
I'd mines of earth, but finds nothir
r. worthy of transportation to the Cele
M tial City. 1t goes down through Il
depths Of the sea, where the pearls Ii
>, and finds nothing worthy of takir
10 back to Heaven. But coming to Il
he foot of a mountain it sees a wander
weeping over his evil ways. The tea
en- of the prodigal start, but do not fall
" .-s-