The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-28
TEARS OF REPENTANCE.
They Are Jewels 10 Be Stored in
Heavenly CaSketS.
DR.. TalmaRe illustrates the Ancients'
Use Of the Tear-Bottle and Urges the
Weak and Weary to Avail Them
selves of Gods LaohrvmatorY.

D
ject for to-day, viz. "A Bottle of Tears, s"
the text selected being Psalms 56:S, put
thou my tears into thy bottle"
Hardly Il mail has come to me for
twenty years that has not contained let
ters saying that my sermons have com
forted the writers Of those letters. ! have
not this summer nor for twenty years
spoken on the platform of any outdoor
meeting but coming down I have been
told by hundreds of people the same
thing. So think win keep on trying to
be ''Son of Consolation"
The prayer of my text was pressed out
of David's soul by innumerable calami-
ties; 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 tombs of those ages have been
brought up lachrymatories, or lachry-
mails which are walls made of earthen-
ware. 1t was the custom for the ancients
TO catch what 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
lachrymatories, or tear-bottles, in our
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 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
II TaarekT NNl.F,
was the kind of bottle that my text al
ludes to- when David cries, Put thoumy
tears into thy bottle"
The text intimates that God has an in
innate acquaintance and perpetual re-
membrapce 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 griefl Alas
the world has It's pangs, and now while
/ speak there are thick darkncsses 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, | hail you
as a vessel mid-Sea cries to a passing
craft, "Ship ahOy!" and invite YOU on
board a vessel which has faith for a rud-
der, and prayer for sails, and Christ for
captain, and heaven for the eternal har-
Dor. Catherine Rheinfeldt a Prussian,
keeps a boat with which she rescues the
drowning. When a storm comes on the
coast, and other people go to their beds
to rest, she puts out in her bort for the
relief of the distressed, and hundreds of
the drowning has she brought safely to
the Oeach. In this life-boat of the Cos
pei l put out to-day, 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 Pompeii 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 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 unfit to step into the light. He
| grieves, not about his misdOing, but only
about his consequences. God makes no
record of such weeping. OF all the mil
lion tears that have gushed as the result
Of such misdemeanOr, not one ever got
into Gods bottle. They dried on the
| fevCred cheek, or were dashed down by
the bloated hand, or fell into the red wine
! cup as 1t came again to the lips, fOaming
with still worse intOxication But when
! a man is sorry for his past and tries 10 do
better-when he mourns his wasted ad-
vantages and bemOans his rejection of
| Gods mercy, and cries amid the lacera-
I tionS of an aroused conscience for help
| out of his terrible predicament, then God
| listens; then heaven bows down; then
seeptres 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 find on the earth worthy of being car
| ried back to heaven 1t goes down through
| the gold and silver mines of earth, but
| finds nothing worthy of transportation to
the 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 n mountain il sees Il wauderer 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 brightest jewel of heaven
the tear of sinners repentance"
! oh when l see the Heavenly Shepherd
! bringing a lamb from the wilderness ;
when hear the quick tread of the prodi-
/ gal Fastening home to find his father;
| whenl see a sailOr-boY coming TO the wharf
! and hurrying away 10 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 a com
! passionate God, | eXclaim in ecstacy and
triumph: More tears for God s bottle ="
Again, God keeps tender remem-
brance Of all your sicknesses. How many
! of YOU are thoroughly sound in body2
| Not one out of ten! I do not exaggerate.
! The vast majority of the race arc CON
| slant subjects of ailments. There is some
one form of disease that you are particu-
! larly subject TO. You have a weak side
/ or back, or are subject TO headaches or
| fainnesses, or lungs easily distressed 1t
/ would not take a very strong blow to
! SILVER the GOLDEN bowl of life, 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 under
/ stand your distreSSes. Perhaps you look
| strong, and tits supposed that YOU are a
/ hYpochOndriac. They say you are ner-
l.