Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1895-08-24
/ DIVINE COMFORTER
GOD WIPES AWAY THE TEARS OF
THE AFFLICTED CHRISTIAN.

. reayement AZ n Preparation For the Flu
turo Lifc-God's Loving Kindness and
Tender Sympathy.
II. New YORK, Aug. 1S.-Rev. DR.. Tai
image could not have selected more ap-
propriate subject than the one of today,
the bereavement that has
come upon him and his household. He
had already prepared his sermon for to-
day, selecting as topic Comfort, +"
md taking as his text, "And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes, "
Revelation vii, II.
Riding across western prairie, wild
flowers up to tho hub of the carriage
wheel, and while long distance from
l.any shelter, there came sudden shower,
and while tho rain was falling in tor
rents, the sun was shining as brightly
as I ever saw it shine, and l thought
What beautiful spectacle this is So
the tears of tho Bible are rot midnight
storm, but rain OH pansied prairies III
Gods sweet and golden sunlight. You
remenbcr that bottle which David Ia
beled as containing tears, and Mary's
tears, and Paul's tears, and Christ's
tears, and the harvest of joy that is to
spring from the sowing Of tears. God
mixes them. God rounds them. God
shows them where to fall. God exhalos
fhem. A census is taken of them, and
there is record as to the moment when
they are born and as to the place Of
their grave.
$Tears of bad men are not kept Alex
ander in his sorrow had the hair clip
ned from his horses and mules and
1&ade a great ado about his grief, but in
all the vases of heaven there is not one
of Alexander's tears. I speak of the
| tears of God children. Alas, me, they
are falling all the time In summer you
sometimes hear the growing thunder,
AID you see there is q storm miles away,
but you know from the drift of the
clouds that it will not come anywhere
near you. So, though it may be all
blight around about you, there is o
shower of trouble somewhere all the
time. Tears Tears
; Tears and Laughter.
What is the uso of them anyhow?
Why not substitute laughter? Why not
make this a world where all the people
ats we'll and eternal strangers to pain
and aches? What is the use of an east
ern storm when we might have a per-
petual nor 'wester? Why, when family
issput together, not have them all stay,
orif they must be transplanted to make
other homes then have them all live
the family record telling story of mar
riages and births, but of no death? Why
not have the harvests chase each other
without fatiguing toll? Why the hard
pillow, the hard crust, the hard strug-
gle? 1t is easy enough to explain
s,sijIe, or a success, or congratulation,
! s ~: o@sand bring all sgeurrdio--
ttionaries, and all your PHILOSOPHERS, and
all your religions, and help me explain
tear. A chemist will tell you that it
is made up of salt and lime and other
component parts, but he misses the chief
ingredients-the acid Of soured life,
the viperine sting Of bitter memory,
the fragments Of broken heart. will
tell you what tear IS 1t is agony III
solution Hear, then, while discourse
of the uses of trouble:
First, it is the design of trouble to
keep this world from being too attract
i've. Something must be done to make
us willing to quit this existence. If 1T
were not for trouble, this world would
be a good enough heaven for me. You
and I would be willing to take lease
of this life for 1OO,OOO,OOO years if
there were no trouble. The earth cush-
toned and upholstered and pillared and
chandeliered with such expense, no
story of other worlds could enchant us.
We would say: "Let well enough
alone If you want to die and have your
body disintegrated i'll the dust and your
soul 20 out on celestial adventure,
then you can go, but this world is good
enough for mel' You might as we'll go
to man who has just entered the
Louvre at Paris and tell him to hasten
off to the picture galleries of Venice or
Florence. "Why," he would say, "What
is the use of my going there? There are
Rembrandts and Rubenses and Raphaels
here that I haven't looked at yet. - No
man wants to go out Of this world, or
out of any house, until he has better
house. To cure this wish to stay here
God must somehow create disgust for
our surroundings. How shall he do it?
He cannot afford to deface his horizon,
or to tear off Il fiery panel from the sun
set, or to subtract all antber from the
water lily, or to Danish the pungent
aroma from the mignonette, or to drag
the robes of the morning in mire. You
cannot expect a Christopher Wren to
mar his own st. Pauls cathedral or
Michael Angelo to dash out his own
"Last Judgment, or Handel to dis
cord his Israel in Egypt and you
cannot expect God to spoil the architec-
ture and music of his own world. How,
then, are we to be made willing to
leave? Here is where trouble comes in.
After man has had good deal of
trouble he says: "Well, I am ready to
go. If there is a house somewhere
whose roof doesn't leak, 1 would like
to live there. If there is an atmosphere
somewhere that does not distress the
lungs, would like to breathe it.
IF there is a society somewhere where
there is no title tattle, l would like to
live there. If there is home circle
somewhere where can find my lost
friends, I would like to go there" He
used to read the first part of the Bible
chiefly, now he reads the last part OF
the Bible chiefly. Why has he changed
Genesis for Revelation? All, he used to
be anxious chiefly to know how this
world was made, and all about its geo.
logical construction. Now he is chiefly