The Penn's Grove record., 1895-08-23
REV. DR.. TaLuAGE.
The Brooklyn Divine's Sunday
Sermon.
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Subject: "Comfort.''

TEXT: "And God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes. Revelation VII. II.
Riding acrossa Western prairie. wild flow
srs up to the hub Of the carriage wheel, and
while a long distance from any shelter, thera
came q sudden shower, and while the rain
was falling In torrents. the sun was shining
as brightly as / ever saw 1t shine, and |
thought what a beautiful spectacle this Is.
SO the tears of the Bible are not midniRht
storm, hut rain on pansied prair1es in Gods
sweet and golden sunlight. You remembef
that bottle which David labeled rs ~contain'
ing tears. and Mary's tears, and Pauf's tears.
and Christ's tears. and the harvest of JON
that is to sDring fromthe sowing of tearsl
God mixes them. God rounds them. God
shows them where to fall. God exhales
them. A census is taken OF them, and there
Is Il record as to the moment when they ar
born and as to the place of their grave.
Tears of bad men are not kept. Alex,
ander in his sorrow had the hair clipped
from his horses and mules and made q great
ado about his grief. but in all tht vases OF
there is not one Of hlexander's tears:
/ speak of the tears OF Gods children. Alas,
me, they are falling all the time! In sum
mer you sometimes hear the growing
thunder. and You see there is Il storm miles
away. but you know from the drift OF the
clouds that 1t will not come any
where near you. SO though 1t may be al
bright around about you, there Is a shower
Of trouble somewhere oil the time. Tears
Tears.
What is tho use OF them anyhow? VIII
not substitute laughter Why not make this
a world where all the people are we'll aud
eternal strangers to pain and aches? What
Is tho use OF an eastern storm when we
might have n perpetual nor'wester2 Why,
when a family is put together, not have
them all stay. or il they must be transplant
ed to make other homes, then have them all
live-the family record telling q story OF
marriages and births, but of nc death2 Why
not ave the harvests chase each other with
out ~fatiguing toil2 Why the hard pillow,
the hard crust. the hard struggle? 1t Is easy
enough to explain a smile, or n success, or n
con~gratulation, but come now and bring all
your dictionaries, and all your PHILOSOPHERS,
and all your religions. and help me explain
a tear. A chemist will tell you that it is
made up Of salt and lime and other compo.
nent parts, but he misses the chief ingredients
the acid of a soured life, the viperint
sting of a bitter memory. tho fragments of a
broken heart. Twill tell You what a tear Is.
1t is agony in solution. Hear, then, while ]
discourse OF the uses OF trouble:
First, 1t Is the design of trouble to keep
This world from being too attractive. Some
thing must be lone TO make us willing to
quit this existence. II it were not for
trouble, this world would be a good enough
heaven for me. You andI would be willing
to take n lease Of this life for 100, 900, 900
years II there were no trouble. The earth
cushioned and upholstered and pillnred and
ehandeliered with such expense, no story OF
other worlds could enchant us.
We would say: "Iet well enough alone.
II you want TO die aud have your body dis
Integrated in the dust mud your soul go oui
on a celestial adventure, then you can 80,
but this world Is good enough for mel" You
might as we'll go to n man who has just en-
tered the Louvre at Paris and tell him 10
hasten off to the picture galleries Of Venice
or Florence. "Thy," he would say. ''whai
is the use OF nv going there2 There are
Remb-andts and Rubelses and Raphaels here
that / haven't looked at yet" No man
wants to go out OF this world, or out of any
house. until he has n better house. To cure
this wish to stay hero God must somehow
create a disgust for our u~;roundirgs. How
shall He doit? He cannot afford to defact
His horizon, or TO tear of n fiery panel from
the sunset, or to subtract an anthet from the
water lily, or to Danish the pulsent aroma
from the mignonettr, or to drag the robes OF
the morning in mirr. You cannot expect a
Christopher Wren to mar his own st. Paups
Cathedral, or II Michael Angelo to dash out
his own Last Judgment, or a Handel to
discord his "Israel in Egypt" and you eau
not expect God to spoil the architecture and
music Of His own world. How. then. arc we
to be made willing to leaveP Here is where
trouble comes in.
After a man has had Il good deal o. troubl
ne says: swell, 1 nm ready to go. If thert
8 q house somewhere whose roof DOESN'T
leak, / would like to live there. IL there is
an atmosphere somewhere that docs not dis
tress the lungs, / would like to breathe it.
'1f there is a society somewhere whers
there Is no title tattle, l would like to live
there. II there IL = home circle somewhere
where I can find my lost friends, l would
like to go there" He used to reld the first
part OF the Bible chiefly, 10Y 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 geological
construction. Now he is chiefly anxious to
know how the next world was made, and
how it looks, and who live there. and how
hey dress. He reads Revelation ten times
now where he reads Genesis one. The old
story, I'm the beginning God created the
heavens and the EARTH" does not thrill him
half as much as the other story, II saw a
new heaven and a new earth" The old
mans hand trembles as he turns over THU
apocalyptic leaf, and he has to take out hi
handkerchief to wipe his ~spectacles. Thai
book OF Revelation is q prospectus nov OF
the country into which he is so9n to immi'
CRATE; the country In which he has lots al.
ready laid out, and avenues opened, and
mansions built. =
Yet there are people nero to whom thi1
world 10 brighter than heaven. Well, dear
souls, | do not blame you. II Is natural.
But after awhile you will be ready to go. 1t
was not until Job had been worn out with
bereavement that he wanted to SEQ God. 1t
was not until the prodigal got tired of living
among the hogs that he wanted to go to his
house. 1t is the ministry of trouble
TO make this world worth less and heaven
worth more.
Again, it is the use Of trouble to make III
Ieel our dependence upon God. Men think
hal they can DO anything until God shows
hem they can do nothing at all We lay out
our great plans and we like to execute them.
looks big. God comes and takes us down,
Prometheus was assaulted by his enemy,
when the lance struck him it opened a great
swelling that had threatened his death, and
he got well. So it is the arrow of trouble
that let's out great swellings of pride. We
never feel our dependence upon God until
get trouble. / was riding with my little
child along the road, n she asked IL she
drive. l said. Certainly" l handed
pyer the reins to her, and 1 had TO admire
the glee with which she drove. But after
awhile we met a team and we had
10 turn out. The road was narrow,
md 1t was sheer down IN both sides.
She handed the reins over to me and
said, ~ think you had better take charge OF
tho horse So we are all children. n on
his road OF life We like to. drive. 1t gives
one such an appearance OF superiority and
power. 1t looks big. But after awhile we
meet some obstacle aud we rave to turn out,
the road is narrow, and it is sheer down
On both sides; and then we are willing that
God should take the reins and drive. All,
friends, we get upset so often because We
10 not hand over the reins soon enough.
After a man has had trouble, prayer ia
With him a taking hold Of the arm OF God
md crying out for help. l have heard earnest
prayers on two or three occasions that | re-