The Republican., 1898-06-09
LACHRYMA CHRISTI.
Awful, BIasphemous Name of n Wine
Printed on Saloon window
at Cincinnati.

at Cincinnati.
The tears of Christ! The tears of
Christ! We know that in the shadow of
Lazarus tomb, and on slopes of Olivet,
Jesus wept. One stands in silent awe
in the presence of a sympathy that
vents itself in tears, whose salt is not
the agony of ones own guilt-but the
sorrow and the sin of others lives.
Jesus was Resurrection and Life" and
knew the glory that He had before the
worlds were, and the glory that lay be-
yond the hills of the cross. He came
from the New Jerusalem and was on
the sure way back to its streets and
shining palaces. He knew the temples
of God, and the altars where angels
worship, the holy halls where prophets
and holy priests gather in the light of
the presence of God, and, as He gazed
out over Jerusalem, He wept at vision
of her shame and thought of her
crime. For Jerusalem had stoned the
prophets, and Jerusalem would cast
Himself out upon her Hill of the Skull.
He wept when He saw the city; He
weeps when He sees the city to-day
whether Rome in her ruin, Venice in
her decay, Constantinople in her lust,
London in her wealth. New York in her
colossal energy, Boston in her culture,
Chicago in her superlative aggressive
ness. But as He gazes on the cities of
Italy He sheds bitterest tears of sor-
| thirl- OF c. Of
ing vineyards, the water of whose
grapes, pressed in full watts, is rotted
and poisoned by fermenting for the
feast-cup of evil; sheds bitter tears,
nay fancy, at thought of drunkenness,
OF the wild waste of life, the reckless
ruin of heart and blight of hand; at
thought of genius perverted. and home
life wrecked, the cell of the priest shad-
owed, maiden life marred by touch of
lips on poisoned glass, and youth de-
graded; but sheds bitterest tears at
thought that men give to the waters
of the vat the sacred name, "Lachryma
Christi" the tear of Christ.
On the door of a saloon on Fifth
street and Eggleston avenue, Cincin-
natl, is a list of Italian wines," and
there, in that shameful company, is the
name, "Lachryma Christi" the tear of
Christ! Was there not some other
name than that for wine? The tears Of
Christ! Do men ever think when rails
ing a glass of it to blasphemous lips
that they profane the name? The tears
of Christ were meant for warning, for
new call to blessed life. They meant
the sympathy of God with men, and
men crush grapes and distill their
juices into maddening liquid and call
the drink, "the tears of Christi" 1t is
blasphemy so vicious and startling that
one cannot but wonder that the church
has not pleaded with the winners and
disttllers to withdraw that sacred
name.
Until recently had not known that
wine bore a name so sacred. The win
ter sun shOne full upon the list. and al
most~jefore | had felt all the shock I
was borne far away. Does the saloon
keeper know the meaning of those
words, "Lachryma Christie" Does the
drlnker know, as he comes TO the bar
and asks for a glass of "Lachryma
Christi'-the tears of Christ? Does all
that shadowed region know that once,
and again, among the hills of Palestine,
there was One who wept, then swept the
tears from off the faces of Martha and
Mary? One who wept over Jerusalem,
then passed through her streets bear
ing a cross, and rose again that tears
might be wiped from off all faces for
evermore? Surely did men know that
they would not bottle wine and label it
Tears of Christ! Il give the words as
they appear on the saloonkeeper's door.
Correctly, they should be Lachrymae
Christi.)-George Milton Hannah, in
| Union Signal.