The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-03-15
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE sy TIE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject; The Ministry Of Tears - 10 our
Misfortunes Are Borne In the Right
Spirit They May Prove To he Adyan-
tages-soui Chastened by Sorrow.
lcopyrighi isll

lNopyrisut lAl.l
NEW YORK CITY. A vast audience
crowded the Academy of Music in this
CITY to hear DR.. Talmage Diseoursinr on
The Ministry of Tears" he nut forth the
mIsfortunes of life IN a cheerful light
showing that If they were borne in the
right spirit they might prove 20 he advar.
tages, His text was Rev, VII. L., And
God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes"
What a spectacle few weeks ago when
the nations were in tears, Queen Vic.
toria assembled from the highest throne on
earth 20 a throne in heaven. The PRAYER
more often offered than anv PRAYER for the
last siXty.four years had been answered.
and God dad save the Queen. All round
the world the bells We're tolhng. and the
minute guns were booming at the obse.
quies of the most honored woman OF many
centuries. As near four years ago the
English and American nations shook
hands IN congratulation at the Queens
Jubilee, so in these times two nations
shook hands in mourntul sympathy at the
Queens departure, No peoNle outside
Great Britain so deenlv felt that mighty
grief as our people The cradles of many
OF our ancestors were rocked IN Great Bri-
tain. Tho,e ancestors PLAYED IN childhood
on the hanks of the Tweed or the Thames
or the Shannon. Take from our veins the
English blood. or the Welsh blood, or the
ltlsn nlopus OF lnt scotch niool, ana tnc
stream of our life would be mere shall
low There are over there bone of our
bone. and flesh OF cur flesh. II is our Will
bertorce. our Coleridge. our De Quincy,
our Robert Burns. our John Wesley, our
John Knox. our Thomas Chalmers our
Walter Scott our Bishop Chanock. our
Latimer. our Ridley. our Robert Fmmet
our Daniel O'Counell, our Havelock, our
RuskIn, our Gladstone, our good and great
and glorious Victoria.
The language in which we offered the
English nation our coincidence is the same
language in which John Bunyau dreamed
and Milton sang and Shakespeare drama.
tlzed and Richard BAXTER praved and
George Whiteheld thundered The Prince
of Wales, now King, paid reverential visit
10 Washingtons tomb at Mount Vernon,
and Longfellow's statue adorns Westmins.
ter Abbey. and Abraham Lincoln IN
bronze looks down upon Scotland's capi
tai 1t was natural that these two ma.
tions be in tears. But am not going to
speak of national tears, but of individual
tears and Bible tears
Riding across Western prairie, wild
flowers up To the hub of the carriage
wheel and while long distance from anv
shelter. there came a sudden shower, and
while the rain was falling in torrents the
II shine, and | thought what a beautiful
spectacle is thisl So the tears Of the
Bible are not midnight storm, but rain on
pansled prairies in Gods sweet and golden
sunlight.
You remember that bottle which David
labeled ns containing tears and Mary's
tears and Pauls 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 exhales them. A census IL
taken of them. and there is record az 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 clipped
from his horses and mules and made a
great ado about his grief but IN all the
vases of heaven there is not one of Alex.
ander's tears. j speak OF the tears Of
Gods children. Alas, me- they are falling
all the time
In summer you sometimes hear the
growing thunder. and you see there ls a
storm miles away, but you know from the
drift of the clouds that it will not come
anywhere near you; so, though IL NAV be
all bright around about you, there is a
shower of trouble somewhere all the time.
Tears, tears
What is the use of them, anyhow? Why
not substitute laughter? Why not make
this world where all the people are well
and eternal strangers TO pains and aches
What is the use OF an eastern storm when
we might have perpetual nor 'wester? Why,
when a family is put together, not have
them all stay, or, II they must be trans.
planted to make other homes, then have
them all live, the family record telling a
story OF marriages and births. but Of no
deaths? Why not have the harvests
chase each other without fatiguing toll
Why the hard pillow, the hard crust, the
hard struggle? IL - easy enough To eX-
plain a smile or a success or a congratula-
ton, but come now and bring all your die
tonaries and all your philosophers and all
your religions and help me explain a tear.
A chemist will tell you that IL il 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 a bitter memory, the fragments Of
a broken heart. ! will tell you what a tear
IL. IL is agony in solution. Hear. then,
while | discourse of the ministry of tears
or the practical uses OF sorrow:
First, it is the design Of trouble 10 keep
this world from being too attractive
Something must be done TO make Us will
ing 10 quit this existence. II il were not
for trouble, this world would he n good
enough heaven for us You and | woIld
be willing 90 take a lease OF this life for
hundred million years " there were no
trouble The earth, cushioned and up.
holstered and pillared and chandeliered at
could enchant us We would say: "Let
well enough alone II you want 90 die and
have your body dlsntegratCd in the dust
and your soul 60 out on A celestial adycn-
ture. then you can 60, but this world is
good enough for me" You might as well
90 10 a man who has just entered the
Louvre at Paris and tell him 10 hasten Of
20 the picture galleries Of Venice or Flor
ence. "Why" he would say. what is the
use Of my going therey There are Rem
brandts and Rubenscs and TitiaDs here
that ! have not looked at yet" No man
wants 20 90 out of this world or out OF
any house until he has a better house.
To cure this wish 90 stay here God must
somehow create a disgust for our surround
ings How shall He do IT. He cannot az
ford 10 efiace His horizon, or 20 tear of a
fiery panel from the sunset. or 90 subtract
an anther from the water lily, or 90 Danish
the pungent aroma from the mignonette,
or 20 drag the robes Of the morning IA
mire.
You cannot expect Christopher Wren
20 mar his So P5uls cathedral, or a Nj.
chael Angelo 20 dash out his own Last
judgment" or a Handel % discord his
Israel IN Egypt" and you cannot expect
God 20 spoil the architecture and music Of
His own world How, then. are we 10 be
made willing % leave; Here IL where
trouble comes in.
After man has had good deal Of
trouble he says. well. / am ready 20 go.
il there ~ a house somewhere whose roof
does not leak, would like 90 live there
II there ~ an atmosphere somewhere that
does not distress the lungs. ] would ike 20
breathe u. n there u society some.
where where there il no title tattle,
would like % live there. II there j.
home circle somewhere where ] can find
my lost friends I would like % 20 there
He used % read the first part of the Bible
chiefly Why has he changed Genesis for
Revelation, An. he used 10 be anxious
chiefly 20 know how this world was made
and I'D about its geologcal conjunction.