The Penn's Grove record., 1901-03-15
sunleeti Ii Ministry Of Tears IT On,
misioftunes Are Borne in the Right
spirit They May Prove to BE advap-
taEes-soui chastened by Sorrow.

yShtHuI,es' AS near four years ago tn
EhRilsh and American nations shoe
n3hds IN eongratulation at the Queen
jubilee; Sd IN these times two nation
shook hands in mournful sympathy at III
queens departure. No people outsid
Great Britain so deeplv felt that might,
grIef as our people. The cradles of man,
OF our ancestors were rocked in Great Bri
ram; iho.e ancestors PLAYED in childhood
on the banks OF the Tweed, or the Thame
or the shannon. Take from our veins tn,
English blood, or the Welsh blood. or tn,
Irish blood, or the Scotch blood. and til,
stream Of our life would be a mere shall
low. There are over there bone of on
bone, and flesh of our flesh. II is our vii
bertorce, our Coleridge, our De Quincy
our Robert Burns, our John Wesley. oul
John Knox, our Thomas Chalmers, on
Walter Scott, Bishop Charnock, oui
Latlmer,, our Ridley. our Robert Emmett
our Daniel QCounell, our Havelock, oui
Ruskin, our Gladstone, our good and great
and. glorious Victoria.
Inc language in which we offered the
English nation our coincidence is the same
language in which John Bunyan dreamed
and Milton sang and Shakespeare drama.
tied and Richard Baxter PRAYED and
George Whitetield Numbered. The Prince
Of Wales, now King, paid reverential visit
10 Washington's tomb at Mount Vernon,
and Longfellow's statue adorns Westmins.
ter Abbey, and Abraham Lincoln in
bronze looks down upon Scotland's CAPT
tal. 1t was natural that these two ma
tons be In tears. But ] am not going to
speak of national tears, but of individual
tears and Bible tears.
Riding across a Western prairie, wild
flowers up to the hub of the carriage
wheel and while a long distance from any
shelter, there came a sudden shower, and
while the rain was falling in torrents the
sun was shining as brightly as | ever saw
it shine, and | thought what a beautiful
spectacle is this! So the tears of the
Bible are not midnight storm, but rain on
pansied prairies in Gods sweet and golden
sunlight.
You remember that bottle which David
labeled as containing tears and Mary's
tears and Paul's tears and Christ's tears
and the harvest OF JOY that is to spring
God rounds them; God shows them where
70 fall: God exhales them. A census is
taken Of them, and there is a 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
an1eT 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
tllI4ti ; t-ul6s L cINdh VI viz eel VI
Gods children. Alas, me, they are falling
all the timei
In summer you sometimes hear the
growing thunder, and you see there is a
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 bright around about you, there is a
shower OF trouble somewhere all the time.
Tears, tearsi
What is the use of them, anyhow? Why
not substitute laughter? Why not make
this a world where all the people are well
and eternal strangers to pains and aches?
What is the use OF an eastern storm when
wemight have a OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES? Why,
when a family is put together, not have
them all stay, or, if 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
chase each other without fatiguing toll?
Why the hard pillow, the hard crust, the
hard struggle? 1t is easy enough to ex-
plain a smile or a success or a congratula-
ton, but come now and bring all your die
tionaries 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 component
parts, but he misses the chief ingredients
the acid of a soured life, the viperine
sting of a bitter memory. the fragments OF
a broken heart. | will tell you what a tear
IS. 1t 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 to keep
this world from being too attractive
Something must be done to make us will
for trouble, this world would he a good
enough heaven for us. You and ! would
be willing to take a lease OF this life for
hundred million years if there were nc
trouble. The earth, cushioned and up
holstered and pillared and chandeliered al
such expense, no story of other worlds
could enehant us. We would say: "Iet
well enough alone. Ii you want to die and
have your body disintegrated in the .dust
and your soul go out on a celestial edyen
ture, then You can GO, but this world is
good enough for me- You might as wei
go to a man who has just entered tbs
Louvre at Paris and tell him to hasten of
to the picture galleries Of Venice or Flor
ence. "Why" he would say. what is th'
use of my going there? There are Rem
brandts and Rubenses and Titians herr
that | have not looked at yet No MAJ
wants to go out Of this world. or out o
any house until he has a better house.
To cure this wish to stay here God mus
somehow create a disgust for our surround
ings. How shall He do it? He cannot at
ford to effaee His horizon, or to tear OFF
fiery panel from the sunset. or to subtrac
an anther from the water lily, or to banisl
the pungent aroma from the m~ignonette
or to drag the robes of the morning IL
mire.
You cannot expect a Christopher Wrel
to mar his St. Pauls cathedral, or a Nj
chael Angelo to dash out his own Las
Judgment" or O Handel to diseord hi
Israel in Egypt" and you cannot expee
God to spoil the architecture and music Q
His own world. How, then: are we 70 b
made willing to leave? Here is wher
trouble comes in.
trouble he says: "Well, | am ready to &C
II there is a house somewhere whose roc
does not leak, | would like to hive there
II there is an atmosphere somewhere tina
does not distress the lungs, l would like t
breathe it. Ii there is a society somt
where where there is no little tattle,
would like to live there, If there Is
home circle somewhere where / can fin
nv lost friends, | would like to go there
He used to read the first part OF the Bib
chiefly. Why has he changed Genesis &c
Revelation? All, he used to be anxioI
chiefly to know how this world was mac
and al about its geological constructor
Now he is chiefly anxious to, know no
the next world was made, ana now IL ,oof
and who live there, and how they ores
lie reads Revelation ten times now wheI
he reads Genesis once. The old story, \
the beginning God created. the HEAVIER
and the earth" does not thrill HIM ha
as the other story, Il saw a new heave
and a new earth.p
The old mans hand trembles as he turn
over this a~pocalyptical leaf. and he h
10 take ont his handkerchief to wipe. h
spectacles. The book OF Revelation Is
prospectus now OF the country INTO whil
lie is soon to immigrate,, the country
which he has lots already laid out az
avenues opened and mansions built
1t is trouble, my friends, that maKes
feel our dependence upon God. we II,
not know our own weakness or GOD
strength until the last plank breaks II
contemplate in us that only when the
is nothing else to take hold OF we cat
hold OF God. Why, do you know VINO =
Lord is? He is not an autoeTat seatI
far up in a palace, from which He emery
once a year, preceded by heraIds sWihgr
swords to clear the way. No; ne Is
father, willing at our call to stand py
in every crisis and predieament OF me,
tell YOU what some OF you pusliess ~
make me think OF. a man is untortuha
in his BUSINESS. He has to RAISE a go
deal of money and raise it quickly.
a,d note all he can ~