The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1889-04-19

I scene IN every history. II SOule Vi you
would rise from the bed of lethargy and
come out from your deiirium of sin and look
Oh the clock of your destiny this morning,
\ you would see and hear something You have
not seen or heard before, and every tick of
the minute, and every stroke 81 the hour,
and every swing OF the pendulum would
say: "Now. now, now, n0wm oh, come home
20 your Fathers house CONG home, oh,
prodigal. from the wilderness Come home,
come homel
IL. But 1 notice that when the prodigal
came there was the fathers lov. de did not
greet rim with any formal 'Howdo you DOR
he did not come out and say; You are IN
! &c to enter: 90 out and wash in the trough
by the well, and then you can come IN; we
have had enough trouble with you All!
10. When the proprietor of that estate pro-
claimed festival, It was an outbuIst of a
fathers love and fathers Joy. lfod is your
Father. I have not much sympathy with
that description Of God sometimes hear, as
though He were a Turkish Sultan. hard and
unsympathetic, and listening not to the cry Of
His subjects A aen told me be saw in one
of the eastern lands a King riding along, and
two men were in alteration, and one charged
the other With having eaten his rice; and the
King said: Then slay the man and by post
norton examination find whether he has
eaten the rict And he was slain. Ali the
cruelty Of a scene like that Our God Is not
Sultan. not a Gar not despot, but a
Father-kind, loving, forgivlng, and he
makes ali heaven ring again when prodigal
comes back. Il have no pieasurA ne says,
''in the death Of him that dieth.n
If man does not get to heaven it is be-
cause he will not go there No difference
the color, no difference the history, no differ
ence the antecedents, no differeres-.S
i white horses OF Christ's victory are brought
out TO celebrate the eternal triumph yoi may
ride one of Them, and as God is greater than
all, His JOY IS greater, and when a soul comes
back there is in his heart the surgiDg II an
infinite ocean of gladness, and to eNpressthat
gladness it takes all the rivers of pleasure,
and all the thrones of pomp, and all the ages
OF eternity. 1t is Joy deeper than all depth
and higher than all height, and wider than
all width, and vastar than all immensity. IL
overtops, it undergirds. it outweighs ali the
united splendor and Joy Of the universe. Who
can tell what Gods JOY is
You remember reading the story of a
King, who on some great day of festivity
scattered silver and gold among the people,
and sent valuable presents to his courtiers;
but methinks when a soul comes back, God
is so glad that to express His Joy He filings
out new worlds into space, and lindies up
new suns, and rolls among tire white robed
anthems OF the redeemed a greater hallelujah.
while with voice that reverberates among
the mountains of franlIincense and IS
echoed back from the everlasting gates, He
cries: This, my son, was dead. and he is
alive again.
AT the opening of the Exposition in New
Orleans, | saw a Mexican fiutist. aud he
PLAYED the solo, and then afterward the eight
or ten bands of music accompanied by the
great organ, came in; but the sound Of that
one flute as compared with all the orchestra
was greater than all the combined Joy of the
universe when compared with the resounding
heart of Almighty God.
For ten years father went three times
day to the depot. His son went off in aggra-
waiting circumstances, but the father said:
he will come back The strain was too
much and his mind parted, and three times
day the father went, In the early morning
he watched the train, its arrival, the step
ping cut OF the passengers, and then
the departure of the train. At noon
he was there again watching the ad
vance of the train, watching the depart
ure. As night, there again; watching the
coming, watching the going for ten years.
He was sure his son would come back. God
has been watching and waiting for some of
you, my brothers, ten years, twenty years,
thirty years, forty years, perhaps fifty years
waiting, waiting, watching, watching; and
il this morning the prodigal should come
home, what a scene of gladness and festivitv,
and how the great Fathers heart would re-
joice at your coming home. You will come,
some Of you, viii you mott You will, you
Will
III. I notice also that when prodigal
comes home there is the Joy of the ministers
of religion. On, il is a grand thing TO preach
this Gospel. / know there has been great
deal said about the trials and the hardsbips
of the Christian ministry. l wish somebody
would write a good, roUsing book about the
Joys Of the Christian ministry. ~SiISe en-
israd the frUfesslou -fl1ITo seen s..siR 81 TIE
IL x-in
celebrate in all eternity. / know some boast
about their equilibrium and they do not rise
into enthusiasm, and they do not break down
with emotion. but confess to you plainly
that when l see man coming 20 GOD. and
giving up his sin feel in body, mind, and sou
a transport. When l see a man who IS bound
hand and foot in evil habit emancipated,
/ rejoice over it as though it were my OWE
emancipation. When to-day in our com.
punion service such throngs OF young ann
old stand at these affairs, and in the presence
of heaven and earth and hell attest their al
legiance to Jesus Christ, l feel a joy some
thing AKIN to that which the apostle de-
scribes when he says; Whether in the body
I cannot tell, or out of the body l cannot
tell: God lznoWeth.n
Oh, have not ministers d right to rejoice
when a prodigal comes homer They blew
the trumpet. and ought they not to be glad
of the gathering of the hosts They pointed
to the full supply, and ought they not 10 re
joice when souls pant as the hart for the
water-brooksi They come forth saying: All
things are now ready ought they not &c
rejoice when the prodigal sits down at the
banqueti
Lie insurance men will all tell you that
ministers of religion as a class live longer
than any other. It is confirmed by the sta
tistics of all those who calculate upon human
longevity. Why is it There is more draft
flar, ~ 9TH
profession, and their toll is more exhausting.
] have seen ministers kept on miserable SUI
ponds by parsimonious congregations who
wondered at the dullness of the sermons. when
the men Of God were perplexed almost to
death by questions Of livelihood, and had not
enough nutritious food to keep any, fire in
their temperament No fuel. no fire. have
sometimes seen the inside Of the life of many
OF the American clergyman-never accept
ing their hospitality, because they cannot
afford it; but / have seen them struggle on
with salaries Of five and SIX hundred dollars
year-the average less than that
their struggle well depicted by
the Western missionary who says
in a letter: Thank you for your last remit
lance; until it came we had not any meat in
or house for one year; and all last winter,
although it was a sew re winter, our children
wore their summer clothes" And these men
OF God find in different parts of the land,
STRUGGLING against HnuOytllctS anu e1aSDera-
tions innumerable; some of them week after
week entertaining agents who have maps
to sell, and submitting themselves to all
styles Of annoyance, and yet without com
plant. and cheerful Of soul. How do you
account for the fact that these life Insurance
men tell US that ministers as a class live
longer than any othersl Ii is because Of the
JOY OF their work, the joy of the harvest
field, the 10y Of greeting pr"digals home :"
then --1zrIiel MUSE 1870
We are in sympathy with all Innocent
hilarities. We can enjoy hearty song, and
we can be merry with the merriest; but
those of us who have toiled in the service are
ready TO testify that all these Joys are tame
compared with the satisfaction of seeing men
enter the kingdom of God The great eras
Of every minister are the outpouriDgs OF the
Holy Ghost, and thank God have seen
eighteen OF them. Thank God, thank Godl
~. notice also when the prodig1 comes
back all earnest Christians rejoice. IL you
stood on Montauk Point and there was a
hurricane at sea, and it was blowing toward
the shore, and vessel crashed into the rocks
and you saw people get ashore IN the hLe-
boats and the very last man got on the rocks
in safety. you could not control your JOY.
And it Is glad time when the Church OF
God sees men who are tossed on the ocean OF
heir sins plant their feet on the rock CHRIST
Jesus.
Oh, when prodigals come home just hear
thoss Christians sing. Just hear those Chris
fIaus rlrar is mt q afarpOtvDad sun1ilCa-