Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-02-13

arrival, the stepping out of the passengers
and then the departure of the tram. A
uoon he was there again watching the ad
vance of the train, watching the departure
At night there again. watching the com
ing, watching the going for ten years. He
was sure his son would come back. God
has been Watching and watching for some
| Of you, my brothers. ten years, twenty
years, thirty years. forty years, perhaps
fifty years waiting, waiting, watching.
Watching; and If this morning the proiigal
should come home, what scene of glad
ness and festivitiy, and how the great
FatLer'e heart nould rejoice at your com
'ng home. You will onme, some of you,
will you not? You will, you will!
III. l notice also that when prOdigal
comes home there is the joy of the minis
ters of religion. Oh, it is grand thing to
preach this gospel. know there has been
Ia great deal said about the trials and the
hardships of the Christian ministry.
wish somebody would write a good, rous-
ing book about the joys of the Christian
ministry. Since I entered the profession l
hhave seen more of the goodness of God
Than viii be able to celebrate in all eter-
nifty. l know some boast about their
equilibrium, aud they do not rise into en-.
| thusiasm, and they do not break down
with emotion; but confess to you plainly
that when | see man coming to God, and
giving up his sin feel in body, mind, and
soul a transport. When see man who
is bonnd hand aud foot in evil habit emau.
cipated, l rejoice over it as though it
we're nay own emancipation. When to day
in our communion service such throngs of
young and old stand at these altars, aud in
the presence of heaven and earth and hell
attest their allegiance to Jesus Christ, l
feel joy something akin to that which
the apostle describes when he says:
"Whether 10 the body I cannot tell, Or out
of the body cannot tell. God kuoweth."
| Oh, have not ministers right TO rejoice
when q prodigal comes homer They blew
the trumpet, and ought they not to be glad
of the gathering of the host? They pointed
to the full supply, and ought they not to re-
jnice when souis pant as the hart for the
water brooks? They came forth saying:
'All things are now ready" ought they
not TO rejpioe when the prodigal sits down
az the banquet?
Life insurance mon will all tell you that
ministers of religion as a class live longer
than any other. 1t is confirmed By the
statistics of all those who calculate upon
human longevity. Why is it? There is
more draft upon the nervous system than
in any other profession, and their toll is
most exhausting. / have seen ministers
kept on miserable stipends by parsiuioni-
GUS congregations who wondered at the dull
ness of the sermons, when the men of God
were perp'exed almost to death by ques-
tioOs of livelihood, and had not enough
nutritious food to keep any fire in their
temperament. NJ fuel, no fire. I have
sonnet mes seen the inside of the life of
| e A ~
accepting their hospitality, because they
cannot afford it; but l have ssen them
strueg'e on With salaries nf five and six
hundred dollars a year-the average less
than that-tLeir struggle well depicted by
tho western missionary who says in a let
ter, s'Thank you for your last remittance;
until it came we had not any meat in our
house for one year, aud ell last winter. al
though il was severe winter, our children
wore their summon clothes" And these
men of God, | fud in different parts of
| the land, struggling against annoysnca and
exasperatiGns innumerable; soae of them
week after week entertaining agents who
heve maps to sell, aud submitting them
selves to all styles of annoyance, and yet
| without Complaint, aud cheerfs! of SOUL
How do you account for the fact that these
| lifs-insuranos men tell US that ministers as
class live longer than any Others? Il is
because toe joy Of their work, the joy of the
harvest field, the joy of greeting prodigals
home to their Father's house.
| Oh, we are in 50 mpathy with all innocent
hlarties. We can enjpy a hearth song, aud
We can be merry with tho merriest; out
those of us who have tolled Ia the service
are ready TO testify tha5 ail these joys are
tame compared with tho satisfaction of see-
| ;no for no IF G.,A nm
great eras of everv minister are the out
poarings of the Holy Ghost, aud l thank
| God havs seen eighteen of them. Thank
God, thank Gadl
| ". I notice, also, when the prodigal
comes back all earnest Christians rejoice.
| Ii Won stood on Mons4nk Point and there
was hurricane at sea, and it was blowing
toward the sho1e. and a vessel crashed into
the rocks. and you saw people get ashore in
the lifeboats, and the very last nan got on
| the rocks in safety. you could not control
your joy. And it is a glad time When the
Church of God sees men who ara tossed on
the ocean of their sins plant their feet on
the rock Christ Jesos.
Oh, when prodigals come home, just hear
those Christians sing Just hear those
Christians pray. 1t is not stereotypsd
supplication we have heard over and over
again for twenty years, but putting of the
case in the hands of Gid with an impor
tpuate pleading. No long prayers. Men
never pray at great length unless they have
nothing to say and their hearts are hard
and cold All the prayers in toe Bible
that were answered we're short prayers:
''God be mercifnl to me sianer." 'Lord,
that may receive my sight" sLord, save
me or | perish" The longest prayer,
Snlomen's prayer at the dedication of the
Tempe, less than eight minutes in length,
according to the ordinary rate of enunci-
| alton.
And just hear them pray now that the
prodigals are coming home. Just see them
shake hands. No putting forth of the four
tips of the fingers in formal way, but a
hesrty grasp, where the muscles of the
heart seem to clsuch the fiugers of ono
baud around the other hand. Ard then
see those Christian faces, how i;iuminei
they are.. And see that old man get up and
with the same voice that he sang fifty years
ago in the old country meeting. house, say
s.Now, Lord, lettest Thou Thy servant do
part in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy
salvation " There was man of Keith
Who was hurled into ptison in time of per
secution, aud one day be got off his shackles
aud he came and stood by the prison d1or,
duH3 WHICH bA' JhfOt was bpolibS 6u0
with one stroke he struck down the man
who had ipc,roe'ated him. Passing along
the streets Of London he wondered where
his family was. He did not dare to ask
lest he excite suspicion, but. passing along
little way from the prison, he saw Keith
taukard, a cup that belonged to the ia nily
from generation to generasion-he saw it
in a window. His family, hoping that some
day he would get clear, came aud lived as
pear as they could to the prison house. aud
they set that Keith tankard in the windo r.
hoping lie would see it; and be came along
aud saw it, aud knocked at the door, and
vent in, and the long. g.abseut family we're
all together again. Oh. if you would start
for the kingdom of God to-day, l think
some of you would find nearly all your
friends and nearly all your families around
the holy tankard of the holy communion
fathers, moth RS, brothers, sisters around
that sacred taukard which commentaries
the love of Jesus Christ our Lord. On, it