Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-02-16

and all the thrones of pomp, and al tn,
ages Of eternity. 1t is a JOY deeper thar
all depth, and higher than all height, anS
wider than all width, and vaster than al
immensely. 1t overtops, it u%ndergirds
It Outweighs all the united splendor anC
JOY of the universe. Who can tell wha'
Gods Joy isl
You remember reading the story OF q
king, who on some great day Of f~estivity
scattered silver and gold among the peo
pie, and sent valuable presents to his
courtiers; but methinks when q SOU
comes back God is SO glad that to express
His JOY He filings out new worlds into
space, and kindles up new suns, and rolls
among the whiterobed anthems Of the
redeemed a greater hallelujah, while
with a voice that r%everberates among the
mountains Of frankincense 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 tiutist, and
he played the solo, and then afterward
the eight or ten bands Of music, accom-.
panied by the great organ, came in; but
the sound of that one flute as compares
"iAh Gil ~ ollhC5llo u HAtoNti tAihA
all the combined Joy OF the universe
when compared with the resounding
heart Of Almighty God.
For ten years a father went three times
a day to the depot. His son went off in
a~ggravating circumstances, but the father
said: "He will come back" The strain
was too much. and his mind parted, and
three times "a day the father vent. In
| tha auv1u n,nrp;nr ha xyo,chaA tha train
its arrival, the stepping out of the pas
train. AT noon he was there again,
watching the advance OF the
train, watching The departure. Al
night, there again. watching the
coming, watching the going for ten
years. Ne was sure his son would come
back. God has been watching n wait
ing for some Of you my brothers, ten
years, twenty years, thirty years, forty
years, perhaps fifty years-waiting, wait
ing, watching, watching; and if this
morning the prodigal should come home,
what a scene Of gladness and festivity,
and how the great Fathers heart would
rejoice at your coming home. You will
come, some of you, Will you not? You
will, you will!
3. ! notice also that when a prodigal
comes home there is the JOY Of the min
listers of religion. Oh, it is IA grand
thing to preach this gospel. | know
there has been a great deal said about the
trials and the hardships Of the Christian
ministry. | wish somebody would write
a good, rousing book about the joys of
the Christian ministry. Since | entered
the profession | have seen more of the
goodness of God thar | will be able 10
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 | con
fess to you plainly that when | see a man
coming to God, and giving up his sin
feel in body, mind, and soul a transport.
When | see a man who is bound hand and
foot in evil habit emancipated, | rejoice
over it as though it were my W enamel
patton. When today in our communion
service such throngs Of young and old
stand at these affairs, and in the presence
of heaven and earth and hell attest their
allegiance to Jesus Christ, | feel a JOY
something akin to that which the apostle
describes when he says: Whether in
the body | cannot tell, OF on, of the body
| cannot tell; God knoweth.'
Oh, have not ministers q right 10 re-
joice when q prodigal comes home? They
blew the trumpet, and ought they not to
he glad Of the gathering Of the most?
They pointed TO the full supply, and
ought they not to rejoice when souls pant
as the heart for the water brooks? Tney
came forth saying: "All things are
ready ought they not 10 rejoice when
the prodiGal sits down AT the banquet
Life insurance men will all tell you
that ministers OF religion as a class live
LONGER thar any other. 1t is confirmed
by the statistics Of all those who calcu-
lates upon human longevity. Why is il?
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 paTsimonous congregations who
wondered at the dizziness Of the sermons.
when the men Of God were perplexed al
most to death by questions of livelihood,
and had not enough nutritious feod 70
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 accepting their hospl-
tally. because they cannot afford il; but
| have seen them struggle on with salar-
les of five ond six hundred dollars a year
the average less than that-their struggle
well depicted by the western missionary
who says in a letter: Thank you for
your last remittance; until 1t came we
had not any meat in our house for one
year, and al last winter, although It was
a severe winter, our children wore their
summer clothes" And these men OF
God | find in different parts of the
land, struggling against annoyauces and
exasperations innumerable; some Of them
week after week entertaining agents who
have maps to sell, and submitting them
selves to al styles of annoyance, and yet
without complaint, and cheerful of soul.
How Go you account for the fact that
these Reinsurance men tell us
that ministers as a class live
longer than any others! 1t is
because Of the Joy Of their work, the JOY
Of the harvest field, the 10y Of greeting
prodigals home to their Fathers house.
Oh, we are in sympathy with all limo
cent hilarities. We can enjoy a hearty
song, and we can be merry with the mer-
riest; 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 king
dom of God. The great eras OF every
shn ln1