The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1889-02-15

more exhausting. have seen ministers
kept ON miserable stipends BY parsimoa.
ious congregations who wondered at the
dullness Of the sermons, when the men OF
God were per picked almost to death by
questions of livelihood, and had not
enough nutritious food to keep any
fire in their tempsremsnt No fuel, NO
fire. have sometimes seen the inside OF
the life Of many of the American clergy.
men-never accepting their hospitality,
because they can not afford 1t; but have
seen them struggle on with salaries Of $500
and $500 Q year-the average less than
that-their struggle well depicted by the
Western missionary who says in letter:
''Thank you for your last remittance; un.
til it came We had not any meat in our
house for one year, and all last winter,
although it was q severe winter, our chill.
dren wore their summer clothes" And
these men Of God find In different parts
Of the land, struggling against annoy
and exasperations 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 complaint 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
others? 1t is because Of the Joy Of their
work, the joy of the harvest field, the joy
of greeting prodigals home to their
Fathers house.
We are in sympathy with all innocent
and we can be merry with ths merriest;
l,,,k hoe ~ h<Sh or toll oA ir,f
vice are ready to testify that all these joys
are tame compared with the satisfaction
of seeing men enter the kingdom Of God.
outpourings of the Holy Ghost, and thank
God have seen eighteen of them. Thank
God, thank God!
Fourth notice also when the prodigal
comes back all earnest Christians rejoice.
If you stood on Montauk Point and there
was a hurricane at sea, and it was blowing
toward the shore, and vessel crashed in.
to the rocks and you saw people get ashore
i'm the life boats and the very last man got
on the rocks in safety, you could not con-
troll your joy. And it is glad time when
the church Of God sees men who are tossed
on the ocean of their sins plant their feet
on the rock Christ Jesus.
o, when prodigals come home just hear
those Christians sing. Just hear those
Christians pray. 1t is not stereotyped
snpplication we have heard over and over
again for twenty years, but putting OF
the case in the hands Of God with an inn
Fortunate 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 the
Bible that were answered were short pray
ers: God be merciful to me q sinner"
Lord, that 1 may receive my sight"
"Lord, save me or l perish" The longest
prayer, Solomon's prayer at the dedica-
ton of the tempel, was less than eight
minutes in length, according to the ordi-
nary rate of enunciation.
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 a formal
way, but hearty grasp, where the mus
cles of the heart seem to clinch the fingers
Of one hand around the other hand. And
then see those Christian faces, how illu.
minated 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: Nov, Lord, lettest
Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for
mine eyes have seen Thy salvation"
There was a man of Keith who was
hurled into prison in time Of persecution,
and one day he got off his shackles and he
came and stood by the prison door, and
when the jailer was opening the door,
with one stroke he struck down the man
who had incarcerated him. Passing along
the Streets 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 tankard, a
cup that had belonged to the family from
generation to generation-he saw it in
. window. His family, hoping that
some day he would get clear, came
and lived as near as they could to
the prison house, and thoy set that
Keith tankard in the window, hoping he
would see 1t; and he came along and saw
it and knocked at the door and went in,
and the long absent family were all to-
getber again. o. if you would start for
the Kingdom of God to-day think some
of you would find nearly all your friends
and nearly all your families around the
holy tankard of the holy communion
fathers, mothers brothers, sisters, around
that sacred tankard which commentaries
the love Of Jesus Christ our Lord. O, it
will be great communion day when your
whole family sits around the sacred tank.
ard-one on earth, one in Heaven.
Fifth-Once more I remark that when
the prodgal gets back the inhabitants of
Heaven keep festival l I'm very certain
Of It. If you have never seen q telegraphic
chart, you have no idea how many cities
toI
lands. Nearly all the neighborhoods of
the earth seem articulated. and news flies
from city to city and from continent to
continent. But more rapidly go the It'd
ings from earth to Heaven, and when .
prodigal returns it is announced before
the throne Of God. And IL these souls
this morning should enter the kingdom
there would be some one in the heavenly
kingdom to say: THAT'S my father"
that's my mother" That's my son."
That's my daughter That's my friend"
That's the one / used to pray for"
''That't the one for whom wept so many
tears" And one soul would say,
"Hosannaw and another soul would say,
"HallelujahW
PLEASED with the news the saints below
In songs their tongues employ,
Beyond the skies the tidings 20,
And Heaven is filled with joy.
"Nor angels can their joys contain,
But kindlc with the fire;
The sinner lost is found, they sing
And strike the sounding Tyre"
At the banquet of Lucullus sat Cicero.
the orator; at the Macedonian festal sat
Philip, tho conqueror; at the Grecian ban
quet sat Socrates, the philosopher; but at
our Fathers table sit all the returned
prodigals, more than conquerors. The
table is SO wide its leaves reach across
seas and across lands. Its guests are the
redeemed of earth and the glorified Of