The Penn's Grove record., 1889-02-23

went. In the early morning he watched
the train, its arrival, the stepping out Of
the passengers, and thenthe departure
of the train. At noon he was there
again watching the advance OF the
train, watching the departure. at
night, there again:watching the coming,
watching the golng-for ten years. He
was SURF 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 If this morn
ing the prodigal should come home,
what a scene of gladness and festivity,
and how the great Fathers heart would
rejoice at your coming homei You will
come, some of you, will you not2 You
will, you will
III. I notice, also, that when a prodi-
gal comes home there is
THE JOY OF THE MINISTER'S
OF religion. Oh, it is a grand thing TO
preach this gospel 1 know there has
been a great deal said about the trials
and the hardships of the Christian
ministry. L wish somebody would
write a good, rousing book about the
joys of the Christian ministry. Since ]
entered the profession l have seen
more of the goodness of God than l will
be able to celebrate in all eternity. l
know some boast about their equili-
brium, and they do not rise into en-
thusiasm, and they do not break down
with emotion; but | confess to you
plainly that when / see a man coming
to God. and giving up his sin, L feel in
body, mind, and soul a transport.
When l see a man who is bound hand
and foot in evil habit emancipated, l
rejoice over 1t as though it were my
own emancipation. When to-day 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, L feel a JOY something
akin to that which the apostle describes
when he says: whether in the body !
cannot tell, or out Of the body l cannot
tell; God knoweth."
Oh, have not ministers a right to re-
joice when a prodigal comes homer
They blew the trumpet, and ought they
not to be glad of the gathering Of the
host? They pointed at the full supply,
and ought they not to rejoice when
souls pant as the hart for the water
brooksp They came forth saying, "All
things are now rea1y;" ought they not
to rejoice when the prodigal sits down
at the banquet?
WHY MINISTER'S LIVE LONG.
Life-insurance men 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 calcu.
late upon human longevity. Why is it?
There is more draft upon the nervous
system tlan IN any other profession,
and their toll is more exhausting. ]
have seen ministers kept on miserable
stipends by parsimonious congregations,
who wonder at the dizziness of sermons,
when the men of God were ~complexed
almost to death by questions of liyeli.
hood, and had not enough nutritious
food to keep any fire in their tempera
ment. No fuel, no fire! | have some.
times seen the inside of the life of many
of the American cle,gymen never &C
cepting their hospitality, because they
cannot afford it; but l have seer them
struggle oil with salaries Of FIVE and
six hundred dollars a year-the average
less than that-their struggle well de-
picted by
THE WESTERN MISSIONARY,
who says in a letter: ''Thank you fol
you last remittance; until it came we
had not any meat in our house for one
year, and all last winter, although II
was a severe winter, our children wore
their summer clothes" And these men
of God l find in different parts of the
land, struggling against annoyances
and exasperations innumerable; some OF
them week after week entertaining
agents who have maps to sell, and sub.
hitting themselves to all styles of an
noyance, and yet without complaint,
and cheerful of soul. How do you ac-
count for the fact that these life-insur-
ance men tell us that ministers as q
class live longer than any othersp 1t is
because of the JOY of their work, The
joy of the haryest-feld, the joy ofgreet-
ing prodigals home to their Fathers
house.
Oh, we are in sympathy with all in
nocent hilarities. We can enjoy q
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 en-
ter the kingdom of God. The great
eras of every minister are the outpour-
ings of the Holy Ghost, and l thank
God I have seen eighteen of them.
Thank Godl thank Godl
". l 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 il
was blowing toward the shore, and a
vessel crashed into the rocks, and you
saw people. get ashore in the llfeboats
and the very last mau got on the rocks
in safety. you could not control your
Joy. And it isA 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.
Oh, when prodigals come home, just
hear those Christians sing; just hear
those Christians pray. 1t is not a
stereotyped duplication we have heard
over and over again for twenty years,
bat a putting of the case in the hands
of God with an importunate 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 prayers:
"God be mercIful to me a sinner
"Lord, that l may receive my sight,
lord, save me or l perish" The
longest prayer, Solomon's prayer at the
dedication of the Temple, less than
eight minutes in length, according to
the ordinary rate Of enunciatiom And
Just hear them pray, now that the prodi-
gals are coming home! just sec them
shake handsl Nc putting forth of the
four tips of the fingers in a formal way,
but a hearty grasp, where the muscles
Of the heart seem to clench the fingers
OF one hand around the other hand.
And then see those Christian faces, how
illumined they are. And see that old
man get up, and with the same voice
that he sang fifty years ago in the old