Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-04

j 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
aggrayating 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 stepping out of
the passengers, and then the departure
of the train At noon he was there
again watching the ad~ance of the
train, watching the departure. At
| 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 wait
ing for some of you my brothers, ten
years, twenty years, thirty years, forty
years perhaps fifty yeaTs-waiting, wait
ing watching watching: and if this morn
ing the prodigal should come home what a
scene OF gladness and festivitv, and how
she great Father s 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
isters Of religion. Oh, it is grand thing
to preach this gospel. / know there has
been great deal said about the trials
and the hardships OF the Christian minis
try. 1 wish somebody would write a
good, r0using book about the joys Of the
Christian ministry. Since [ entered the
profession l have seen more of the good
ness of God than l will be
ABLE TO 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 I confess to you
plainly that when l see q man coming to
God and giving up his sin / feel in my
body, mind and soul transport When
l see man bound hand and foot in evil
habit emancipated. rejoice over it 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 heav-
en- and earth and he'll attest their allie
glance to jesus Christ I feel JOY some
thing akin to that which the apostle de-
scribe when he says: ''Whether in the
body cannot tell, or out of the body
cannot tell; God knoweth -
Oh, have not ministers right to re-
joice when prodigal comes home? 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 rejoice when souls pant |
as the hart for the water brooks? They |
came forth saying: ''An things are now
ready ought they not to rejoice when
the prodigal sits down at the banquet?
Life-insuranee men will all tell you
that ministers of religion as a class live
lOTIa rnT l1ar nv NJ han "a
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 I have
seen ministers kept on miserable stipends
by parsimoniOus congregations who
wondered at the dizziness of the sermons,
when the men of God were perplexed
almost to death by questions of liyeli-
mood, and had not enough nutritious
'ood to keep any fire in their tempera-
nent.
NO FUEL, NO FIRE.
1 have sometimes seen the inside of the
ife of many of the American clergymen
never accepting their hospitality be-
,ause they cannot afford it; but / have
cen them struggle on with salaries of
i've and six hundred dollars year-the
lverage less than that-their struggle |
veil depicted by the Western missionary
Who says in letter: ''Thank you for
our last remittance; until it came we
lad not any meat in our house for one
ear, and all last winter, although it was
severe winter, our children wore their
ummer clothes - And these men of
;od find in different parts Of the land,
truggling against annoyances and exas-
creations innumerable; some of them
7eek after week entertaining agents who
ave maps to sell, and submitting them
elves to all styles of annoyance, and vet
yithout complaint, and cheerful of soul.
low do you account for the fact
hat these life insurance men tell
S that ministers as a class
we longer than any others? It is
ecause of the joy of their work, the joy
the harvest field, the Joy of greeting
rodigals home TO their Fathers house
Oh, we are in sympathy with all inno-
ent hilaTities. We can enjoy hearty ,
'ng, and we can be merry with the mer- +
est; but those Of us who have toiled in
he service are ready to testify that all {
lese joys are tame compared with the 3
ltisfaction Of seeing men enter the king +
ON of God. The great eras of every {
mister are the outpourings of the Holy r
host, and l thank God | have seen I
ghteen of them. Thank God, thank !
cd! !
4. I notice also when the prodigal )
mes back all earnest Christians rejoice. s
you stood on Montauk Point and there y
as hurricane at sea, and it was blow
g toward the shore, and a vessel crashed
TO the rocks, and you saw people get :
hore in the life boats, and the very last
an got on the rocks in safety, you could S
It control your joy. And it is \
GLAD TIME Z
hen the Church of God sees men who :
e tossed on the ocean of their sins plant q
cir feet on the rock Christ Jesus. :,
Oh, when prodigals come home Just f
ar those Christians sing. Just hear l.
ose Christians pray. 1t is not a stereo- h
ped supphcation we have heard over a
d over again for twenty years, but a II
tting of the case in the hands of God II
tn an importunate pleading. No long
ayers. Men never pray at great length
less they have nothing to say and their
arts are hard and cold. All the pray
) in the Bible that were answered were
ort prayers: 'SGod be mercIful TO me
sinner. - Lord, that [ may receive 81
: sight. - Lord, save me or 1 per
t. The longest prayer, Solomon 5 nj
aver at the dedication of the temnle