The national leader., 1889-02-16

express His JOY he filings out new worlds
into space, and kindles up new suns,
and rolls among the white-robed an
thems of the redeemed greater halle
lujah, while with a voice that rever-
berates among the mountains OF frank
incense 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 l saw Mericdn ttutiSt,
and he played the solo, and then after
ward the eight or ten bands of music,
accompanied by the great organ, came
in; but the sound Of that one flute as
compared with all the orchestra was
greater than all the combined JOY of
the universe when compared with the
resounding heart of Almighty God.
For ten years a father went three
times day to the depot.
HIS SON WENT OFF
in aggravating 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 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 going-for ten years. He
was sure 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 scene of gladness and festivity,
and how the great Fathers heart would
rejoice at your coming homel You will
come, some of you, will you not? You
will, you will!
Ill. notice, also, that when prodi-
gal comes home there is
THE JOY OF THE MINISTER'S
OF religion. Oh, it is grand thing to
preach this gospel! 1 know there has
been great deal said about the trials
and the hardships of the Christian
ministry. l wish somebody would
write good, rousing book about the
joys of the Christian ministry. Since
entered the profession | 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 I confess to you
plainly that when | see a man coming
to God, and giving up his sin, feel i'll
body, mind, and soul 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, | feel JOY something
akin to that which the apostle describes
when he says: "Whetner in the body l
cannot tell, or out of the body [ cannot
tell; God knoweth."
Oh, have not ministers a right to re-
joice when a prodigal comes home?
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
brooks? They came forth saying, ''All
things are now ready" 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 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 than III any other profession,
and their toll is more exhauSting. |
have seen ministers kept on miserable
stipends by parSimonious congregations,
who wonder at the dullness Of sermons,
when the men of God were complexed
almost to death by questions of liveli-
hood, and had not enough nutritious
food to keep any fire in their tempera'
ment. No fuel, no fire! l have some
times seen the inside Of the life of many
of the American cle' gymen never ac-
cepting their hospitality, because they
cannot afford it; but have seen them
struggle OH with salaries Of FIVE and
six hundred dollars year-the average
less than that-their struggle we'll de-
picted by
THE WESTERN MISSIONARY,
who says in letter; ''Ihank you for
you last remittance; until it came we
had not any meat in our house for one
year, and all last winter, although 1t
was severe winter, our children wore
their summer Clothes" And these men
of God | find i'll 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 SUBJ
mitting themselves to all styles of an
noyance, and yet without complaint,
and cheerful of soul. How co you ac-
count for the fact that these life-insur-
ance men tell US that ministers as
class live longer than any others2 1t is
because of the JOY of their work, the
joy Of the haryest-neld, the JOY of greet
ing prodigals home to their Fathers
house.
Oh WE arc in symDathy with all in