Milford chronicle., 1893-04-28

Let that be q new departure as pastor.
Sympathy Gratitude to God demands
that this morning mention the fact that
during all these q years have missed but
one service through sickness. When / en-
tered the ministry, was so delicate ibid not
think l would preach three months. but
preaching has agreed with me, and think
the healthiest thing in all the earth is the
religion of Jesus Christ. Bless the Lord,
10 my SOUL What ingrates We are in re
gard to our healthi
must, in gratitude to God, also mention
1.-THE multitudes to whom I have been per-
United to preach. It is simply miraculous,
the attendance morning by morning, night
by night and year by year and long after it
has got to be an old story. know some
people are dainty and exclusive in their
tastes. As for myself, ike big crowd. I
would like to see an audience large enough
to scare me. If this gospel is good, the more
that get it the better.
Many have received the gospel here, but
others have rejected it. Now, tell you
what 1 am going to do with some of my
dearest friends who have hitherto rejected
the gospel You are not afraid Of me, and
I am not afraid Of you, and some day, o
brother, viii clasp your hands together,
and will turn your face the other way,
and will take hold Of your shoulders and
while you are helpless in my grasp will
give you one headlong push into the king
dom Of God. Christ says we must compel
you to come in. will compel you to come
! in. Can I consent to anything else with
these men, who are as dear to me as my
own soulp Twill compel you to come in.
Profting by the mistakes Of the past, I
must do better work for you and better
work for God. Lest I might through
some sudden illness or casualty be snatch
ed away before have the opportunity Of
doing so, 1 take this occasion to declare my
/ love for you as a people. It is different
work If a pastor is placed in church al
ready built up, and he is surrounded by es-
/ tablished circumstances. There are not 10
people in this church that have not been
! brought into the church through my min
istry. You are my family. I feel as much
at home here as 1 do in my residence on
Oxford street. You are my ftmily-my
father, my mother my sister, my son, my
daughter You are my joy and crown, the
subject of my prayers.
THE PREACHER's AMBITION.
Your present and everlasting welfare is
the object Of my ambition. 1 have no
worldly ambition. had once. have not |
now. / know the world about as well as
any one knows it. have heard the hand |
clapping Of It's applause, and have heard |
the hiss of its opposition, and declare to !
YOU that the former is not especially to be |
sought for, nor is the latter to be feared. |
The world has given me about all the COM
fort and prosperity it can give man, and |
have no worldly ambition. have an all |
consuming ambition to make full proof Of |
my ministry, to get to heaven myself and |
to take a great crowd with me. Upon your /
table and cradle and armchair and pillow |
and lounge and nursery and drawing room |
and kitchen may the blessing Of the Al |
mighty God come down.
During these p years there is hardly /
family that has not been invaded by sorrow |
or death. Where are those grand old men, |
those glorious Christian women, who used |
to worship with us? Why, they went away /
into the next world so gradually that they |
had concluded the second stanza OF the |
third stanza in heaven before you knew /
they were gone. They had on the crown
before you thought they had dropped the /
staff Of the earthly pilgrimage.
And then the dear childrenl Oh, how 1
many have gone out of this church, You 4
could not keep them. You folded them in /
your arms and said: 20 God, cannot give 4
them up. Take all else-take my property, |
take my reputation-but let me keep this
treasure Lord, I cannot bear this. "
Oh, if we could all die together, if we 4
could keep all the sheep and the lambs Of
the family fo,d together until some bright 4
spring day, the birds a-chant and the wa
= ors a-glitter, and then we could altogether
~. r. the voice of the good Shepherd and
hand in hand pass through the flood. No
no, no, mol Oh, if we only had notice that
we are all to depart together, and we could
say to our families; "The time has come.
The Lord bids us away" And then we
could take our little children to their beds
and straighten out their limbs and say:
''Now, sleep the last sleep. Good night,
until it is good morning" And then we
could go to our own couches and say:
''Now, altogether we are ready to 90. Our
children are gone; now let us depart"
No, no! 1t is one by one. 1t may be in
the midnight. 1t may be in the winter,
and in the snow coming down 20 inches
deep over our grave. It may be in the
strange hotel and our arm too weak to pull
the bell for help 1t may be so suddenly
we have no time even to say g0odby. Death
is a bitter, crushing, tremendous curse.
THE HARP OF COMFORT.
play you three tunes on the gospel harp
Of comfort, Weeping may endure for o
night, hut JOY c0neth in the morning"
That IS one "All things work together
for good to those who love Godn That is
the second. 'And the Lamb which is IN
the midst Of the throne shall lead them to
living fountains of water, and God shall
wipe all tears from their eyes. F" That is the
third. During these p years have tried
as far as I could, by argument, by illustra-
ton and by caricature to Gil you with dis
gust with much of this modern religion
which people are trying now to substitute
for the religion Of Jesus Christ and the reli-
gion Of the apostles.
have tried to persuade you that the
worst of all cant IS the cant Of skepticism,
and instead of your apologizing for Chris
tianity it was high time that those who do
not believe in Christianity should apologize
to you, and have tried to show that the
biggest villains in the universe are those
who would Try to rob us Of this Bible, and
that the grandest mission Of the church OF |
Jesus Christ is that of bringing souls to the
Lord-a soul saving church
But now those years are gone. II you
have neglected your duty, il have neglect
ed my duty, it Is neglected forever Each
year has its work. If the work is per
formed within the 10 months, it is donefor-
ever. If neglected, it is neglected forever.
When a woman was dying, she said,
i'Call them back" They did not know
what she meant. She had been disciple
of the world. She said, "Oh, call them
backp' They said, 'sWho do you want us
tocalI backY' 'Oh," she said, "call them
back, the days, the nj, Nhs, the years,
have wasted. Call them tekp But you
cannot call them back. cannot call a
year beck, or a month tAk, or week
back, or an hour back, or ~ eecond back.
Gone once, it is gone forever.
When a great battle was raging, mes
senger came up and said to the general,
who was talking with an officer, General 1
we have taken a standard from the enemy"
The general kept right on conyersing with
his fellow officer, and the messenger said {
again. General, we have taken o standard
from the enemy.n Still the general kept
right on, and the messenger lost his pa
thence, not having his message seemingly