Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-04-29

| you IN tue paSu, ana Ae VIII sustain y W ~
the future. / exhort you to be OF good
| cheer, Oh thou OF the broken heart "Wesp-
| ing may endure for q night, but joy cometh
| In the morning" / wish over every door OF
this church we might have written the
word Sympathy" for all the
young.
We must crowd them in here by thou,
| sands and propose q radiant gospel that
they will take on the spot. We must make.
this place so attractive for the young that a
young man will come here on Sabbath morn
ing, put down his hat, brush his hair bsck
| from his forehead, unbuttcn his overcast
and look around wondering ii he has not BIZ
nisraze gor lnJo heaven. He VIII see in the
faces of the old people not the gloom which
some-people take for religion, but the sum
shine OF celestial peace, aud he will say,
"Why. wonder it that isn't the same sacs
that shone out on the face of my father and
mother, when they lay dyingY'
And then there will come a damp1ess in
bis eyes through which he can hardly sea.
emotion, but the hot tear will break through
the fringes Of eyelashes and drop upon tbs
coat sleeve. He will put his head on the
back Of the pew in front and sob, "Lord
God OF the old people, help mer We ought
TO lay plot here for the religious capture
| Yes sympathy for the old. They have
their aches and pains ami distresses. They
cannot hear or walk or see as well as they
used to. We must b, reverential In their
presence. On dark days we must help them
through the aisle and help them find the
place in the hymn book. Some Sabbath
morning we shall miss them from hsir place.
AMI we shall say, Where is Father So-and-
SO to-day? and tine answer will be: "What
haven't you heard? The Kings wagons
have taken Jac1b up to the palace where his
Joseph is yet alive"
Sympathy for business men. Twenty.
four years of commercial life in New York
and Brooklyn are enough to tear ones
nerves to pieces We want to make our
Sabbath service here rescle for all thess
martyrs of traffic, foretaste of the land
where they have no rents to pay, and there
are no business rivairies. and where riches,
instea of taxing wings to fly away, brood
over other riches
Sympathy for the fallen, remembering
that they ought to be pitied as much as a
man run over with rail train. The fact is
that in the temptations and miSfortunes of
life they get run over. You and l in the
s. me circumstances would have done as
badly. We should have done worse perhaps.
If you and l had the same evil surroundings
ant the same evil parentage that they had
and the same native born prociivites to evil
that they had, you AMI should have been
in the penitentiary or outcasts Of society.
mo" says some self righteous man, II
couldn't have been overthrow in that way"
You old hypocrite. you would have been the
first to fall
We want in this church to have sympathy
for tia worst man, remembering he Is a
brother; sympathy for the worst woman,
remembering she is sister. If that is not
the gospel, l do not know what the gospel
is. All, yes, sympathy for all the troubled.
for the orphans In their EXPOSURE, for
widowhood with its weak arm fl ghting for
bread, for the household which erst re-
sounded witt merry voices and pattering
feet now awfully still-broad-wingei SYM
patty, like the feathers OF the Almighty:
warm-oloodet sympathy, everlasting SYM
pathy; sympathy which shows itself 10 the
grasp OF the hand, in the glittering tear Of
the eye. in the consoling word Of the
mouth; sympathy of blankets for the cold.
sick, of rescue for the lost. Sympathy!
Let it thrill in every sermon. Let it
tremble in every song. Lett CLEAN in every
tear and in every light. Sympathy! Men
and women are signing for sympathy,
grooming for sympathy, dying for sym
pathy, tn milling Off into uncleanliness aud /
crime AMI pariition for Lace of sympathy. !
May Go give it to usl Fill all this pulpit !
with it from step to step. Let the sweep of !
these galleries suggest its encircling arms.
Fill all the house with 1t, from door to .
door. AMI from Fl oor to ceiling, until thers ,
is no more room for 1t, and it shall overflow !
into the street, and passers5y on foot an in |
carriage shall feel the throS OF It's maguih- ,
cent benediction. :
Let that be our new departure as q ,
church. Let that be my new departure as .
pastor. Sympathy Gratitude to Go1 de-
mands that this morning l mention the .
fact that during all these 81 years have
missed but one service through sickness.
When | entered the ministry l was so deli
ta I hirl | fhra
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. o my soul WHAT ingrates we
are in regard to our health.
Unjust, in gratitude to Col, also mention :.
mitted to preach. 1t is simply miraculous,
the attendance morning by morning, night
by night, and year by year, and long after
1t has got to bs an old story. 1 know some
people are dainty and exclusive In their
tastes As for myself, l like q big crowl.
/ would like to see an audience large enough
to scare mel 1t this gospel is good, the more
that get it the better.
Many have received the gospel here, but
others have rejected it, Now, l tell you
what am going to do with some Of my
dearest friends who have hitherto rejected
the gospei. You are not afraid OF me- and
am not afraid OF you. and some day,
brother, will clasp your hands together,
and I will turn your facs the other way.
and l will take hold Of your shoulders. and
while you are helpless in my grasp / viii
give you one hea1long push into the king
dom of God. Christ says we must compe
you to come in. l will compel you to CONT
in. Can l consent to anything else witt
these men, who are as dear to me as my owl
soul? will compel you to come IN.
Profiting by the mistakes OF the past, l
ynlSt do haitian work fnr v0r and bpttaf
work for God. Lest l might. through some
su iden illness or casualty. be snatched away
before / have the opportunity of doing So
take this occasion to declare my love for
you as people. 1t is different work if a
pastor is placed in a church already built
up and be is surrounded by established cir
cumstancss. There are not ten people in
this church that have not been brought into
the church through my ministry. You arc
my family. l feel as much at home here as
do in my residence on Oxford street. You
are my family--my father, my mother, my
sister, my son, my daughter. You ara my
jov and crown, the subject of my prayers.
Your present AMI ever. astinS welfare IS
the object of my ambition. l have no
worldly ambition. 1 had onc.. I have not
now. l know the world about as well as
any one knows it. have heard the hand
ciapping Of its applause, and | have heard
the hiss of its opposition. and l declare TO
YOU tndU Jue LOrner Is nov especially " 10
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 crow 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
Almiphtv God coma down.
During thess "a years there is hardly a
family that has not been invade 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 stanzi or the
third stanzi 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 children. On. how
many have gone out of this church! You
could not keep them. You folded them in
your arms and said: 80 Col, 1 cannot
give them upl Take all else, taxa my prop
erty, take my reputation, but let me keep
this treasure. Lord, l cannot bear this"
Oh, If We could all die together! II wa
could keep all ths sheep and the lambs OF
the family fold together until SONS bright
spring day. the birds a-caant ami the
waters a-glittsr, AMI then we could alto
gether hear the voice of 10 good Shepherd
and hand in hand pass through the hooii
No, no. no, mol Oh. II we only had notice
that we are all to depart together, an wa
could say TO our families: the time has
come. The Lord bids US away" AMI then
we could take our little children to their
a. ,s.xl,t af hair lf,Nt,e