The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-11-23

WlQBn, ana w&SBGT IUan ali 1mm6uS1GYs
1t overt0ps. it undergirds, it outweigha
all the united splendor and joy of the
universe. Who can tell what Gods joy
is?
You remember reading the story of a
king, who on some great day of festivi.
ty scattered silver and gold among the
people. who sent valuable presents to
his eourtiers; but methinks when a
soul comes back, God is so glad that to
express His Joy He fings out new
worlds into place, kindles up new suns,
and rolls among the white-robed an
thems of the redeemed greater halle
lujah, while with voice that reverber
ates among the mountains of franckin.
cense and is echoed back from the
everlasting gates. He cries: '"This, my
son. was dead, and is alive again!"
At the opening of the exposition in
New Orleans / saw q Mexican futist,
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 a 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 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-wait-
ing, waiting, watching, Watching;
and if this morning the prodigal should
come home, what scene of gladness
and festivity, and how the great
Fathers heart would rejoice at your
coming home. You will come some of
you, will you not? You will! you will!
notice also that when a prodigal
comes home there is the Joy of the
ministers of religion. Oh, it is a grand
thing TO preach this Gospel! I know
there has been great deal said about
the trials and the hardships of the
Christian ministry. I wish somebody
would write good, rousing book about
the joys of the Christian ministry.
| Since / entered the profession, / have
seen more of the goodnes of God
| than / will be able to celebrate in all
eternity. I know some boast about
| their equilibrium, and they do not rise
into enthusiasm. and they do not break
down with emotion: but confess to
| you plainly that when see a man COM
ing to God and giving up his sin, feel
in body, mind and soul a transport.
When see man, who is bound hand
and foot in evil habit, emancipated, I
rejoice over it as though it were
my own emancipation. When, in our
communion service, such throngs of
young and old stood up at the affairs,
and, in the presence of Heaven and
earth and hell, attested their alle-
glance to Jesus Christ, 1 felt a joy
something akin to that which the
whether in the body can not tell,
or out of the body can not tell; God
knoweth."
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 any other profession, and
their toll is most exhausting.
have seen ministers kept on
miserable stipends by parsimonious
congregations who wondered at the
dullness of the sermons, when the men
of God were perplexed almost to death
by questions of livelihood, and not
enough nutritious food to keep any
fire in their temperament. No fuel, no
fire. l have sometimes seen the inside
of the life of many of the
American clergymen-never accept
ing their hospitality, because
they can not afford it; but
/ have seen them struggle on with sal
aries of five hundred and six hundred
dollars year-the average less than
that-their struggle well depicted by
the western missionary who says in
letter: THANK you for your last re-
mittance; until it came we had not
any meat in our house for one year,
and all last winter, although it was
severe winter, our children wore their
summer clothes" And these men of
God l. find in different parts of the land,
struggling against annoyanees and ex-
asperatiOns innumerable; some of them
week after week entertaining agents
who have maps to sell, and submitting
themselves to all styles of annoyance,
and yet without complaint, and cheer
full of soul. How do you account for
the fact that these life insurance men
tell us that ministers as a class live
longer than any others? It is because
of the joy of their work, the joy of the
harvest field, the joy of greeting prod
iRals home to their Fathers house.
at the banquet of LuculIus sat Cicero
the orator. At the Macedonian fes-
tival sat Phillip the conqueror. At the
Grecian banquet sat Socrates the phi
lospher; but but at our Fathers table
sit all the returned prOdidals, more
than conquerors. The table is so wide
its leaves reach across seas and across
lands It's guests are the redeemed
of earth and the glorified of Heaven.
The ring of Gods forgiveness on every
hand, the robe of the Saviour's right
eousness adroop from every shoulder.
The wine that glows in the cups
is from the bowls of ten thou