Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-05-12

~ D0t &0 INV <AGtSt1J
find it, and the dying sailor scolded him
and said, "Ain't you ashamed of your
self not to read your Biblc?" So the boy
explored the bottom of his trunk and
brought out the Bible, and his mother
had marked c passage that just fitted
the dying sailors case, 1.-The blood of
Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth from all
SIM" That helped the sailor to die in
peace. So n generation helps another,
and good things written or said or done
+ reproduced long afterward.
The World Tor an Audience.
During the passing of the last gener
alton some peculiar events have unfold
ed. One day while resting at Sharon
Springs, N. Y, / think it was in 1870,
the year after my settlement in Brook
Ign, and while walking i'll the park of
that place, l found myself asking the
question: Il wonder if there is any spe-
cial mission for me to execute in this
world? If there is, may God show it to
me!' There Dol came upon me q great
desire to preach the gospel through the
secular printing press. / realized that
the vast majority of people, even in
Christian lands, never enter a church,
and that it would be an opportunity of
usefulness infinite if that door of pub
LEGATION were opened.
And SO l recorded that prayer in q
blank book and offered the prayer day
in and day out until the answer came,
though in a way different from that
which l had expected, for it came
through the misrepresentation and per-
secution Of enemies, and l have to re-
cord it for the encouragement of all
ministers of the gospel who arc misrep-
resented, that if the misrepresentation
be virulent enough and bitter enough
and continuous enough there is moth
ing that so widens ones field of useful
ness as hostile attack, if you are really
doing the Lords work. The bigger the
lie told about me, the bigger the de-
mand to see and hear what / really was
doing. from II stage of sermonic pub
location to another the work has gone
III until week by week, and for about
% years, l have had the world for my
audience, as no mar ever had, and to-
day more SO than at any other time.
The sy~ndicates inform me that my SER
mons go now to about 20, 600, 600 of
people in all lands. l mention this not
in vain boast, but as a testimony to the
fact that God answers prayer. Would
God l had better occupied the field and
been more consecrated to the work.
May God forgive me for lack of service
in the past and double and q~uadruple
and quintuple my work in future.
In this my quarter century sermon l
record the fact that side by side with
the procession of blessings has gone a
procession of disasters. l am preaching
today in the fourth church building
since | began in this city. My first SER
mon was in the old church on Scher-
merhorn street to an audience chiefly
of empty seats, for the church was al
most extinguished. That church filled
and ~overfiowing, we built o larger
church, which after two or three years
disappeared in flame. Then we built
another church, which also in a line Of
fiery succession disappeared in the same
way. Then we put up this building, and
may it stand for many years, 4 fortress
of righteousness and q lighthouse for
the storm tossed, its gates crowded with
vast assemblages long after VIC have
ceased to frequent theml
A Noble Work.
We have raised in this church over
81, 030, 900 for church charitable pur-
poses during the present p~astorate, while
W. have given, free of all expense, tho
gospel to hundreds OF thousands of stran-
gers, year by year. / record with graf
ltude to God that during this genera
tion of 25 years l remember but two
Sabbaths that l have missed service
through anything like physical indis-
positions. Almost q fanatic Oh the sub
ject of physical exercise, l have made
the parks with which our city is bless
ed the means of good physical condi-
ton A daily walk and run III the open
air have kept me ready for work and in
good humor with all the world. l say
to all young ministers of the gospel, it
is easier to keep good health than to re-
gain it when once lost. The reason SO
many good men think the world is go
ing to ruin is because their own physic-
al condition is on the down grade. No
man ought to preach who has a diseased
liver or an enlarged spleen. There are
two things ahead of Us that ought to
keep us cheerful in our work-heaven
and the millennium.
And now, having come up TO the
twenty-ifth milestone in my pastor
ate, l wonder how many more miles /
am to travel: Your company has been
exceedingly pleasant, o my dear people,
and | would like to march by your side
until the generation with whom we are
now moving abreast and step to step
shall have stacked arms after the last
battle. But the Lord knows best, and
we ought to be willing to stay or go.
A Summer Outing.
Most OF you are aware that / propose
at this time, between the close of my
twenty-fifth year of pastorate and be-
fore the beginning of my twenty-sixth
year, to be absent for a few months in
order to take a journey around the
world. l expect to sail from San Fran
cisco in the steamer Alameda May 81.
My place here on Sabbaths will be fully
occupied, while on Mondays and every
Monday l will continue TO speak through
the printing press in this and other
lands as heretofore. Why do / go? To
make pastoral visitation among people
whom l have never seen, but to whom
l have been permitted a long while to
administer. want to see them in their
own cities, towns and neighborhoods. /
want to know what are their prosperi-
ties, what their adyersities and what
their opportunities, and SO enlarge my
work and get more adapte3ness. Why
do ] go? For educational purposes. l
want to freshen my mind and heart
by new scenes, new faces, new man.
ners and customs. / want better to I'M
derstand what are the wrongs to be
righted and the waste places to be re-
claimed. / will put oil / learn in SER
mons TO be preached to you when / re-
turn. want to sea the Sandwich Is
land15 not e. much 81 the light of mod