Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-05-11

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 filed
and OVERLOOKING, we built a larger
church, which after two or three years
disappeared in flame. Then we built
another church, which also in line OF
fiery succession disappeared in the same
way. Then we put up this building, and
NAV it stand for many years, a fortress
of Righteousness and a lighthouse for
the storm tossed, its gates crowded with
vast assemblages long after we have
ceased to frequent theml
A Noble Work.
We have raised in this church over
$1,000. 600 for church charitable pur-
poses during the present pastorate, while
we have given, free of all expense, the
gospel to hundreds of thousands Of stran-
gers, year by year. record with graf
itude to God that during this genera
ton of % years 1 remember but two
Sabbaths that 1 have missed service
through anything like physical indis-
positions Almost a fanatic on the sub
ject of physical exercise, 1 have made
the parks with which our city is bless
ed the means Of good physical condi-
ton. A daily walk and run in the open
air have kept me ready for work and in
good humor with all the world. 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 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-ffth milestone in my pastor
ate, wonder how many more miles l
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-ffth year Of pastorate and be-
fore the beginning Of my twenty-sixth
year, to be absent for few months in
order to take a journey around the
world. expect to sail from San Fran
cisco in the steamer Alameda May 81.
NV place here on Sabbaths will be fully
occupied, while on Mondays and every
Monday 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
have been permitted long while to
administer | want 10 see them i'll their
own cities, towns and neighborhoods. !
want to know what are their prOsperi-
ties. what their adversities and what
their opportunities, and so enlarge my
work and get more adaptednesS Why
do 90? 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 all learn in SER
mons to be preached to you when re-
turn. I want to see the Sandwich Is
lands. not so much in the light Of mod
ern politics as in the light Of the gos-
pei Of Jesus Christ, which has trans
formed them, and Samoa, and those
vast realms Of New Zealand, and Aus
tralia and Ceylon and India, / want to
see what Christianity has accomplished.
l want to see how the missionaries have
been lied about as living in luxury and
idleness.
want to know whether the heather
religions are really as tolerable and as
commendable as they were represented
by their adhercnts in the parliament Of
religions at Chicago l want to see
whether Mohammedanism and Bud
dhism would be good things for trans
plantation in America, as it has again and
again been argued want TO hear the
Brahmans pray. want to test whether
the Pacific ocean treats its guests any
better than does the Atlantic. want
TO see the wondrous architecture Of In
dia, and the Delhi and Cawnpore where
Christ was crucifed in the massacre Of
his modern disciples, and the disabled
Juggernaut unyheeled by Christianity,
and to see if the Tai which the Emperor
6ha Jehan built in honor Of his empress
really means any more than the plain
slab we put above our dear departed. l
want to see the fields where Havelock
and Sir Colin Campbell won the day
against the sepoys. want to see the
world from all sides. How much Of it
is in darkness, how much Of it is in
light, what the Bible means by the
lends of the earth" and get myself
ready to appreciate the extent of the
present to be made to Christ as spoken
Of in the Psalms, ASK Of me, and !
shall give thee the heather for thine in
heritance and the uttermost parts Of
the earth for thy possession, " and so l
shall be ready to celebrate in heaven
the victories of Christ in more raptur-
Gus song than Icould have rendered bad
| never seen the heather denominations
before they were conquered. And SO l
hope to come back refreshed, REINFORCED
and better equipped, and to do in 10
years more effectual work than l have
done in the last 20.
a Garland and n Palm.
And now, in this twenty-fifth ami
versary sermon, 1 propose to do two
things-frst, to put a garland on the
grave Of the generation that has just
4lo,, 70 ,,o1,,,