Connecticut western news., 1894-05-10

of empty seats, for the church was al most extinguished That church filled and overf1owing, 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 may it stand for many years, a fortress of righteousness and 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, ,030, 900 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 grat- tion of 25 years I remember but two Sabbaths that I have missed service through anything like physical indis positions. Almost fanatic on the sub ject of physical exercise, I have made the parks with which our city is bless ed the means of good physical condi tion. A daily walk and run in the open air have kept me ready for work and in good humor with all the world. I 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 fifth 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 I 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 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 ill the steamer Alameda May S1. My 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 I have never seen, but to whom I have been permitted long while to administer. Iwant to see them in their own cities, towns and neighborhoods. l 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 go? For educational purposes. l want to freshen my mind and heart by new scenes, new faces, new man. ners and customs. I want better to un- derstand what are the wrongs to be righted and the waste places to be re- claimed. will put all I learn in ser mons to be preached to you when re- turn I want to see the Sandwich Is- landA not So much in the light of mod ern politics as ill 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 I want to see what Christianity has accomplished. want to see how the missionaries have been lied about as living in luxury and idleness
 I want to know whether the heather religions are really as tolerable and as commendable as they were represented by their adherents ill the parliament of religions at Chicago. I 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. I want to test whether the Pacific ocean treats its guests any better than does the Atlantic. I want to see the wondrous architecture of In- dia, and the Delhi and Cawnpore where Christ was crucified in the massacre of his modern disciples, and the disabled Juggernaut unwheeled by Christianity, and to see if the Tai which the Emperor Sha 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. l want to sec 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 l shall give thee the heather for thine in- heritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" and so I shall be ready to celebrate in heaven the victories of Christ in more raptur- ous song than could have rendered had I never seen the heather abominations before they were conquered. And so hope to come back refreshed, re-enforced and better equipped, and to do in 10 years more effectual work than I have done ill the last 25.
 A Garland and a Palm
 And now, ill this twenty fifth anni- versary sermon, propose to do two things-frst, to put garland on the grave of the generation that has just passed off and then to put a palm branch in the hand of the generation just now coming on the field of action, for my text is true, ''One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh. Oh, how many we revered and honored and loved in the last gen. eration that quit the earth! Tears fell at the time of their going. and dirges were sounded, and signals of mourning were put on, but neither tears nor dirgei nor somber veil told the half we felt Their going left vacancy in our souls that has never been filled up. We never get used to their absence. There arc times when the sight of something with which they were assoc1ated-a picture, or book. or garment, or staff breaks us down with emotion, but we bear it simply because we have to bear