Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1894-05-12

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LEGATION were opened
And 30 I recorded that prayer In o
blank book and offered the prayer day
in and day out until the answer came,
though in way different from that
which I had expected, for it came
through the Misrepresentation and per-
secution of enemies and I have to re-
cord it for the encouragement Of all
ministers Of the gospel who are 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 one stage Of sermonic pub
LEGATION to another the work has gone
on until week by week, and for about
23 years, / have had the world for my
audience, as no man ever had, and to-
day more so than as any other time.
The syndicates inform me that my SER
mons go now to about 25, 900 Of
people in all lands I mention this not
in vain boast, but as testimony to the
fact that God answers prayer. Would
God 1 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 quadruple
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 q
procession Of disasters I am preaching
today in the fourth church building
since began in this city. Ny 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 OVERLOOKING, we built q larger
church, which after two or three years
disappeared in fame. 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, a fortress
Of righteousness and lighthouse for
the storm tossed, its gates crowded with
vast assemblages long after we have
ceased to frequent them
A Noble Work.
We have raised in this church over
$1,000, 900 for church charitable pur-
poses during the present passionate, while
we have given, free Of all expense, the
gospel to hundreds of thousands of stran-
gers, year by year. I record with graf
itude to God that during this genera
ton of 25 years I remember Hlt two
Sabbaths that I have missed service
through anything like physical indis-
positions. Almost q fanatic on 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 in the open
Dir 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 60
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-helven
and the millennium.
And now, having come up to the
twenty-ffth milestone in my pastor
ate, I 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 I 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 I expect to sail from San Fran
cisco in the steamer Alameda May 81.
Ny place here on Sabbaths will be fully
occupied, while on Mondays and every
Monday I 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 1 have never seen, but to whom
/ have been permitted long while to
administer. want 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 20? For educational purposes. l
want to freshen my mind and heart
by new scenes, new faces, new man.
ners and customs want better to IN
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 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 I want to
see what Christianity has accomplished.
I 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 Us they were represented
by their adherents 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. I want to hear the
Brahmans pray. want to test whether
the Pacific ocean treats it's guests any