The Penn's Grove record., 1894-11-16
PENIS GROVE, N. j, FRIDAY. NOVEMBER Is. 1894.

was waiting for the hour when the ministers
Of State should gather in @agry contest, adj
worried and worn ont by the coming hour.
and In momentary absence OF the nurse, in
the power-the strange power which de-
lir,um sometimes gives one-she arose aid
stooi II In front OF the clock. and stool there
watching the clock when the nurse returned.
The nurse said, D GU see anything pecu'-
lar about that clock2'' She made no answer,
but room died. There Is a clock scene In
every history. II some OF you would rise
from the bed Of lethargy and come ont OF
-FOUR delirium OF sin and look on the clock Of
your destiny this moment. you would see
and hear something YOU have not seen or
or heard before, and every tick of the minute,
and every stroke of the hour, and every
swing OF the pendulum, would say, sNow,
now, now, nowF' Oh, come home to your
Yather's housed Come home, oh, prodigal,
rom the wlldernessi Come home, come
nomet
But I notice that when the pro iigal came
there was the fathers Joy. He did not greet
him with any formal "Howd do you do?" He
did not come out and say ''You are unfit to
enter. Go out and wash in the trough by
the well, and then you can come in. We
have had enough trouble with YOU All,
mol When the proprietor OF that estate pro-
claimed festival, It was an outburst of a
fathers love and a fathers joy. God Is
| your father.
have not much sympathy with that de-
gcription OF God / sometimes hear, %asthough
10 were q Turkish sultan-hard and unsym-
pathetic aBd listening not to the cry of His
! subjects. A man told me hesaw In one ofthe
eastern lands a king riding along, and two
men were in an alteration, and one charged
the other with having eaten his rice, and
the king said, ''Then Stay the man, and by
post norton examination fini whether he
has eaten the rice" And he was stain. Alb,
the cruelty OF a scene like that Our Gods
not a sultan, not a despot, but a father
kind, loving, forgiving-and He makes all
heaven ring again when a prodigal comes
back. 81 have no pleasure" he says, Sin
the death of him that dieth."
TIA man does not get heaven, 1t is because
he will not go there. No difference the col
or, no difference the history, no difference
the antecedents, no difference the surround
ings, no difference the sin. When the white
horses Of Christ's Victory are brought out to
celebrate the eternal triumph, you may ride
one OF them, and, as God is greater than all,
His Joy is greater, and when a soul comes
back there is in His heart the surging OF an
infinite ocean of gladness, and to express
hat gladness 1t takes all the rivers of pleas
ure, and all the thrones of pomp, and all the
ages Of eternity. 1t is a Joy deeper than all
depth, and higher than all height, aud
! WiitI tudu " Wiltus duu NuoLbIt utu dll us
mensity. 1t overtops, it underglrds, 1t out
weighs all the united splendor and joy OF the
universe. Who can tell what Gods Joy isP
You remember reading the story OF a king
, who on some great day of f~estivity scat
tered silver and gold among the people, who
sent valuable presents to his courtiers, but
methinks when a soul comes back God is
SO glad that to express His joy He filings out
new worlds into space, kindles up new suns
and rolls among the white robed anthems Of
the redeemed a greater halleluiah, while
with a voics that reverberates among the
mountains Of frankincense aud Is echosd
back from the everlasting gates He cries,
"This, my son. WAS dead and is alive again T.
At the opening OF the exposition In New
Orleans l saw a Mexican fiutist, and he
played the solo, and then afterward 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 Or
chestra 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 4
day to the depot. His son went off in ac-
gravating circumstances, but the father sale,
ale will come back" The strain was too
much, and his mind parted, M three times
q day the father went. In the early morning
he watched the train-its arrival, the step
ping out OF the passengers, and then the de-
pdituko VI tIdtns AT hOUh no was ubt6
again, watching the advance of the train,
watching the departure.
At night there again, watching the COM
ing, watching the going, Tor ten years. He
| was sure his son would come back. God has
been Watching AMI waiting fol- some OF you,
my brothers, ten years, twenty years, thirty
years, forty years. perhaps fifty years, watt
ing, waiting, watching, Watching, and II
this morning the prodigal should ONE
home, what a scene Of gladness and festivity
and how the great Fathers heart would
rejoice at YOUR coming homei You will
come, some(s' you, will you not? You will,
you Will D
Inotice als !, at when a prodisal comes
iision. Oh, it is a grand thing to preach
this gospel know there has been a great
| deal said about the trials and the hardsnips
OF the Christian ministry. Iwlsh somebody
would write a good. rousing o about the
joys OF the Christian ministry. Since / en-
tered the profession 1 have seen more OF the
goodness of God than l will be able to eele-
brate in all eternity. 1 know some boast
about their equilibrium, and they do not
rise into enthusiasm, and they do not break
down with emotion, but l confess 10 you
plainly that when l see a man coming TO
God and giving up his sin | feel in boiy,
mind and soul a transport. When l see a
man who is bound hand and foot in evil
habit emancipated, l rejoice over it as
though 1t were my W emancipation. When.
in our Communion service, such throngs OF
young and old stood up at the affairs and in
the presence of heaven MI earth and hell
attested their allegiance to Jesus Christ, l
felt a Joy something akin'to that which the
apostle describes when he says: whether
in the body I cannot tell. or out OF the boiy
/ canno tell. God knowetb.".
Have not ministers q right to rejoice
4 ,uAa, n 1wnItr,I nn,a hA0naS Thav hfa-y
| the trumpet, and ought they not to be glai
OF the gathering of the host2 They pointed
tothe full supply, and ought they not to re-
joice when souls pant as the hart for the
water brooks2 They came forth saying,
"All things are now ready" Ought they
not rejoice when the protigal sits down at
the banquet2
Life insurance men will all tell you Ina.
ministers of religion as a class live longer
than any other. II IL confirmed by the
statistics OF all those who calculate upon
human longevity. Why is 1t? There
is more draft upon the nervous system
than in any other profession, and
their toll Is most exhausting. have
seen ministers kept on miserable sti-
ponds by p~arsimonious congregations
who wondered at the dullness Of the sermon.
when the men OF God were perplexed almost
to death by questions of livelihood and had
not enough nutritious food to keep any Ere
In their temperament. No fuel, no IRE. 1
have sometimes seen the inside of the liieof
many OF the American clergymen-neyer ae-
cepting their hospitality because they can
not afford it-but I lave seen them siru ygle
on with salaries of $500 and 5000 a year, the
average less than that, their struggle well
depleted by the Western missionary who
says in a letter ''rhank you for your last
remittance. Until 1t came we bad not any
meat In our house for one year, an all last
winter. although It was a severe winter, Que
children wore their summer clothes"
And these men Of God / fluid in different
parts of the land, struggling against annoy
ances and exasperations innun eraole. some
OF them wsek after week entertaining agenfH
who have maps to sell and submitting them.
selves to all styles OF annoyances, and yet
without complaint and cheerful OF soul.
How do you account for the fact that these
life insurance men tell us that ministers as a
class live logger than any others? II is hs-
cause OF the JOY OF their work, the Joy OF the
harvest iald, the Joy OF greeting ~proiignls
home to their Fatier's house.
We arc in sympathy with all ianooent
hilarIties. We can enjoy q hearty song, AMI
we can be merry with the merriest. but those
OF us who nave toiled in the service SFa
1870 a. AonstF- N 4h.oa sa..a ara t.p.a ocna-