Connecticut western news., 1894-11-15


 Christian ministry. Since entered the profession have seen more of the good ness of God than will be able to cele- brate in all eternity. I know some boast about their equilibrium, and they do not rise into enthusiasm, and they do not break down with emotion, but confess to you plainly that when see man coming to God and giving up his sin feel in body, mind and soul a transport. When I see man who is bound hand and foot in evil habit emaneipated, re- joice over 1t as though 1t were my own emancipation. When, in our commun- ion service, such throngs of young and old stood up at the altars and in the presence of heaven and earth and hell attested their allegiance to Jesus Christ, felt joy something akin to that which the apostle describes when he says: "Whether in the body cannot tell, or out of the body cannot tell God know eth"
 Have not ministers right to rejoice when prodigal comes home2 They blew the trumpet, and ought they not to be glad of the gathering of the host? They pointed to the full supply, and ought they not to rejoice when souls pant as the hart for the water brooks! They came forth saying, All things are now ready" Ought they not re- joice when the prodigal sits down at the banquet?
 How Ministers Arc Sustained.
 Life insurance men will all tell you that ministers of religion as class live longer than any other. It is confirmed by tho statistics of all those who calcu- late upon human longevity. Why is it? There Is more draft upon the nervous system than in any other profession. and their toll Is most exhausting. I have seen ministers kept on miserable sti- pends by parsimonious congregations who wondered at the dulness of the sermon, when. the men of God were perplexed almost to death by questions of livelihood and had not enough nu- tritious food to keep any fire in their temperament No fuel. no fire. I have sometimes seen the inside of the life of many of the American clergymen- never accepting their hospitality be- cause they cannot afford it-but 1 have seen them struggle on with salaries of $500 and $500 year, the average less than that, their struggle well depict ed by the western missionary who says in letter: ''Thank you for your last remittance. Until it came we had not any meat in our house for one year, and all last winter, although it was severe winter, our children wore their summer clothes ?
 And these men of God find in differ ent parts of the land, struggling against annoyances and exasperations innumer- able, some of them week after week en- tertaining agents who have maps to sell and submitting themselves to all styles of annoyances, and yet without com plaint and cheerful of soul. How do you account for the fact that these life insurance men tell us that ministers as a class live longer than any others2 It is because of the joy of their work, the joy of the harvest field, the joy of greet ing prodigals home to their Fathers house.
 Our Innocent Joys.
 We are in sympathy with all innocent hilarities. We can enjoy hearty song, and we can be merry with the merriest, but those of us who have toiled in the service are ready to testify all these joys are tame compared with the satisfae- tion of seeing men enter the kingdom of God. The great eras of every minister are the outpourings of the Holy Ghost, and thank God have seen 90 of them Thank God, thank Godl
 notice nlso when the prodigal comes back all earnest Christians rejoice. If you stood on promontory, and there was x hurricane at sea, and 1t was blow ing toward the shore, and 8 vessel crash ed into the rocks, and you saw people get ashore in the lifeboats, and the very last man got on the rocks in safety, you could not control your joy. And 1t is a glad time when the church of God sees men who are tossed on the ocean of their sins plant their feet on the rock Christ Jesus
 Tho EHectual Prayer.
 When prodigals come home, just hear those Christians singl It is not dull tune you hear at such times. Just hear those Christians prayl It is not stereo- typed supplication we have heard over and over for 20 years, but putting of the case in the hands of God with an i'm portunare pleading. Men never pray at great length unless they have nothing l to say, and their hearts are hard and cold. All the prayers in the Bible that were answered were short prayers:
 "God be merciful to me, a sinner. D Lord, that may receive my sight
 "Lord, save me or perish. !" The lon gest prayer, Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple, less than eight minutes in length, according to the or | d3aary rate of enunciation. And just hear them pray now that the prodigals are coming home. Just see them shake hands No putting forth of the four tips of the fingers in formal way, but
 hearty grasp, where the muscles of
 the heart seem to clinch the fingers of
 one hand around the other hand. And I then see those Christian faces, how H. lumined they are And see that old
 man get up and with the same voice that he sang 50 years ago in the old country meeting house say, "Now.
 Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy | salvation. There was man of Keith
 who was hurled into prison in time of
 persecution, and one day he got off his
 shackles, and he came and stood by the | prison door, and when the jaiIer was | opening the door with one stroke he
 struck down the man who had incar- cerated him.
 Passing along the streets of London,
 he wondered where his family was
 He did not dare to ask lest he excite
 suspicion. but passing along little
 way from the prison he saw Keith
 tankard, a cup that belonged to the fam
 fly from generation to generation. He
 saw it in window. His family, hop
 ing that some day he would get clear,
 came and lived as near as they could to
 the prison house, and they set that | K pifh han {,1x