Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-11-23

| stoo in front Of the clock, and stoo1 tnere
| watching the clock when the nurse returned.
| The nurse said lido YOU see anything pecul-
| ior about that clock?" She made no answer,
but soon died. There is a clock scene IN
every history. If some OF you Wohid rise
from the bed Of lethargy and come ont OF
| vour 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 oil the minute,
and every stroke OF the hour, and every
swing Of the pendulum, would say, NOW.
| now. now, noWi' Oh, come home to your
Fathers house! Come home, oh, prodigs' 4,
from the Wilderness Come home, coMc
homele
Put notice that when the prodigat came
| there was the fathers Joy. He did not greet
him with any formal "How do you doT' He
| did not come out and say "You are un 1T to
enter. Go out and wash In the trough by
| the we'll, and then you can come in. We
| have had enough trouble with YOU" Alb,
| no When the proprietor OF that estate pro-
| claimed festival, it was an outburst Of a
fathers love and a fathers Joy. Goi Is
| your father.
have not much sympathy with that de-
! scription of God sometimes hear, asthougd
He were Turkish sultan-hard and unsym-
]
= subjects. A man told me hesaw in one the
eastern lands 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 find whether he
| has eaten the rice" And he was slain. All,
the cruelty Of scene like that Our Gods
not sultan, not despot, but father
kind, loving, forgiving--and He makes all
heaven ring again when a prodigal CONS
| back. II have no pleasure" He says, "a
the death OF him that dieth."
liza 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. Wien 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 surglng OF an
infinite ocean of gladness, and to express
that giadness it takes all the rivers of plsas-
ure, and all the thrones Of pomp, and all the
ages OF eternity. 1t is Joy deeper than all
depth, and higher than all height, and
wider than all width, and vaster than all i'm
mensity 1t overtops, it uaderglrds, it 0 Ut
weighs all the united splendor and JOY OF this
universe. Who can tell what Gods Joy is?
You remember reading the story OF king
who on some great day OF festivlty scat
tered silver and gold among the people, who
sent valuable presents to his courtiers, but
methinks when soul comes back God is
so glad that to express His Joy He filings out
new worlds into space, kndles up new suns
and rolls among the white ro5ed anthems OF
| the redeemed greater halleluiab, while
with voice that reverberates among tho
| mountains Of frankincense and Is echo9d
back from the everlasting gates He cries.
"This, my son, was dead and is alive again J.
At the opening Of the exposition in New
| Orleans 1 saw Mexican futist, 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 father went three times a
day to the depot. His son went off in aG-
| grayating circumstances, but the father said,
"Ho iii! come back" The strain WAS too
much, and his mind parted, and three times
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-
parture OF train. At noon he was there
again, watching the advance OF the train,
watching the departure
At night there again, watching the COM
ing, watching ME going, for ten years. He
was sure his son would come back. Col has
been watching and waiting for some OF you,
my brothers, ten years, twenty years, thirty
years, forty years, perhaps fifty years, wait
ing, waiting, watching. watching, and IL
this morning the prodigal should come
home, what scene of gladness and festivity
and how the great Fathers heart would
rejoice at your coming home! You will
come, some OF you, will you not2 You will,
| you will
Inotice also that when prodigal comes
home there is the Joy OF the ministers of re-
ligion. Oh, it is a grand thing to preach
this gospel! know there has been great
deal said about the trials and the hardsnips
of the Christian ministry. Iwish somebody
would write a good. rousing book about the
joys OF the Christian ministry. Since L en-
tered the profession l have seen more OF the
goodness of God than l will be able to cee-
brate in all eternity. 1 know some boast
about their equilibrium, and they do not
rise into enthusiasm, and they do net break
down with emotion, but l confess 10 you
plainly that when see man coming to
God and giving up his sin feel in bo1y,
mind and soul a transport When l see q
man who is bound hand and foot in evil
habit emancipated, I rejoice over it as
though it were my own emancipation. When.
in our Communion service, such throngs OF
young and old stood up at the affairs and in
the presence of heaven and earth and he'll
attested their allegiance to Jesus Christ, L
felt Joy something akin TO that whicl the
apostle describes wnen he says "Whether
in the body cannot tell or out OF the body
l cannot tell God knoWeth."
ntntc ri,,hE 10 oi1io
whe3 prouIgal comes homer They pew
the trumpet and ought they not to be gal
o. the gathering of the hosi2 They pointed
10 the full supply, and ought they not to re-
ioce when souls pant as the hart for the
water brooks? They came forth saying
'All things are now ready" Ought they
not rejoice when the pro iigal sits down at
the banquet?
Life insurance men will all tell you that
ministers OF religion as class live Longer
than any other 1t is confirmed by the
statistics of all those who calculate upon
human longevity. Why is it2 There
is more draft upon the nervous system
than in any other profession, and
their toll is most exhaustng. l have
seen ministers kept on miserable stI-
ponds 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 nutritious food to keep any fire
in their temperament. No fuel, no fire. /
have sometimes seen the inside Of the life OF
many Of the American clergymen-never ac-
cepting their hospitality because they can
not afford it-5ut I have seen them siruggis
on with salaries of $500 and $500 year, the
average less than that, their struggle we'll
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