The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-03-12

says, his guardian angel went forth with
guardian angel swept a circle cieai
around where the young man stood: II
was a circle Of virtue and honor: and he
at the circle. They could not pass. Blu
one day a temptress. with diamonded
n nanS; Safh fse f fo5sh and and crossed sre ssm 1ss5
soul took 1t, and by that one fell grip was
brought beyond the circle and died Some
Would you not like this day, by the grace
OF God to step back? This, ! say 20 you.
is your hour OF salvation There was In
called the clock scene. Flat down on the
pillow in helpless sickness. she could not
move her head or move her nand. She
was waiting for the hour when the minis
tiers of state should gather in angry con-
test and. worried and WORKOUT by the
coming hour and in momentary absence
Of the nurse. in the oower-the strange
power which deliriu-. sometimes gives
one-she arose and ST. Cd in front OF the
CLOCK Wien ahe the nurse returned. The
nurse said. DO you see see anytain n g pec sxar
but soon died. There is a clock scene In
from the bed Of lethargy and come out
| from your deiirium of sin and look on the
| clock Of your destiny this moment, o
would see ard hear something you nave
not seen or heard before, and every tick
H St nhe an nhIn eVery aa Swing egee of t sheoT pen d.
would say, Now. now: now. now!' Oh,
come home to your Fathers house! Come
Come home. come home!
But 7 notice that when the prodigal
came there was the fther's joy: He did
you do?" He did not come out and say:
You are unfit to enter. Go and wash In
the trough Ny BY the well H.. and snt then you ro, San
with you" All, no! When the proprie-
tor Of that estate proclaimed festival: it
was an outburst of a fathers love and a
fathers low. God Is YOUR father. have
not much sympathy with the description
of God | sometimes hear, as though he
pathetic and listening not to the cry of
his subjects. A man told me he saw in
one OF the eastern lands a king ridins
and one charged the other with having
eaten his rice, and the king said. "Then
animation find whether he a eaten the
rice" And \ he t;sa was slain b.. Al no the = cruelty rue,
loving. forgiving, and he makes all heaven
ring again when a prodigal comes back;
death de- have Of No 6im p%le tnat diet he sa Xii may man tb Be
saved. If a man does not get to heaven.
it is because he will not go there. No
tory, no difference the antecedents, no
difference the sin. When the white horses
ride one of them, and, as God is greater
than all. his joy is greater. and when a
Soul comes DdCk tncTc Is III Ills ucdII liz
surging of an infinite ocean of gladness.
and to express that gladness it takes all
the rivers of pleasure, all the thrones of
a joy deeper than all depth, and higher
than all height, and wider than all width,
sna va it nnd 5eaa sli It ontweighs It ali 1y the
united splendor and joy of the universe,
and who can tell what Gods joy is? You
who on some great day of festivity scat
tered silver and gold among the people,
who sent valuable. presents to his COURT
back, God is so glad that to express his
joy he filings out new worlds into space
and kindles up new suns and rolls among
a greater halleluiah, while with a voice
that reverberates among the mountains
the everlasting gates he cries. This my
son was dead, and he is alive again. IL.
THE HOME COMING.
At the opening Of the exposition in New
played the solo, and then afterward the
eight or ten bands of music, accompanied
| sound of that one flute, as compared with
all the orchestras, was greater than all
the combined joy of the universe when
Almighty God. For ten years a father
went three times a day to the depot. His
son went off in a~ggravating circum,
stances, but the father said, H will
come back" The strain was too much,
and his mind parted, and three times a
DAY the 1dCnoT went. III III early IlOd IL
ing he watched the train, its arrival, the
! stepping out of the passengers and then
the departure of the train. At noon he
was there again watching the advance of
the train, watching the departure. At
night he was there again watching the
coming, watching the going, for ten
years. He was sure his son would come
back. God has been watching and wait
ing for some of you, my brothers,, III
years 6 20 years Tsit 80 years wai 10 ! years; PERHAPS perhaps
watching. and if now the prodigal should
come home what a scene of gladness and
heart would rejoice at your coming
home! You will come, some of you, will
you nn mot? a Hop tT Mi4, w yog w " pmrcodigal comes
home there is the joy of the ministers of
religion. oh. it is a grand thing to preach
great s deal said about the trials and the
hardships of the Christian ministry. I
wish somebody would write "a good,
rOusing book about the joys of the Chris
tan ministry. Since I entered the pro-
fession I have seen more of the goodness
Of God than I will be able to h celebrate abo1 IN
their equilibrium, and they do not rise
into enthusiasm, and they do not break
plainly that when I see a man coming to
God and giving up his sin I feel in body,
mind and soul a transport; When see
a man bound hand and foot in evil habit
emancipated, I rejoice over 1T as Though
it were my own emancipation.
JOY OF SAVING SOULS.
When In one communion service sucn
throngs of young and old stood up and
in the presence of heaven and earth and
hell attested their allegiance to Jesus
Christ, I felt a joy something akin to that
which the apostle describes when he avs
Whether in the body 1 cannot tell, OF
out of the body I cannot tell; God know
eth Oh, have not ministers a right te
rejoice when a prodigal comes home
They blew the trumpet. and ought the!
not be glad of the gathering of the host
They pointed to the full supply, and ought
they not rejoice when thirsty souls plunge
as the hart for the water brooks? They
came forth, saying. "All things are nov
ready" Ought they not to rejoice wher
the prodigal sits down at the banquet
Life insurance men will all tell you tina
ministers Of religion as a class live 1onge
than any other. 1t is the statistics of al
those who calculate upon human longevi
ty that ministers of religion as a clas'
!, live longer than any other. Why 1T 1t
: There is more draft upon the nervous sys
: tenn than in any other profession, am
) their toll is most exhausting. I hav'
seen ministers kept IN miserable stipend
r by parsimonious congregations who wond
Grad OF tho drl1pocS of tho sermon whpl