The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-08

When / see a man bound hand ana toot
in evil habit emancipated. rejoice over
il as though 1t were my own emancipa-
ton.
When in one communion service such
throngs of young and old stood up ana
in the presence of heaven and eartn ana
hell attested their allegiance to Jesus
Christ, / felt a JOY something akin to
that which the apostle describes when
he says: whether in the body / can
not tell, or out of the body l cannot
tell: God knoweth." Oh, have not min
listers a right to rejoice wnen prodi-
gal comes home? They blew the trum-
pet, and ought they not be glad of the
gathering of the host? They pointed 70
the full supply, and ought they not to
rejoice when thirsty souls plunge as the
hart for the water brooks? They came
forth saying: ''All things are now
ready''-ought they not to rejoice when
the prodigal sits down at the
banquet? Life insurance men will
all tell you that ministers
of religion. as a class live longer than any
other. II is the statistics of ali those VINO
calculate upon human longevity that min
isters of religion, as class, live longer
than any other Why is it2 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 stipends by parsimoni-
Gus 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
accepting their hospitality because they
cannot afford it, but I have seen them
struggle on with salaries of five and six
hundred dollars a year-the average less
that that-their struggle well depicted by
/ the western missionary, who says in let
ter: Thank You for the last remittance;
until IL came we had not any meat in our
house for one year. and all last winter al
though it was a severe winter our chill
dren wore their summer Clothes" And
these men of God find in different parts
of the land struggling against annoyance
and exasperations innumerable; some of
them week after week entertaining agents
who have maps or lightning -rods to sell,
and submitting themselves to all styles of
annoyance. 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 longer
than any other? 1t is because of the joy
of their work; the joy of the harvest-field.
the JOY of greeting prodigals home to their
Fathers house. Oh. we are in sympathy
with all innocent hilaritles. We can en-
JOY a hearty song and we can be merry
with the merriest; but those of us who
have toiied in the service are ready to tes-
tify that all these joys are tame compared
with the satisfaction of seeing men enter
the kingdom of God. The great eras of
every ministry are the outpourings of the
Holy Ghost, and ! thank God 1 have seen
sixteen of them. Thank God, thank God.
/ notice also when the prodgal comes
back all earnest Christians rejoice. If
you stood on Montauk Point. and there
was hurricane at sea and it was blow
| ing toward the shore, and a vessel crashed
| 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 it is 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.
! Oh, when prodigalS come home, just hear
the Christians sing. Just hear the Christ
tians pray 1t is not a stereotyped sup
| plcation we have heard over and over
| again for twenty years, but a putting of
the case in the hands of God with an inn
| Fortunate pleading. No long prayers.
Men never pray at great length unless
they have nothing 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 sim
her." Lord, that 1 may receive nay
| sight" Lord. save me- or / perish. >"
| The longest prayer. Solomon's prayer at
the dedication of the Temple, less than
| eight minutes in length according to the
| ordinary 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 a formal way, but a
hearty grasp where the muscles of the
heart seem to clinch the fingers of one
| hand around the other hand. And then
see those Christian faces, how illumi-
mated they are And see that old man get
up and with the same voice that he sang
| fifty years ago in the old country meet
| ing-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 persecu-
ton, and one day he got off his shackles,
and he came and stood by the prison
door, and when the jailer was opening
the door, with one stroke he struck down
the man who had incarcerated him.
Passing along the streets of London, he
wondered where his family was. . He
did not dare to ask, lest he excite sus-
picion but passing along a little way
from the prison, he saw a Keith tank
ard, a cup that belonged to the family
from generation to generation-he saw il
in a window. His family, hoping that
some day he would get clear, came and
lived as near as they could to the prison
house, and they set that Keith tankard
in the window, hoping he would see 1t,
and he came along ana saw 1t ana
knocked at the door and went in, and
the long separated family were all to-
gether again. oh, If you would start
for the kingdom Of God this hour / think
some of you would find nearly all your
friends and nearly all your families
around the holy tankard of the holy COM
munion-fathers, mothers, brothers. sis
ters-around that sacred tankard which
commentaries the love of Jesus Christ
our Lord. 1t will be a great commun-
ion day when your whole family sits
around the sacred tankard. One on
earth. One in heaven.
once more I remark, that when the prod
igal gets back the inhabitants of heaven
keep festal. l am very certain of IL. II
you have never seen a telegraph chart you
have no idea how many cities are con-
nected together. and how many lands.
Nearly all the neighborhoods Of the earth
seem reticulated, and news flies from city
to city, and from continent to continent.
But more rapidly go the tidings from earth
to heaven and when a prodigal returns
It is announced before the throne of God.
And II these souls now present should