Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-03-08


tell what Gods JOY is? You remember
reading the story Of king who on
some great day of festivity scattered sill
sent valuable presents to his courtiers,
but methinls, when a soul comes 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
the white robed anthems OF the redeem
ed greater hallelulah, while with q
voice that Invertebrates among the noun
tains of frankincense and is echoed back
from the everlasting gates he cries,
"This, my son, was dead, and he is
alive again!''
He Will Come Eack.
At the opening of the exposition in
New Orleans I saw a Mexican hutist,
and he played the solo, and then after
ward 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 orchestras was
greater than all the combined joy of the
universe when compared with the re-
sounding heart of Almighty God. For
ten years father went three times
aggravating circumstances, but the IA
Their said, ssHe will come back. The
strain was too much and his mind part
ed, and three times a day the father
went. In the early morning he watched
the train, it's arrival, the stepping out
of the passengers and then the depar-
ture 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 waiting for some
of you. my brothers, 10 years, 90 years,
80 years, 40 years, perhaps 90 years.
waiting, waiting, watching, watching,
md if now the prodigal should come
home, what scene of gladness and fes-
tivity, and how the great Fathers heart
would rejoice at your coming home.
You will come, some of you, will you
not? You will, you will.
I notice also that when a prodigal
comes home there is the joy Of the min
listers of religion Oh, it is a grand
thing to preach this gospel I know
there has been a great deal said about
the trials and the hardships of the Chris
tian ministry. I wish somebody would
write good rousing book about the
joys of the Christian ministry. Since
entered the profession have seen more
of the goodness of God than I will be
able to celebrate 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 I 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 bound
hand and foot in evil habit emanicipat-
ed, rejoice over it as though it were
my own emancipation.
Why Clergymen Are Long Lived.
When in one communion service, such
throngs of young and old stood up 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 knoweth. Oh, have not ministers
a right to rejoice when prodigal comes
home? They blew the trumpet, and
ought they not be glad Of the gathering
of the host? They pointed to the full
supply, and ought they not to rejoice
when thirsty souls plunge as the hart
for the water brooks7 They came forth,
saying, "All things are now ready
ought they not to rejoice when the prod
igal sits down at the banquet? Life i'll
surance men will all tell you that min
listers of religion, as a class, live longer
%I1o,, III, Sc Io1 CT, %,~%s <>G
all those who calculate upon human
longevity that ministers of religion, as a
class, live longer than any other. Why
is it? There is more draft upon the
nervous system than in any other pro-
fession, and their toll is most exhaust
ing. have seen ministers kept on mis-
cradle stipends by parsimonious congre-
cations who wondered at the dizziness of
the sermon when the men of God were
perplexed almost to death by questions
of livelihood and had not enough nutri-
tious food to keep any fire in their tenn
permanent No fuel, no fire. have some
times seen the inside of the life of many
of the American clergymen, never ac-
cepting their hospitality because they
cannot afford it, but have seen them
struggle on with salaries of $500 or 5000
a year-the average less than that
their struggle well depicted by the west
ern missionary who says in letter:
Thank you for the last remittance. I'm
til 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 |
annoyance and exasperations innumer-
able, some of them week after week en-