St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-04-10

you plainly that when I zee q man
coming to God and giving up his sin
feel In body, mind and soul . transport
When / zee . man bound hand and foot
In evil habit emancipated, rejoice
over it as though it were my own
emancipation.
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 q joy something akin
to that which the apostle describes
when he says: ''Whether in the body
l can not tell; God knoweth.r Oh, have
not ministers . right to rejoice when a
prodigal comes home? They blew the
trumpet, and ought they not be glad Of
the gathering Of the host? They point
ed to the full supply. and ought to re-
joice when thirsty souls plunge as the
hart for the water brooks? They came
forth, saying: ''All the 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 class,
live longer than any other. 1t is the
statistics Of all those who calculate
upon human longevity that ministers
of religion, as class, live longer than
any other. Why is it: There is more
draft upon the nervous system than in
any other profession, and their toll is
more exhausting. have seen minis
tiers kept on miserable stipends by par
simOnious congregations 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 nutritious food to keep
any fire in their temperament. No fuel,
no fire. / have sometimes seen the in
side of the life of many Of the Ameri-
can clergymen, never accepting their
hospitality because they can not at
ford it; but have seen them struggle
on with salaries of $500 or $500 a year
the average less than that-their
struggle we'll depicted by the western
missionary, who says in letter:
''Thank you for the last remittance;
until it came we had not had any meat
in our house for one year, and all last
winter, although it was severe win
ter, our children wore their summer
clothes" And these men of God l 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 sub
hitting themselves to all styles of
annoyance, and yet without COM
plant and cheerful Of soul.
How do you account for the
fact that these life insurance men
tell us that ministers, as . 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 prod
igals home to their Fathers houses.
Oh, we are in sympathy with all limo
cent hilaritieSi Ne can enjoy q hearty
song and we can be merry with the
merriest; but those of us who have
toiled in the service are ready to tes-
tify that all these joys are tame COM
pared with the satisfaction of seeing
men enter. the kingdom of God. The
great eras of every ministry are the
of the Holy Ghost. and 1
thank God l have seen Is of them.
Thank God, thank God!
Once more l remark, that when the
prodigal gets back the inhabitants Of
Heaven keep festal. am very certain
Of it. If you have never seen a tele-
graph chart you have no idea how
many cities are connected together, and
how many lands. Nearly all the neigh
borhoods of the earth seem reticulatcd,
and news flies from city to
city, and from continent to con-
tinent. But more rapidly go the
tidings from earth to Heaven, and
when prodigal returns it is an
nounced before the throne of God.
And if these souls now present should
enter the kindom there would be some
one in the Heavenly Kingdom to say:
That's may father" That's my moth
er," That's my son." That's the one
I used to pray for" That's the one for
whom l wept SO many tears" and ono
soul would say: ''Hosanna~ and an
other soul woul say: "Hallelujah!"
Pleased with the news. the saints below
In songs their tongues employ;
Beyond the skies the tidings go.
And Heaven Is filled with joy.
Nor angels can their joy contain.
j; But kindle with new 1ires, -.
The sinner lost Is found, they Sing,
And strike the sounding Tyre.
At the banquet of Luculls sat Cicero
the Orator; at the Macedonia festival
sat Philip the Conqueror: at the Grecian
banquet sat Socrates the Philosopher;
but at our Fathers table sit all the re-
turned prodigals, more than conquer
ers. The table is SO wide, its leaves
reach across seas and lands. Its guests
are the redeemed of earth and the
glorified of Heaven. The ring of
Gods forgiveness on every hand.
The. robe of Saviour's right
eousness adroop from every shoul-
der. The wine that CLOVIS in
the cups is from the bowls of 10,
Let all the redeemed of
earth and all the glorified of Heaven
rise, and with cleaning chalices drink
to the return of thousand prodigals.
Sing, sing, sing! worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive blessing, and
riches, and honor, and glory, and power,
world without end" That scene of
iubilence comes out before me this mo-
ment as in . sort of picture gallery. All
Heaven in pictures. :,
From this hilltop I catch glimpse of