The age-herald., 1902-04-27
A Minister of cheerfuIness.

A Minister of Cheerfuness.
 My father was a gospel minister of unbounded chccrfulness. He believed that there was ss much true religion in the smile seen at the wedding of Cana Of Calico as in the sob heard in a house of mourning. He was an optimis- tic Christian whose mind was free from gloomy prcsontiments. In his youth he graspod the great truth that God Is love. Because God is love he thought that God approved Of his being strong and well and happy. He always expect cd good things to come to nim from the Divine Father, as a little child naturally expects good things to come to hun from an earthly parent. falling tear may, ere 1t drops, ledge in the wrinkles of a smile. A rainbow can climb over the dark clouds of storm. If member of the family was dangerously sick he was not dismayed, but always felt that she would get well. If financial trouble threatened the home, he never was ap- prehensve, having unwavering faith that the God who cares for the birds of the air and clothes the lily of the field would feed and clothe him and those he loved He was willing to undertake big things because he was walking hand in hand with his Heavenly Father ac- companied by the sweet-faced angel of hope. The result was that when trouble did come he was the stronger to meet and bear it. And when greater oppor- tunities of usefulness came than even he expected he was also able to grasp them and compel them to carry him upon their broad shoulders up to the towering heights of conspicuous service.
 What spirit but one buoyed by cheer fitness could ever have overcome the obstacles he conquered? He was tried by fire literally as well as fguratively. He had tc fight the clements as well as the human champions of sin. Read the history of the first Brooklyn tabernacle. The little handful of seventeen members who originally called him to Brooklyn grew to thousands. During a time of national financial panic succeeding the civil war at great expense the noble walls of the first tabernacle arose. The building was dedicated amid congratu- laiions and the well wishes of the city and State. In a few months that build ing was destroyed. The whole structure was tumbled into ruins so quickly that nothing was saved from the huge edi- fec except an immense mortgage. Home less and in debt, the outlook for the con- gregation[ was very dark. Undaunted. however, the stalwart leader called his faithful followers about him. Many were discouraged. but not this modern Nehe- mish. The second Brooklyn tabernacle built upon the ruins, was grander ana mere majestic than the first. This was the structure where the crowds became so great that it seemed as If no man who visited New York felt that he had made the best of his sojourn in the great | city until he had heard my father preach. But there seems sometimes terrible sequence in calamities. As cer- tain diseases have a penchant for de- stroxing certain families, so this fire de- mon came to find new prey in the place where he had once held high carnival. | The second Brooklyn tabernacle was de- | stroyed. The third building went the same way as did the first and second. |
 The Crosses He Bore.
 Domestic bereavement fell upon him, and people who saw only his outward cheerfulness had no conception how | deeply the iron had entered his soul. When my father was dying he contiu- ally talked about the boy who had been his pride, his eldest son, who is now sleeping by his side as he once sat at his feet. He was a noble lad brilliant | young lawyer. We carried him out one cold winter day and laid him away to rest under a soft quilt of snow My fa- ther went back to his work. He said, 'I dare not lay It down even for an