The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1907-06-06
MY EXPERIENCE
As a Minister of the Gospel.
BY REV D. A. FRIEND.

The only apology that shall offer for
speaking in this paper so definitely of
my own experience, is that the subject
as assigned to me by my brethren re-
stricts me to that line of thought.
All properly taught persons believe in
Divine call the the sacred office of the
Minister of the Gospel; or, that God
calls His own ministers to represent
Christ and His Divinity among men,
and the sacred Word informs US Qst
Cor. l:26) that not many wise men after
the flesh, mot many mighty, not many
noble are called but God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to con-
found the wise, and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty" And
while this seems to be his general plan
yet am fully persuaded that the office
of the Minister of the Gospel of Christ
is the highest and the hottest, and when
filled in the spirit of its Divine author
is the most honorable Office ever con-
ferred upon mortal man.
Into this holy office it has pleased God
to call this man, and as one of the Di-
vinelv called l desire never to forget
the block from which l have been hewn
and the ''hole of the pit from which |
have been digged."
For ten years hesitated and shrank
from taking upon myself the awful re-
sponsibilities of this sacred office: and
yet, all this time, strange to say, | was
diligent student of theology and of the
Word of God, and t, ying to excuse my
self from the ministry by being faithful
along many other lines of Christian
work. During this period there was
always something that bore heavily
upon my heart; something that seemed
to say you are not doing your full
duty" until at length my soul was in
distress. 1t was not that l was guilty
OF any known sin, for | was earnestly
endeavoring to live pure and holy life,
and | spent much time in prayer and
communion with God But to no man
did utter word concerning these
things. 1t was a matter alone between
God and myself. Nor did l unburden
my heart to my wife for knew her soul
was averse to such things. But the
time came when | must tell her or NV
heart would break 1t was at the noon
meal as we were seated at the table
after blessing had been asked, that |
unbosomed my heart to her. She wept
bitterly as she made the expression: ut
is just what have been expecting all
these years, and have always thought
that the most detestable thing was to
be dragged about over the country as a
Methodist minister's wife" 1t was a
moment of most painful character
and it seemed as though every founda-
ton was giving away beneath me- Our
faces were both bathed in tears, and,
although the dinner was real nice,
neither of us tasted of it. | asked her
to take the matter with me to the Lord,
which she promised to do and knew
that she would for she was a good
woman. For two full weeks nothing
was said by either of US concerning the
matter, but l could see that a deep
struggle was going on in her heart.
But she finally gained the victory and
laughingly said shewould go with me to
the ends of the earth, if | knew that
God called me to preach the Gospel |
said "Glory!'' for knew that God had
triumphed in her heart as we'll as mine.
From this time forth arrangements
were being made for entering the regu-
lar ministry. Wife was always true
to her promise of that hour, and side by
side with me she has fought the battle
for twenty-five long years.
Life with US has not all been sunshine.
Dark hours and heart pangs have been
our experience at times but if ever
discouragements or privations pressed
our souls the outside world was none
the wiser; for we have one dear friend
in whom we have always confded and
to whom we have always gone when our
hearts were pressed with heavy bur-
dens, and never has he rejected our
claim and never for single moment
has he left or forsaken us.
We have been fed on "cold shoulder
sometimes by those who ought to have
been our best friends, but our policy has
been to never let on, but to treat our
enemies as though we expected them
some day to be among our warmest
friends. We have a. times been cast
into the lions den, but the angel of the
Lord never failed to be with us and has
always shut the lions mouths that they
have not hurt US. For few times we
have had our Fiery furnace" expert
ences but One like unto the Son of God
always walked with us in the midst of
the fire and we have been brought forth
without the smell of fire upon our gar
ments. 1t is cunning device of the
devil to prompt his servants to always