Milford chronicle., 1889-02-08

Henry II consuming with hatred against
poor Thomas a Becket-all illustrations Of
the fact that this world cannot make a
man happy. The very man who poisoned
the pommel of the saddle on which Queen
Elizabeth rode shouted in the street,
"God save the queenln One moment the
world applauds and the next moment the
world mathematics Oh, come over into
this greater JOY, this sublime solace, this mag
nihcent beatitude The night after the battle
of Shiloh, and there were thousands Of
wounded on the field, and the ambulances had
not come, one Christian soldier lying there
a=dying under the starlight began to sing:
There Is a land Of pure delight,
and when he came to thenext line there were
scores of voices uniting;
Where saints immortal reign.
Thesong was caught up all through the fields
among the wounded, until it was said there
were at least ten thousand wounded men re-
uniting their voices as they came to the verse;
There everlasting spring abides,
And never withering fiowers
| Death like a narrow stream divides
That heavenly land from ours
Oh, 1t is a great religion to live by and it is a
! great religion to die by. There is only one
heart throb between you and that religion
this morning. Just look into the face of your
/ pardoning God and surrender yourself for
time and for eternity, and be is yours, and
heaven is yours and all is yonrs Some Of
you, like the young man of tho text have
gone far astray. know not the history, but
man went forth into life, the leg
end says, bis guardian angel went
forth with him, and getting him into Q field
the guardian angel swept a circle clear around
where the young man stood. 1t was a circle
of virtue and honor, and he must not step
beyond that circle Armed foes came down,
but were obliged to halt at the circle-they
could not pass. But one day a temptress
with diamonded hand stretched forth and
crossed that circle with the hand, and the
tempted soul took it, and by that one fell
grip was brought beyond the circle and died
Some of you have stepped beyond that circle. |
Would you not like this day, by the grace Of
God to step backl This, l say to you, is
your hour Of salvation. There was in the
closing hours of Queen Anne what is called
the clock scene. Flat down on the pillow, in
helpless sickness, she could not move her head /
or move her hand. She was waiting for
the hour when the ministers of state should
gather in angry contest, and, worried and /
worn out by the coming hour, and in mo
mentary absence Of the nurse In the power,
the strange power which delirium sometimes
gives one, she arose and stood in front Of the |
clock, and stood there watching the clock |
when the nurse returned. The nurse said
"Do you see anything peculiar about that
clockg" She made no answer, but soon
died. There is a clock scene in every history.
If some Of you would rise from the bed Of
lethargy and come out from your delirium Of
sin and look on the clock of your destiny this
morning, you would see and hear something
you have not seen or heard before and every
tick Of the minute, and every stroke of the
hour. and every swing Of the pendulum would
say, 'Now, now, now, now!" Oh, come
home to your fathers house. Come home,
oh prodigal, from the wilderness. Come
home come home!
THE RETURNED PRoDIGAL Is NEVER CoLDLY
GREETED.
IL But I notice that when the prodigal
came there was the fathers joy. He did not
greet him with any formal "How do you dos"
He did not come out and say; "You arc unfit
to enter; go out and wash in the trough by
the well, and then you can come in; we have
had enough trouble with YOU" All, moi
When the proprietor of that estate pro-
claimed festival, it was an outburst of fa-
theirs love and fathers joy. God is your
Father. have not much sympathy with
that description Of God l sometimes hear, as
though he were Turkish sultan, hard and
and listening not to the cry
Of his subjects. A man told me he saw In
one Of the eastern lands king riding along,
and two men were in alteration, and one
charged the other with having eaten his rice;
and the king said:
"Then slay the man, and by post-mortem
examination find whether he has eaten the
rice" And he was slain. Ah the cruelty
Of scene like that. Our God is not sultan,
not car, not despot, but a Father-kind, !
loving, forgiving, and he makes all heaven
ring again when a prodigal comes back. Il
have no pleasure" he says, ''in the death of
him that dieth."
If man does not get to heaven it is be-
cause he will not 60 there No difference
the color, no difference the history, no differ
snce the antecedents, no difference the sur
no difference the sin. When the
white horses Of Christs victory are brought !
out to celebrate the eternal triumph you may
'ide one Of them, and as God is greater than |.
III, his joy is greater, and when a soul comes
back there is in his heart the surging of an
infinite ocean Of gladness, and to express that
yladness it takes all the rivers Of pleasure,
md all the thrones of ponlp, and all the ages
# eternity. It is joy deeper than all depth,
md higher than all height, and wider than |.
III width, and vaster than all immensity. It ..
'vertops, it undergirds, it outweighs all the :
lnited splendor and joy of the universe
Who can tell what Gods joy is?
You remember reading the story Of a king
Who on some great day of festivity scattered
liver and gold among the people and sent
Taluable presents to hia courtiers; but, me
kinks, when a soul comes back, God is so
Had that to express his 10y he fings out new
Torlds into space, and kindles up now suns,
nd rolls among the white robed anthems Of
he redeemed a greater hallelujah, while with J
voice that reverberates among the noun
aims Of frankincense and is echoed back
rom the everlasting gates, be cries: "This,
~ son, was dead, and be is alive again.
At the opening Of the exposition in New
lrieans l saw Mexican futist, and be
layed the solo, and then afterward the :
ight or ten bands of music, accompanied
y the great organ, came in; but the sound
that one Aute as compared with all the !
rchestra was greater than all the combined
'y of the universe when compared with the
heart Of Almighty God,
For ten years father went three times :
ay to the depot. His son went of in ag- =
ravating circumstances, but the father said: :
He win come back The strain was too =
luch, and his mind parted and three times =
day the father went In the carly morn 4
ig he watched the train, its arrival, the !. 1
epuine out Of the passengers. and then the =