The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-02-06


and when he came to the next line there
were scores Of voices uniting;
"where saints immortal reign"
The song was caught up all through the
fields among the wounded until 1t was said
there were at least ten thousand wounded
men reunitlng their voices as they came TO
the yer e:
"There everlasting spring abides,
And witherng flowers;
Death like q narrow stream divides
That Heavenly land from ours"
o, 1t is great religion TO live by, and It is
great religion TO die by. There is only
one haartthrob between you and that re-
ligion this morning. Just look into the face
Of your pardoning God and surrender your
self for time and for eternity and He is
yours, and Heaven Is yours, and all is yours.
Some OF you, like the young man Of the
text have gone far astray. know not the
history but you know II, you know IT,
When young man went forth into life, the
legend says, his guardian angel went forth
with him. and getting him into a field the
guardian angel swept circle clear around
where the young man stood. II was 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
temptress with diamond hand stretched
forth and crossed that circle with the
hand, and the tempted soul took II, 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
baoki This'I say TO you, Is your hour OF
% walton. 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 tho coming hour, and In the
momentary 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 any thing peculiar
about that cock" She made no answer,
but soon died. There Is clock scene In
every history. II some Of you would rise
from the bed Of lethargy and come out from
yOuT ucllTlum VI STU anu lOOh Ou Tue CiOCk
Of your destiny this morning, you would
see and hear something you have not seen
or heard before, and every tick OF the min
ute, and every stroke Of the hour, and every
swing Of the pendulum would say: "Now,
now, now, noww o, come home TO your
fathers hou Q. Come home, oh, prodigal,
from tho wilderness. Come home, come
home.
H.-But notice that when the prodigal
came there was the fathers Joy. He did not
greet him with any formal How do you
dow He did not come out and say: "You
are 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 no. When the proprietor Of that es-
tate proclaimed festival, II was an outburst
OF fathers love aud a fathers Joy. God is
your father. have not much sympathy
with that description Of God ] sometimes
hear Us though he were a Turkish Sultan,
hard and unsympathetic, and listening not
10 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 alterca-
tion, and one charged the other with having
eaten bis rice, and the king said: Then
slay the man, and by post-mortem examina-
tion find whether he has eaten the rice"
And he was slain. Ali the cruelty Of
scene like that Our God Is not a sultan,
not car, not despot but father-kind.
loving. forgiving and He make, all heaven
ring again when a prodigal comes back. ~
have no pleasure" he says, ''in the death Of
him that dieth."
II man does not get TO heaven iC Is be-
cause he will not go there. No difference
the color. no difference the history, no dif-
ference the antecedents, no difference the
surroundings, no difference the sin, When |
the white horses OF Christ's victory are
brought out 10 celebrate the eternal tri- 1
umph you may ride one Of them, and as
God is greater than all, His Joy Is greater, |
and when soul comes back there Is In His |
heart the surging OF an infinite ocean Of |
Rladness, aud TO express that gladness it |
takes oil the rivers Of pleasure. and all the |
thrones OF pomp and all the ages OF eterni- |
ty. 1t is Joy deeper than all depths, and |
higher than all height and wider than all
overtops, II undergirds, II outweighs all the |
united splendor and Joy Of the universe.
Who can tell what Gods Joy Isl
You remember reading the story OF the
king who on some great day OF festivity
scattered silver and gold among the people,
and sent valuable presents 10 his courtiers;
but methlnks when 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 an
thems Of the redeemed q greater hallelujah.
while with voice that reverberates among
the mountains Of franklncense and Is
echoed back from the everlasting gates, he
cries: This, my son, was dead, and he Ii
alive again"
At the opening OF the Exposition In New
Orleans saw O Mexican futist, and he
played the solo, and then afterward tho
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
orchestra was greater than all the combined
Joy OF the universe when compared with
the resounding heart Of Almighty God.
For ten years father went three times a
day 10 the depot. His son went of In aggra-
vatlng circumstances, but the father said:
HE will come back" The strain was too
much and bis mind parted and three times
\ day the father won't In the early morn
Ing he watched the train, its arrival, the
stepping out OF the passengers, and then
he departure Of the train. At noon he went
here again watching the advance OF the
rain. watching the departure. At night,
here again watching the coming watching
he going for ten years. He was sure his
ION would come back. God has been watch
ng and waiting for some Of you, my BROTH
,rs, ten years, twenty years, thirty years,
'orty years perhaps Atty years-waiting,
watching; and II this morning the prodigai
'hould come home, what scene Of gladness