The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-04-11


and in momentary absence of the nurse,
in the power, the strange power which de-
lirium 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 clock?" She
made no answer, but soon died. There is
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 some
thing 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: CHOW, now, now,
noww Oh, come home to your Fathers
house. Come home, oh, pro ligal, from
the wilderness. Come home, come home!
2. But l notice that when the prOdigal
came there was fathers joy. He did not
greet him with any formal "How do you
do?" He did not come out and say: "You
are unfit to enter; go out and wash in the
trough by the we'll, and then you can come
in; we have had enough trouble with
you" Ali no. When the proprietor of
that estate proclaimed festival, it was
an outburst of fathers love and o
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 unsympa-
thetic, and listening not to the cry of his
subjects. A man told me he saw in one
of the Eastern lands a King riding along,
and two men were in alteration, and one
charged the other with having eaten his
rice, and the King said: "Then Stay the
man. and by post-mortem examination
find whether he has eaten the rice" And
he was slain. All! the cruelty of scene
| like that. Our God is not Sultan, not a
Car, not a despot, but Father-kind,
| loving, forgiving, and He makes all Heav-
en- ring again when prodigal comes
back. 81 have no pleasure" He says, Gin
| the death of him that dieth."
If a man does not get to Heaven it is be-
cause he will not go there. No difference
the color, no difference the history, no
| difference the antecedents, no difference
! the surroundings, no difference the sin.
When the white horses of Christ's victory
are brought out to celebrate the eternal
triumph you may ride one of them, and as
God is greater than ALL 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 gladness
it takes all the rivers of pleasure, and all
the thrones of pomp, and all the ages Of
eternity. It is a joy deeper than all depth,
and higher than all height and wider
than all width, and vaster than all i'm
mensity. 1t overtops, it undergirds, it
outweighs all the united 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 silver and gold among the peo-
pie, and sent valuable presents to his
courtiers; but methinks when a soul
comes back, God is so glad that to ex-
press His joy He filings out new worlds
into space, and kindles up new
suns, and rolls among the white-robed
anthems of the redeemed greater halle
lujah, while with voice that reverber-
ates among the mountains of franklin
cense and is echoed back from the ever
lasting gates, He cries: "This, my son,
was dead and he is alive again."
At the opening of the Exposition in
New Orleans, saw a Mexican futist, and
he played the solo, and then afterward
the eight or ten bands of music, accom-
/, panied by the great organ, came in; bu1
the sound of that one flute as compared
with all the orchestra was greater than al
the combined joy of the universe wher
compared with the resounding heart Of
Almighty God.
For ten years a father went three times
day to the depot. His son went off il
aggravating circumstances, but the ia.
Their said: "He will come back" The
strain was too much, and his mind parted
and three times day the father went. In
the early morning he watched the train,
its arrival, the stepping out of the pas
sengers, and then the departure of the
train. At noon he was there again
watching the advance of the train, watch
, ing the departure. At night, there again
! watching the coming, watching the goin,
for ten years. He was sure his son woult
, come back. God has been watching ant
waiting for some of you, my brothers
/ ten years, twenty years, thirty years
forty years, perhaps fifty years-waiting
, waiting, watching, watching, and if thi
, morning the prodigal should come home
what a scene of gladness and festivity
r and how the great Fathers heart would
a rejoice at your coming home. You vii
4 come, some of you, will you not? Yol
) will, you will.
3. l notice also that when prodiga
. comes home there is the joy Of the minis
a tiers of religion. Oh, it is a grand thin
: to preach this gospel. know there ha
been great deal said about the trials an,
: hardships of the Christian ministry.
, wish somebody would write good, rous
ing book about the joys of the Christia,
a ministry. Since entered the professio,
l have seen more of the goodness of Go
: than / will be able to celebrate in al
eternity. 1 know some boast about thei
equilibrium, and they do not rise into en-
a thusiasm, and they do not break dow
with emotion; but confess to you plain
" that when l see a man coming t
9 God and giving up his sin, l feel i
S body, mind and soul a transport Whe
l see man who is bound hand an
S foot in evil habit emancipated / reioic
over it as though it were my own enamel
patton. When to-day in our communio
service such throngs of young and oil
stand at these affairs, and in the presenc
of Heaven and earth and hell attest thei
d allegiance to Jesus Christ, l feel 10
S something akin to that which the apostl
d describes when he says: "Whether i
0 the body can not tell; God knoweth.v
: Oh, have not ministers a right to reioic
d when prodigal comes home? They bio
d fha t1.TlT1171af ard 017orIA 4Io., IL.