Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-02-10
aess. Come home, come holnel
TIE RETURNED PRoDIGAL Is NEVER
COLDLY GREETED.

4rss. ZONE home, come hoInel
TIE RETURNED PRoDIGAL - NEVER
CoLDLY GREETED.
H. But notice that when the prodi-
gal came there was the fathers Joy.
he did not greet him with any formal
'How do you dor 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"
Ahl no. When the proprietor Of that
estate proclaimed festival, it was an
outburst of a fathers love and a
fathers JOY. God is your Father. I
have not much sympathy with that
description of God ! sometimes hear,
as though he were Turkish sultan,
hard and unsympathetic, 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
slay the man, and by post -mortem ex-
animation 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 a car, not q
despot, but a Father-knt, loving.
forgiving, and he makes al HEAVIER
ring again when a prodigl comes
back. Il have no pleasure, he says,
in the death Of him that died."
IL a man does not get TO heaven it is
because he will not 60 there. No diff
ference the color, no differnce the
history, no difference the autecedents,
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 ex-
press that gladness it takes all the
rivers of pleasure, and all the thrones
of pomp, and all the ages of eternity.
1t is a Joy deeper than all depth, and
higher than all height, and wider
than all width, and vaster than all
immensity. II overtops, il under
girds, il outweighs an the united
splendor and JOY Of the universe.
Who can tell what Gods joy isl
You remember reading the story Of
king, who on some great day of
festivity scattered silver and gold
among the people, and sent valuable
presents 70 his courtiers; but methinks
when soul comes back, God is 50
glad that TO express his joy he filings
out new worlds into space, and kindles
up new suns, and rolls among the
white robed anthems of the redeemed
a greater hallelujah, while with q
voice that invertebrates among the
mountains Of frankincense and is
echoed back from the everlasting
gates, he cries: This, my son, was
dead, aid he is alive again"
AT the opening Of the exposition in
New Orleans saw a Mexican flutist,
and be played the solo, and then after
ward the 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 20 the depot His son
went off in aggravating circum-
stances, but the father 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 ar
rival, the stepping out Of the passen-
gers and then the departure Of the
train. At noon he was there again
watching the advance of the train.
watching the departure. At night
there again; watching the coming.
watching the going for ten years. He
was sure his son would come back.
God has been watching and waiting
for some Of you, my brothers, ten
years, twenty years, thirty years,
forty years perhaps fifty years-wait-
| ing. waiting, watching, watching; and
IL this morning the prodigal should
come home what scene of gladness
and festivity, and how the great
Fathers heart would rejoice at your
coming home. You will come, some
of you, viii you mott You win, you
wilt
MINISTER'S or RIGHT REJOICE WHEN
THE PRoDi0AL COMES HOME
Ill / notice also that when a prodi-
gal comes home there is the JOY Of the
ministersof religion. Oh, il is q grand
thing to preach this gospel know
there has been great deal said about
the trials and the hardships OF the
Christian ministry. wish somebody
would write q good, rousing book
about the joys OF the Christian minis
try. Since entered the profession
have seen more Of the goodness Of
God than / will be able 10 celebrate In
all eternity know some boast aboul
their equilibrium, and they do MOI
rise into enthusiasm, and they do mo-
break down with emotion; but l con
fess 10 you plainly that when
see a man coming 10 God and
giving up his sin ] feel n
body, mind aud soul transport
When | see man who is bound hand
aud foot In evil habit emancipatcd
! rejoice over IL as though il were m,
own emancipation When today Il
our communion services such throng'
Of young and old stand at thes,
altarl, and in tho presence OF heaven
and casfl. o..l lrfI .tf.t.t tI..s.. .fl..L