Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-06-27


not for this sin, AMI that habit, and this dis
advantage.
But I am 10 tell you OF the Fathers eye
sight He saw him q great way Off He
has seen all your frauties, all your struggles,
all your disadvantages. lie has been io'i5-
ing for your coming. H has not been look
Ing at YOU with a critics eye or bl'tltfS eye,
but with a father eye: AMI If parent ever
pitiei a child. Col pities you You say:
Oh had 50 many evil surroundings wnen
| started life" Your Father sees Ii. You
say: "Ihave 50 many bad surroundings now,
and it is very diff: cult for me u break away
from evil associations. Gour Father sees
IT. and if you should start heaven ward-aS
pray you may-your Father would not Sc
idly down ami allow you 10 struggle on up
toward Him. Oh, no. Seeing you a great
way off He would fly TO the rescue How long
docs it take a father to leap into the middle
Of the highway if his child be there and a
swift vehicle is coming and may destroy
him? Five hundred times longer than it
takes our heavenly Father to spring to the
deliverance of a lost child. when he was
a great way off his father saw him"
And this brings me 70 notice the fathers
haste. The Bible says he ran. No wonder!
He did not know but that the young man
would change his mind and 20 back. He did
not know but that he would drop down from
exhaustion. He did not know but that some
thing fatal might overtake him before he got
up to the doorsiIl; and 50 the father ran. The
Bible, for the most part, speaks of God az
walking. I'm the fourth watch Of the night"
it says, Jesus came unto them walking
the sea-" He walketh upon the wings of
the wind" Our first parents heard the voice
of the Lord, walking in the garden IN the
cool Of the day; but when sinner starts
out for God the father runs to meet him. Oh!
if a man ever wants help it is when he tries
him: Back with you. Have more spirit.
Don't be hampered win religion. Time
enough yet Wait until you get sick. Wait
until you get old" Satan says: Back with
you: you are so bad that God will have moth
ease eat, drink and be merry" Ten thou
sand voices say: Back with you. God is a
hard master. The church is a collection of
hypocrites. Back into your sins; back to
your evil indulgences; back to your prayer
less pillow. The sillest thing that young
man ever does is to come homs after he has
been wandering" Oh, how much he'll a man
does want when he tries to become Chris
tian! Indeed, the prodigal cannot find his
way home to his fathers house alone. I'm
less some one CO mes to meet him he had bet
ter have stayed by the swine trOughs.
w hen the tide comes IN you might more
easily with your broom sweep back the
surges than you could drive back the ocean
Of your unforgiven transgressions. What
are we to do? Are we to fight the battle
alone, and trudge on with no one to aid US,
and rock to- shelter us, and no word Of
encouragement to cheer US? Glory be to
God, we have in the text the announcement:
when he was yet great way off his father
ran" When the sinner starts for God, God
starts for the sinner. God does not come
out with a slow and hesitating pace. The
infinite spaces slip beneath His feet and He
takes worlds at bound. The father ran"
oh, wonderful meeting, When God and the
soul come together. 1.-The father ran"
You start for God and God starts for you,
and you meet; and while the angels rejoice
over the meeting your long injured Father
falls upon your neck with attestations OF COLI
passion and pardon. Your poor, wandering,
sinful, polluted soul and the loving, eternal
Father have met.
[ remark upon the fathers kiss. "He fell
on his neck" my text says, ''aud kissed
him" 1t is not every father that would
have done that way. Some would have
scolded him, and said: ''Here, you went off
with beautiful clothes, but now you are all
in tatters. You went off healthy, and come
back sick and wasted with your designations"
He did not say that. The son, all haggard and
ragged and filthy and wretched stood before
his father. The father charged him with
none of his wanderings. He Just received
hun. He just kissed him. His wretched-
ness was recommendation to that fathers
love- Oh, that fathers kiss. How shall l
describe the love of God?--the ardor with
which He receives sinner back again?
Give me plummet. with which l may
fathom this sea. Give me ladder with
which I can scale this height. Give me
words with which l can describe tlis love.
The apostles say in one place, 'unsearch-
able;" in another. ''past fiu1ing out"
Height overlapping all height; depth plun5
ing beneath all depth; breadth comprising
all immensely.
Oh, this love! God so loved the world, He
loves you. Don't you believe it? Has He
not done everything to make you think 50?
has cyiu @c
home--the use Of your han1, the sight Of
your eye, the hearing Of your ear. H9 has
strewn your path with mercies. Ho has fell
you, clothed you sheltered you, defended
you, loved you, importuued you all your
life long. Don't you believe He loves you?
Why, il now you should start up from the
wilderness Of your sin He would throw both
arms around you. To make you believe that
He loves you He stopped to mau ,nr and cross
and sepulchre. With oil the passions Of His
holy nature reused He stands before you to-
day, and would coax you to happiness an |
heaven. Oh this Fathers kiss There is so
much meaning and love and COMPASSION in it;
50 much pardon III 1t; SO much heaven in it.
proclaim Him the Lord God, marciful
gracious and long suffering, abundant in
goodness and truth. Lest you would not be-
lieve Him He goes up Golgotha, and while the
rocks are rendIng, and the graves are open
ing, and the mobs are bowling and the sun
Is hiding He dies for you. See Him! See
Him on the Mount Of CrucifixiOn, the sweat
on His brow tinged with the blood exuding
from His laceratsd temples See His eyes
swimming in death Hear the loud breath
ing of the sufferer rs He pants with q world
on His heart! Hark 20 the fall Of the blood
from brow and hand and foot on the rocks
beneath-drop drop! drop! Look at the
nails! How wide the wounds are, Wider do
they cape as His body comes down upon
them. Oh. this cruciixion agony! Tears
melting into tears. Blood flowing into blood