The progress., 1890-06-21

y
would Start, if it were not for this sin, ant
that habit, and this dis ldvAntage. But
am to tel you of the Fathers eyesight
1 ale saw him great way of" He ha
seen all your frailti 5, all your struggles
all your disadvantages. He h IS been long
ing for your coming. He has not beer
looking at you VITA a critics eye o. q
balliffs eye, but with u Fathers eye; and
if parent ever pited child, God pities
=. you. You say: "Oa h I'd so many evil
| surroundings when | startel life.h Your
Father sees it. You say: II have so many
bad surroundings nov. aud it is very dit Ill
cult for me to bre TX away from evil asso-
Citations" Your Father sees it, and il
you should start heavenwL~d-as [ pray
YOU may-your Father would not sit idly
down and allow YOU t. struggle on up to
Him. Oh, no! Seeing you u great wy
off He would fly to the rescue. How long
does it Ike father to leap into the mil
die Of the highway if his child be there,
and swift vehic.e is coming and may de-
storJ him! Five hundred times longer
than it takes our heavenly Father to
spring to the delivtrance of a lost child.
"When he was great way off his Father
saw bim''
And this brings me to notice the father s
haste. The Bible says he ran. No won
/
man would change his mind and go back
He did not know but that lie would drop
down from cxhau, u,ton He did not know
ut that something fatal might overtske
him before he got up to the doorsiil: and
so the father ran. The Bible, for the most
part. speaks of God as walking I'm the
fourth watch Of tHe night, it says, "Je,us
came unto them walking on the sea." ''He
Walketh upon the wings of t ie wind" Our
! hrst parents heard the voice of the Lori,
walking i'll the garden 10 the cool of the
| day: but when sinner starts for God,
| the father runs to meet him Oh! if
man ever wants help, it is when he tries to
become a Christian. The world says to
him: "Back with you. Have more spirit
Don't be hamper.d with re iyion. Time
enough yet. Wait until you get sick. Wait
until you get DID," Satan says: Back
with you, you are so bad that God will
have moth ng to do with you; or "You are
good enough, and need no Redeem,r. Take
thine ease, eat drink, and be merry"
len thousand voices say; Back with
you Goi is hard master The
church is a collection of hypocrites. Back
into your sins; back to your evil indul-
eences; back to your prayerles, pillow.
The silliest thing that young man ever
does is TO come home after he has been
wandering" Oh, how much hel D man does
want when he tries to become christian!
In Iced, the prodical cannot find his way
home TO his fathers house alone Unless
some one comes TO meet him he had better |
have stayed by the swine -troughs
| remark upon the fathers kiss "He |
fell on his necI," my text says, "and |
kissed him." 1t is not every father that |
would have done that way Some would |
have scolded him. and said Here, you !
went of with beautiful clothes, but now
you are all in tatters. You went off |
healthy, and come back sick and wasted |
with your dissipations." 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 him.
He just kssei him. His wretchedness
was a Recommendation to that fathers
love. On, that fathers kiss! How shall
describe the love of God2-the ardor with
which He receives a sinner back again!
Give me plummet with which l may
fathom the sea. Give me a ladder with
which l can scale this hei, ,ht. Give me
words with which l can describe this love-
The apostle says in one place, 'unsearch-
abIe;" in another, past finding out"
Height overtopping all height; depth
plunging beneath all depth; breadth c)m-
Oh, this love! Goa so loved the world
He loves you Don't you believe it. Has
He not done everything to make you think
so! He has given you life, health, friends,
home-the use OF your hand, the sight of
your eye, the hearing of your ear. lie has
stewn your path with mercies He has
fed you, clothed you, sheltered you. defend
ed you. loved you, importuued you all your
life long. Don't you believe He loves you.
Why, if now you should start up from the
wilderness of your sin, He wouli throw
both arms around YOU To make you be-
lieve that he loves you, He stopped to
manger, and cross and sepulchre. With
all the passions of His holy nature reused,
He stands before you to-day and would
coax YOU to happiness, and heaven. Oh
this Fathers kiss There is so much
and love- and compassion in it;
so much pardon in it; so much heaven in
it. l proclaim him the Lord God,
gracious, ami long suffer
ing, abundant in goodness AMI
truth. Lest you would not be-
ieve Him, He goes up Golgotha,
AMI while tho rocks are rending, and the !
graves are opening, and the mobs are
loWllng, and the sun IS hiding, He dies for |
you. SEQ Lin! See Him on the Mount of
Crucitix on, the sweat on His brow tinged
temples! See His eyes swmm ng in death!
Hear the loud breathing of the Sufferer as .
He pants with world on His heart Hark
% the fall of the b.ooi from brow. and {
land, and foot, on the rocks beneath-dropl I
irop! drop! Look at the nails How wide !
he wounds are! Wider do they gatNe as ,
His body comes down upon them. Oh,
his, crucihxion agony! Tears melting into !
ears. Blood flowing into blood Darkness = !
lropping on darkness. Hands of men
oined with hands of devils to tear apart c
he quivering heart of the Son of God! e
Oh! Viii he never speak again! Will g
hat crimson face never light up apaina 7
lie will speak again; while the blood is !
His brow an. reddening His Y
heck and gathering on nostril and lin and i
ou think he is exhausted and cannot r
peak, He cries out until all the ages hear t
Tim: Father, forgive them, they know
ot what they do" Is there no emphasi.
n such thing AZ that to al-a d..