The Bossier banner., 1890-08-21
THE PRODIGAL SON.
Rev. r. Dewitt Talmage DiEcourses
on a Wen-Worn Subject.
The Love of God for His Erring but Re-
pentant Children as Great Now as
When the Parable was First
Given to illustrate 1t.

The following sermon by Rev. I. De-
Witt Talmage was delivered in the
Brooklyn Academy of Music, from the
text:
When he was yet great way off, his father
saw him. and had compassion, and ran ana
fell on his neck and kissed him.-Lnke
XIV, 20.
One of the deepest wells that inspira-
tion ever opened is this well of par
able which we can never exhaust. The
parable, 1 suppose, was founded on
facts. have described to you the go
ing away of this prodigal son from his
fathers house, and l have showed you
what hard time he had down in the
wilderness, and what a mistake it was
for him to leave so beautiful home for
suck miserable desert. But he did not
always stay in the wilderness; he came
back after awhile. We do not read
that his mother came to greet him. l
suppose she was dead. She would have
been the first to come out The father
would have given the second kiss to the
returning prodigal; the mother the first.
1t may have been for the lack of her
example and prayers that he became a
prodigaI. Sometimes the father does
not know how to manage the children
of the household. The chief work
comes upon the mother. Indeed, no
one ever gets over the calamity of los
ing a mother in early life. Still, this
young man was not ungreeted when he
came back.
However well appareled we may be
in the morning when we start out on a
journey, before night, what with the
dust and the jostling. we have lost all
cleanliness of appearance. But this
prodigal, when he started from the
swine-trough, was ragged and wretched,
and his appearance, after he had gone
through days of journeying and expos
ure, you can more easily imagine than
describe. As the people see this prodi-
gal coming on homeward they wonder
who he is. They say: 81 wonder what
prison he has broken out of. l wonder
with what plague he will smite the
air." Although these people may have
been we'll acquainted with tho family,
yet they do not imagine that this is the
very young man who went off only lit
tie while ago with quick step and rud-
dy cheek and beautiful apparel. The
young man, 1 think, walks very fast
lie looks as though he were intent upon
something very important The peo-
pie stop. They look at him. They
wonder where he came from. They
wonder where he is going to.
You have heard of son who went off
to sea and never returned. All the peo-
pie in the neighborhood thought the
son would never return, but the parents
came to no such conclusion. They
would go by the hour, and day, and sit
apon the beach, looking off upon the
water, expecting to see the sail that
would bring home the long-absent boy.
And so think this father of my text
sat under the vine looking out toward
the road on which his son had departed;
but the father has changed very much
since we saw him last. His hair has be-
como white, his cheeks are furrowed,
his heart is broken. What is all his
bountiful table to him when his son
may be lacking bread? What is all the
splendor Of the wardrobe of that home
stead when the son may not have a de /.
cent coat? What are all the sheep on
the hillside to that father when his pet
lamb is gone? Still he sits and watches,
looking out on the road, and one day he
beholds foot-traveler. He sees him
rise above the hills; first the head and
then the entire body; and as soon as he
gets a fair glance of him he knows it is
his recreant son. He forgets the crutch
and the cane, and the stiffness of the
joints, and bounds away. l think the
people all around were amazed. They
said: sit is only footpad. 1t is only
some old tramp of the road. Don't gC
out to meet him." The father knew
better.
The change in the sons appearance
could not hide the marks by which the
father knew the boy. You know that
persons of a great deal of independence
of character are apt to indicate it in
their walk. For that reason the sailor
almost always has peculiar step, not
only because he stands much on ship
board amid the rocking of the sea, and
he has to balance himself, but he has
for the most part an independent char.
dJb6F. 6ulCH NOulu SNOW IN MS gait
even if he never went on the sea; and
we know from what transpired after
ward, and from what transpired before,
that this prodigal son was of an inde
pendent and frank nature; and suppos,
that the characteristics of his mind anG
heart were the characteristics of his
walk. And so the father knew him. Fl,
puts out his withered arms toward him
he brings his wrinkled face against the
pale cheek of his son; he kisses tn,
wan lips; he thanks God that the lons
agony is over. when he was yet ;
great way off his father saw him AMI
ran and fell on his neck and kissed
him."
Oh, do you not recognize that father
Who was it? 1t is Godl 1 have NJ
sympathy with that cast-iron theolog,
which represents God as hard, severe
and vindictive. God is father-kind
loving, lenient gentle, long-suffering
patient and He flies to our immorta
rescue. Oh, that we might realize it
Al. i.