Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-06-19
THE KISS OF WELCOME.
DIR TALMAGE COMMENTS ON THE
PRohIGAL SON PARABLE.
A Wonderful sermon Drawn from the Wen
Known Text-God Greets sinners as Joy
OusIy as Did the Father His ErrIng Child.

| q ETtdl
way of. his father saw him, and had COM
passion, and ran, and fell on his neck and
kissed him. Following is the sermon:
One OF the deepest wells that inspiration
ever opened is this well of a parable which
we can never exhaust. The parable sup
pose. was founded on facts. have de-
seribed to you the going away Of this prodf-
gal son from his fathers house. and have
showed you what hard time he had down
In the wilderness, and what very great
| mistake it was for him to leave so beautiful
home for such miserable desert. But he
did not always stay in the wilderness; he
came back after while. We do not read
that his mother came to greet him. 1 sup
| pose 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 It may have
been for the lack Of her example and pray
ers that he became prodigal. 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 losing q
mother in early life. Still this young man
was not ungreeted when he came back.
| However we'll 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 ap-
pearance. But this prodigal. when he
l
and wretched, and his appearance, after he
had gone through DAYS of journeying and
exposure, you can more easily imagine
than describe. As the people see this prodi-
| gal coming on homeward they wonder who
he is. They say: I wonder what prison
| he has broken out Of. Iwonder what lazar-
| etto he has escaped from. I wonder with
what plague he will smite the air." AL
though these people may have been well ac-
quainted with the family. yet they do not
| imagine that this is the very young man
who went of only little while ago with
quick step. and ruddy cheek, and beautiful
apparel The young man, I think, walks
very fast. He looks as though he were in
tent upon something very important. The
people stop. They look at him. They won
der 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 people in
the neighborhood thought the son would
not return, but the parents came to no such
conclusion. They would go by the hour,
and day, and sit upon 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 become white,
his cheeks are furrowed. his heart is
broken. What is all his bountiful table to
him when his son may be lacking breadP
What is all the splendor of the wardrobe of
that homestead when the son may not have
decent coat? What are all the sheep on
that 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 a
foot traveller, He sees him rise above the
hill; first the head and after while the en-
tire body; and as soon as he gets a fair
glance at him he knows it is his recreant
son. He forgets the cruteh, and the cane,
and the stiffness Of the joints, and bounds
away. think the people all around were
amazed, They said: 1T is only foot-pad.
1t is only some old tramp of the road. Don't
go out to meet him." The father knew bet
ter.
The change in the sons appearance could
not hide the marks by which the father knew
the boy. You know that persons of great
deal of independence of character are ant
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 character, which
would show in his gait even If he never
went on the sea; and we know from what
transpired before that this prodigal son was
OF an independent and frank nature, and
suppose that the characteristics of his mind
and heart We're the characteristics of his
walk. And SO the father knew him. He
puts out his withered arms toward
him; he brings his wrinkled face against
the pale cheek of his son; he kisses the wan
lips; he thanks God that the long agony is
over. When he was yet great way off,
his father saw him, and had compassion,
and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed
him."
Nh do Won po+ raoorni1o +hot ro4LS
Who was it? 1t was Godl I have no sym
pathy with that cast-iron theology which
represents God as hard, severe and vindic-
tive. God is Father-kind, loving, lem
lent. gentle, long suffering. patient, and he
flies to our immortal rescue. Oh, that we
might realize it'll A wealthy lady in one Of
the eastern countries was going off for some
time, and she asked her daughters for some
memento to carry with her. One Of the
daughters brought a marble tablet, beauti-
fully Inscribed; and another daughter
brought beautiful wreath of flowers. The
third daughter said: Mother, | brought
neither flowers nor tablet. but here is nv
heart. l have inscribed it all over with
your name. and wherever you go it will go
with you. The mother recognized it as
the best of all mementoes. Oh that our
souls might go cut toward our Father-that
our hearts might be written all over with
the evidences of His loving kindness, and
that we might never again forsake Him.
In the first place notice in this text the |
fathers eyesight; in the second place. |
notice the fathers haste; and, in the third !
place notice the fathers kiss.
To begin: the fathers eyesight. when
he was great way off his father saw him"
You have noticed how old people sometimes
put book off on the other side Of the light. |
They can see at q distance a great deal |
easier than they can close by. do not
know whether his father could see well that |
which was near by. but do know he could |
see q great way off. His father saw him."
Perhaps he had been looking for the return |
OF that boy, especially that day. i do not |
know but that he had been in PRAYER and |
that God had told him that that day the rec
reant boy would come home. THE father |
saw him great way off,"
wonder If Gods eyesight can descry us |
when we are coming back to him? The text |
pictures our condition-we are q great way |
OIL. That young man was not farther off |
from his father, house, sin is not farther off |
from holiness, hell is not farther off from |
heaven, than we have been by our sins |
away from our God; aye, so far off that we /
could not hear His voice though vehemently |
He has called US year after year. I do not I
know what bad habits you may have formed |
or in what evil places YOU have been, or |
what false notions you may have enter
tanned; but you are ready to acknowledge,
II your heart has not changed by the grace
OF God, that you are a great way off-aye, /
so Tar that you cannot get back yourselves. |
You would like to come back. Aye, this
you would start If it were not for
this sin. and that habit. and this disadvan-
tage.
But am to tell you Of the fathers eve
sight He saw him great way Off" He
has seen all your frailties, all your struggles
aH your disadvantages. He has been long, K
Ing for your coming. He has not been look