The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-07-02

you; you arc 80 Dad that God will have notn-
ing to do with .you;" Or, "You are good
enough and need no Redeemer. Take thine
ease, eat, drink and be merry" Ten thou
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 silliest thing that young
man ever does is to come home after he has
been wandering" Uh, how much help q mau
does want when he tries to become q Chris
tian! Indeed, the prodigal cannot find his
way home to his fathers house alone. Un-
less some one comes to meet him he had bet
ter have stayed by the swine troughs.
When the lido comes in you might more
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 ons to aid us,
and no rock to shelter U.s. 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 of his father
ran" When the sinner starts for God, God
starts for the sinner. God does not come
infinite spaces slip beneath His feet and He
takes worlds at bound. "Ths father rau."
Oh, wonderful meeting, when Gol and the
soul como together. "Ths father ran"
You start for Col AMI God starts for you,
and YOU meet; and while the angels rejoica
over the meeting your long injured Father
falls upon your neck with attestations OF COM
passion and pardon. Your poor, wandering,
Sinful, poliutad soul and the loving, eternal
Father have met.
I remark upon the fathers kiss. Gle fell
on his neck" my text says, land kissed
him." 1t is not every father that would
have done that way. Some woull have
scolded him, and said: "Here, you went of
with beautiful clothes, but now you arc all
in tatters You went off healthy, and coma
back sick and wasted WITH your designations"
He did not say that The son, all haggard AMI
ragged and filthy and wretched, stood before
his father. The father charged him with
none Of his wanderin1gs; He just recsived
ness was a Recommendation to that fathers
love. On, that fathers kiss! How shall I
describe the love of God?-the ardor with
which He receives sinner back again?
Give ma a plummet, with which I may
fathon this ssa. Give ma ladder with
which 7 can scale this height. Give mo
words with which can describe this lovs.
The apostles say in one place, "unseareh-
able;;" in another. ''pas5 finding out"
Height overtopping all height; depth plung-
ing beneath all depth; breadth comprising
all immensity.
Oh, this love! God so loved tho world, He
loves you Don't you bslieve it? Has He
not done everything to make you think so?
He has given you life, health, frienis,
home-the uss Of your hand, thu sight Of
your eye, the hearing of your ear. He has
strewn your path with mercies. He has fel
you, clothed you, sheltered you, defended
you, loved you, importunsd You all yonr
life long. Don't you believe He loves yous
Why, il now you should start up from thu
wilderness Of your sin Hs would throw bota
arms around you. TO make you bslicye that
He loves you He stoopsi to man5"r aui cross
and sepulchre. With all ths passions OF His
holy nature roussd he stands bsfore you to.
heaven. Oh, this Fathers kiss There is 50
much meaning and love and compassion in it:
80 mucn pardon IN It; so mucd heaven iu it.
proclaim Him the Lord God, merciful,
gracious and long suffering, abundant in
goodness and truth. Lest you would not BE-
lteve Him BE goes up Golgotha, and while tho
rocks are rending, and the graves arc opsn-
is hiding, He dies for you. See Him! See
Him on the Mount Of Cruciixion, the sweat
on His brow tinged with the blood exu1ing
from His lacerated templesl See His eyes
swimming in deathl Hear the loud breath
ing of the sufferer as he pants with a world
on His hearth Hark to the fall Of tho blood
from brow and hand and foot on the rocks
beneath-drop dropl drop! Look at the
nails How wide the wounds arel Wider do
they cape as Els body comes down upon
them. Obi this cruciHxion agony! Tears
melting into tears. Blood flowing into blood.
Darkness dropping on darkness. Hands OF
men Joined with hands Of devils to tear apart
the qaivering heart Of the Son Of Godl
Oh. will Ho never speak agaiI,' VIII that
crimson face never light up again? &c will
speak again; while the blood is sufusing His
brow, and reddening His cheek, and gather
ing on nostril and lip, and you think DE Is
exhausted and cannot speak, He cries out un-
till all tine ages hear Him: Father, forgive
thom, they know not what they doP' k
there no emphasis in such scene as that 70
make your dry eyes weep AMI your nard
heart break? Will you turn your back upon
it, and say by your actions what the Jews
said by their words: 'His blood be on Us,
and on our children?" What does it all
mean, my brother, my sister? Why, itmean
that for our lost race there was Fathers
kiss. Love brought Him down. Love opened
the gate. Love led to the sacrifice. Love
shattered the grave. Love LITE Him up IN
Resurrection. Sovereign love? Omnipotent
lovel Infinite love! Bleeding love! Ever
lasting love!
On. for thi, love let rock, aad hul'
Their lasting silence break;
And all harm onious human tongues
The Savlour'a praises speak.
Now, will you accept that Fathers kiss!
The Holy Spirit comes to you with His arous-
ing, melting. alarming inviting, viytylng
influence Hearer what & creates ha N sne? iIa sans
ence now tells thee that it is time to fly, that
tomorrow may be too late; that there Is one
door, one road, one cross, one sacrlhca one
Jesus? It the Holy Ghost. -.
NV most urgent word is to those who. like
the young man Of my text, are great way
off, and they will start for home, and they
will get home They will yet preach the Cos,
pal, and on communion days carry around
the consecrated bread, acceptable to every
body, because Of their holy LIE and their
consecrated behavior. The Lord Is going 70
save you. Your homo has got to oe rebuug.
Your physical health has got to oe restored
structed. The Church of God is going to re-
joics over your. discipleship. You are not
Gospel hardened You have not heard
or read many sermons during the last few
years. You do not weep, but the shower IS
not far off. You sigh, and you have noticed
that there is always sigh in the WIND oetore
the rain falls.
There are those who would give anything
if they could find relief in tears. They say:
"Oh, my wasted life! Oh, the bitter past!
Oh, the graves over which have stumbled!
Whittier shall 1y? Alas for the future!
Everything is dark-so dark, so dark. God
help me! God pity men Thank the Lord
for that last utterance. You havo begun to
pray, and when O man begins to petition, that
ssts oil heaven flying this way ard God steps
in and beats back the hounds Of temptation
to their kennel, and around about the poor
wounded soul puts the cover OF His pardon
What was that? It is the bars Of the fence |
around the sheepfold. The shepherd. lets
them down, and the hunted sheep OF the
mountain bound in; some of them their fleece