The Forrest City times., 1890-06-21
THE CHURCH REJOICES.
The Kiss of Wslcoms G.vsn to the Rs--
 turning Wandsrs.
Rev. T. Do Witt Talmage Talks of the Return of the Lost Sheep to the Fath,r's Fold and With What Joy They are Welcomsd

With what Joy They are Welcomsd
 Rev T. De Witt Talmagc preached to tho usual large audience last Sunday in the Brooklyn Academy of Music. His su biect was the return of the Prodigal Son: "rhe Kiss of Welcome" and his text Luke i5:e0: "when he was yet great way of, his father saw him, aud had compassion, and ran, and fell on his mock, and kissed him Following is tho sermon;
 One of tho deepest wells that inspiration eves opened is this well of parable which we can never exhaust The parable, 1 sup pose, was founded on facts I have de- scribed to you the going away of this prodi. gal son from his fathers house, and have showed you what hard tmc he had down In tte wilderness, and what very great mistake it was for him to leave so beauti- ful homo for such miserable desert But ho did not always stay in the wilder ness; he cams b lck after a while We do not read that his mother came to greet him. I suppose she was dead. She would have been the first to coms out The father would have given the second kiss to the returning prodigal; the mother tho trst. It may have been for tho lack of her example and prayers that ho became a prodigal. Sonnet mos the father does not know how to manage the children of tho household. The chief work comes upon the mother. Indeed, no cue ever gets over the calamity of losing a mother in early life. Still, this young man was not nngreeted when he came back.
 However wellapp lrelled we may bs in tho morning when we start out on journey, before night, what with tho dust and the 1ostliag, we have lost all cleanliness of appearance. But this prodi- gal, when he started from thes swine trough, was ragged and wretched ani his appearance after he had gone through days of journeying and exposure, you can moro easily imagine than describe As the peo- pie see this protigal coming on homeward, they wonder who he is. They say: .'1 wonder what prison he has broken out of wonder what lagaretto he has escaped from. l wonder with what plague he will smito the airn Although these people may have been well acquainted with the family yet they do not imagine that this is Inc very young man who went off only little while ago with quick step, and ruddy check, and beautiful apparel Tho young man think walks very fast ite looks as though he were intent upon something very important Tho people stop They look at him. They wonder where he caine from.
 
 You have heard Of son who went of to sea and never returned. All the people in the neighoorhood thought the son would never return, but the pareats came to no uch conclusion. They would go by tho hour, and day, and sit upon tho beach, looking of upon the water, expecting to see the sail that would bring home the long absent boy, And so l think this father of my text sat under the \ inc look ing out toward the road on which his son had departed; but tho father has changed very much singo we saw him lasa His hair has become white, his checks are furrowod, his heart is broken What IS all his bountiful table to him when his son may be lacking breadi What is all the splendor of tho wardrobe of that homestead whom the son may not have decent coatl What are all the sheep on that hillside to that father when his pot lamb is gonef Still he sits and watches, looking out on the road, and one day he beholds a foot-traveler. He sees him rise above the hill; first the head and after while the entire body; and as soon as he gets fair glance Of him he knows it is his recrcant son He forgcts the crutch, md the cane, and the stiffness of the Joints, and bounds away. 1 think the people all around were amazed. They said: Tt Is only footpad. It is only somo old tramp of tho road. Don't go out to meet him." The father knew better
 The change in the son's appearance could not hide the marks by which tho father knew the boy. You know that persons of great deal of independence of character are apt to indicate IL in their walk For that reason the sailor almost always has peculiar step, not only because he stands s.t, ns. el,l Al the sea. and he has to balance himself, but he has for the most part an independent character, which would show in his gait, oven If ho never went on the sea; md ,ye know from what transpirod afterward, and from what transpired before, that this prodigal son was of m independent and frank nature; and l suppose that the char. acterlstics of his mind and heart wero the characteristics of his walk And so the father knew him. He put out his withered arms toward him; he brings his wriukied 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 oil, his father saw him. and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed himLn
 In the first place, l notice in this text the fathers eyeslght; in tho second place, notice, the fathers haste: and, in tho third place, notice tho fathers kiss.
 To begin: the father's eyesight "When hc was great way of his father saw him., You have noticed how old people some tunes put a book off on the other side of the light They can sec at distance q great deal easier than they can close by. I do not know whether this father could sec well that which was near by, but do know he could sec great way of. His father saw him" Perhaps be had been looking Tor the return Of that boy especially that day. do not know but that he had been tn prayer, and that God had told him that that day tho reoreant boy would como home Tho father saw him great way DfY.ss '
 wonder If Gois eyesight can descry us when we are coming back to Himi The text pictures our coadition--we are great way on That young man was not farther of from his fathers house, sin Is not farther off from holiness, hell ls n ot farther of from heaven, than we have been by our sins away on from our God; ave, so far off that wc could not hear His voice, though vehemently He has called US year aftar year do not know what bad habits you may have formed, or in what evil places you have been, or what false notions you may have entertained; but you arc ready to acknowledge, if your heart has not been changed by the graco of God, that you arc : great way of ff-aye. so far that you can not get back of yourselves. You would like to come back. Aye, thls moment yoa would start, If 1t were nos for this sin, and that habit and this disadvantage But am to tel you oi Ina Fathers eyesiSht hle saw him n great way oT." He has seen all your frailtias. all your struggles, all your disadvantages He has been long. ing for your coming. He has not bsen looking at you vita a critics eye or . baalin's eve. but with Father's eye, and If parent ever pitied child, God pites you- You say; .On, had 30 many evil surrnunainGs when 1 started lfe.n Your Father secs it You say: II have so many bad surroundings now, and it is very dinl. cult for me to break away from evil asso- ciations" Your Father sees k and II you should start heaysnward -as 1 pray you may your Father would not slt Idly