Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-06-16

htufful'I. Idht tulut East. eat. uIluh,
and be merry" Ten thousand voices
say: Back with you. God is hard
master. The Church is collection of
hypocriteS. Back into your sins; back
TO your evil indulgenceS; back TO your
prayerleSs pillow. The SillicSt thing
that young man ever does is TO come
home after he has been wandering"
oh, how much help man does want
when he tries to become a Christian,
Indeed the prodigal cannot find his way
home TO his fathers house alone. Tn
less some one
COMES To MEET HIM
he had better have stayed by the swine
troughS.
When the tide comes in, you might
more easily with Your broom sweep
back the surgcS than You could drive
back the ocean of your unfortunate
trauSgreSSions. What are we to do?
Are We To fight the battle alone, and
trudgc ON with no one To aid Ms. and no
rock To shelter MS, and no word Of en-
enlargement TO cheer us? Glory be to
God. We have in the text the announce
mcnt: "Nhen he was yet a great way
of. his father ram" When the sinner
starts for God, God starts for the sin
ner. God does not come out with a
slow and heSitating pace. The infinite
spaces slip beneath His feet, and He
takes worlds At bound. The father
ran" Oh, wonderful meeting. when
God and the soul come together. THE
father ram Nou start for God and
4 d e..
while the angels rejoice over the meet
ing. Your long injured Father falls upon
your neck with atteStationS of COM
passion and pardon. Your poor. wan
dcriug. sinful, polluted soul, and the
loving. the eternal Father, have met.
/ remark upon the fathers kiss. "lle
fell on his neck" my text says, land
kissed him." Ii iSnOt every father that
would have done that way. Some
would have seeded him, and said:
'llcre, You went of
WITH BEAUTIFUL CLOTHES,
but now You are all in tattcrS. You
went of healthy, and come back sick
ana wasted with your designations"
lie didn't say that. The son. all bag
gard. and ragged, and filthy, and
wrctched, stood before his father. The
wanderingS. lie just received him.
lie Just kissed him. His wretchedneSS
was a recommendation to that fathers
love. Oh that fathers kiss, How
shall | describe the love of God?-the
ardor with which lie receives a sinner
back again? Give me Il plummet with
which may fathom this sea. Give me
a ladder with which | can scale this
height. Give me words with which
can describe this love. The apostle
says in one place, ''unSearchablc:' i'm
another. past finding out. Height
overlapping all height; depth plugging
beneath all depth: breadth comprising
all immensely.
Oh, this love, God 50 loved the world.
He loves You. Don't you believe il?
Has lie not done everything to make
You think So? He has given you life.
health. friends. homc-the use of your
hand. the sight of your eye, the hearing
of your ear. lie has Strcwn your path
with mcrcieS. He has fed you, clothed
Won. sheltered you, defended You. loved
YOU, importuncd You all his life long.
Don't YOU believe He loves you? Why,
if now you should start up from the
Wilderness of your sin, He would throw
both arms around You. To make you
believe that lie loves you, He stopped to
Manager. and cross. and Sepulchre. With
AN the passions OF His holy nature
reused He stands
BEFORE YOU TODAY.
and would coax YOU to happiness and
heaven. Oh, this Fathers kiss! There
is so much meaning. and love. and com
passion i'm it; So much pardon in il; so
much heaven i'm it. proclaim Him the
Lord God. mcrciful. gracious. and long
suffering. abundant in goodness and
truth. Lest YOU would not believe Him.
He goes up Golgotha. and while the
rocks are rcnding, and the graves are
opening. and the mObS are bowling, and
the sun is hiding, He dies for you. See
Him. See Him on the Mount of Cruel
fiction. the sweat on His brow tinged
with the blood cxuding from His lace
rated temples. See His eyes swimming
i'm death, Hear the loud breathing of
the sufferer as he pants with a world
ON His heart, IIark to the fall of the
blood from brow. and hand, aud foot.
ON the rocks beneath-drop. drop.
drop. Look at the nails How wide
the wounds are, Wider do they cape
as His body comes down upon them.
Oh, this cruciiiXion agony! Tears melt
ing into tears. Blood flowing into
blood. Darkness dropping on darkness.
Hands Of men Joined with hands of dew
lis To tear apart the quiyering heart of
the Son of God.
oh. VIII lie never speak again?
VIII that crimson face never light up
again? lie will speak again; while
THE BLOOD Is SUFFUSING
Ills brow, and rcddcning His cheek,
and gathering on nostril and lip, and
You think lie is exhausted and cannot
speak. lie cries out until all the ages
hear Him: Father, forgive them, they
know not what they do Is there no
emphasis in such scene as that to|
make your dry ewes weep, and your
hard heart break? Will you turn your
back upon it. and say by your actions
what the Jews said bythcir words: Ills
NINON ne on u.s. tuh VII N'iA '"'''''' zoe
What does il an mean, my brother. my
siStcr9 Why, it means that for our lost
race there was a Fathers kiss. Love
brought Him dgcn. Love opened the
rate. Love led to the sacrifice. Love
shattered the grave. Love lifted Him
up In resurrection. Sovereign love.
Omnipotcnt love, Infinite love. Bleed
ing love. Everlasting love.
.Ob for this love let rocks and hills
Th.ir lasting silence break:
And am harmonious human tongues
The Saviour, praises speak.
Now. will you accept the Fathers kiss?
The Holy Spirit comes to you with HIS
arousinc. melting, alarming, inviting
yivifying influence. Hearer, what ere
atcs i'm thee that unrest? 1t is the Holy
Ghost. What influence now tells thee
that it is time to fly, that tomorrow
may too late: that there is one door,
one road. one cross. one sacrifice, one
Jesus? 1t is 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 Tor
home. and they will get home. They
will vet preach the Gospel and on COM
munion days carry around the eonSe-
Grated bread.
ACCEPTABLE To EVERYBODY,