The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1890-06-27

insl misefab1e desert. j.. But he did no.
railways stay i'll the wilderness; he
came back after u while, We do not
read that his mother came to greet
him. L suppose she was dead. Thc
fathor would have given the second
kiss to the returning prodigal; tho
mother the first 1t may have been fol
the lack of her example and prayers
tlnt h. became prodigal. Some
times the father does not know how
to manage the children of the house
hold. The chief work comes upon
tho mother. Indeed, no one over
gets ovcr tho calamity of losing q
mother in early life. Still, this young
man was not ungrcctod when he
came back.
However we'll apparelled we may
Lr in the morning when we start out
on u Journey, before night, what
rSwith the dust and the iostling, we
have lost all cleanliness of appear
nncc. But this prodigal, when he
started from the swine-trough. was
ragged and wrctchcd, and his ap-
pcalance, after he had gone through
days of journeying and exposure, you
can more oesily imagine than describe.
As the people see this prodigal com
ing on homeward, they wonder who
he is. They say; II wonder what
prison he has broken out of. Iwon-
Ter what lazarctto he has escaped
rom. I wonder with what plague he
will smite the air." Although these
people may have been well acquain-
ted with tho family, yet thcy. do not
imagine that this is the very young
!. !. nan who went off only little while
1e.3ielS stsG Saa rfaay !R;,a Sa,,Ss, .nygs
man, ss:zsifsS walks very fast He
looks us though he was intont 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 sac, and never returned. All
the people in the ncighbolhood
thought the son would never return,
but the parents came to no such con
clusion. They would go by the hour,
and day, and sit upon the beech,
looking off upon the water, expecting
to see the sail that would bring homo
tho long-absent boy. And so l 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 bo-
come white, his checks are furrowed,
his heart il brokcn. What is all his
bOuntiful table to him whom his son
may be lacking bread? What is all
&c l< 81 1n&
homestead when tho son may not
have decent coat! What are all
the sheep on the hillside to that fa-
thor when his pet lamb is gone? Still
he sits and watches, looking out on
the road and one day ho bcholds a
foot-travelcr. He sees him rise
above the hill; first the head and af-
ter awhile the entire body; and Us
s@on as he gets fair glance Mt him
he knows he is his recreant son. HC
forgets the crutch, md the cane, and
the stiffness of the joints, and bounds
away. / think the people all around
were apazcd. They said: 1T is
only ssf3stpad. 1t is only some OLD
tramp of the road. Don't so out
to meet him" The father knew bot
tor.
The change in the sons appear
S6{fed c6ufHrnot hide the marks by
which the father knew tho boy. Yor
know that persons of great deal o
independence of character are apt tt
indicate it i'll their walk. For tina
reason the sailor almost always ha
peculiar step, not only because h,
stands much on shipboard amid tn,
rocking of the sea, and he has to bal
ance himself, but he has for the mos
part IN independent character, whicl
would show in his gait, even il h
never went ON the sea; and we know
from what transpirod afterward
and from what transpired be
fore, that this prodigal son was of n
independent and frank nature; and
suppose that the characteristics O
his mind and heart were the charat
tcristics of his walk. And 80 tn
father knew him. He puts out hi
withered arms toward him, he bring
his wrinkled face against the pal
check of his son: he kisses the wa
lips; he thanks God that the lon
agony is over. "When he was yet
great way off, his father saw him an
had compassion, and ran, and fell o
his neck and kissed him."
Oh, do you not recognize that FL
ther, Who was iti 1t is God!
have no sympathy with that cast-iro
theology which represents God 6
hard, severe and vindictive. God
7 Father-kind, loving, lenient, gel
tic, longsuffering, patient and II
flies to our immortal rescue. o.
that we might realize it. "A wealth
lady in ono of tho eastern countri,
was going off for some time, and 81
asked hor daughters for some m
manto to carry with her. One