The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1890-06-27
TIE PRODIGAL son.
Or. TALMACE'S DISCOURSE AT THE
TABE ERNhCLe.

Or TALMACE'S DISCOURSE AT TIL
TABe RNACLe.
lie Take. His Text From the Parable, an
faIis Upon His Hearers VIII" Haze Wan
'i"rcd on from the Church to Return.
nr. Tulmagrs Sunday sermon
WIS ,h The PruLhgal Son. anu hi
;>.N;. t.,.kc l.. 20: When he VA
yrtI r;v;tt way off his father saw
lnm, and had compassion, and rnn
and fell OH his neck, and kissed him.
Following iH the sermon:
One of the deepest wells TINT III
SlnratjOn over opened liz the we'll Of
parable which we can never exhaust
The parable, l suppose, was foun,ic,
ON iucts. have described to yol
tho going nWpX OF this prodigal sol
gei7RSm&--tssy izlairr,' who hay'
sition necessI :,.rsl,;;,x -. , m
,i.i ~ ss4e ltss. asno@e ONE for for Hl1ci ml,I'
,hllwnvs stay i'll the wilderness; nc
came back after while, We do not
read tlnt his mother came to greet
him. / suppose she wal dead. Thu
father would have given the second
KISS to ;hc returning prOdigal; the
mother the first 1t may have been for
the lack of hcr example and prayers
that il. became u prouigal. Some
Times the father docs not know how
to manage the children of the house
hold. The chief work comes upon
the mother. Indeed. no one ever
gets over tho calamity of losing u
mother in early life. Still, this young
man was not ungrcctcd when he
came lmck.
However we'll npparcllcd we may
!H in the morning when we start out
on y Journey, before hight, what
a,with the DUST and the iostling, we
= have lost all cleanliness of appear
nncr. But this prodiyal, when he
started from the swinc-truugh. was
ragged and wrctchcd. and his np-
pcarancC, after he had gone through
days of jouneymg and exposure, you
can more costly imagine than describe
As the people s G this prodigal com
mG on homcward, they wonder who
he 10. They say; II wonder what
prison he has broken out of. Iwon-
ler what lazarctto he has escaped
TOm. / wonder with what plague he
will smitc the air" Although these
people may have been well acquain-
ted with tho family. yet th"y. do not
imagine that this is the very young
:, man who went off only little while
sss Ssss o. 'ii,' Tie young young
man. 1stEi1,k, walks very fast. He
- looks us though he was intent upon
something very important. The pco-
rlc stop. They look ut him. They
wonder where nc cam" from. They
wonder where he isGoinS to.
You have heard Of IL son who went
of to sac, and never returned. All
the people in the ncighborhood
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 sec the sail that would bring home
the long-abscnt 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 hos changed very much since
we saw him last. His hair has be-
come white. his checks arc furrowcd,
his heart il, broken What is all his
bOiiutiful table to him when his son
may be lacking brcad What is all
the splcndor OF the wardrobe of that
homestead when the son may not
have decent coat: What are all
the sheep on the hillside to That IA
thcr when his pct lamb Is gone! Still
he sits and watches. looking out Oh
the road and one day he bchOlds a
foOt-travclcr. He SccS him rise
above the hill; first the head and uf-
ter awhile the entire body; and rs
cAon uS lie gets Il fair glance Mt linn
hU knows he is his rCcrCamt son. lie
forgcts the crlltch, and the cane, and
the stiffness Of the joints, and bounds
away / think the people all around
were amnzcd They said: 1t is
only footpad 1t is only some old
tramp of /. road Don't go out
to meet him. The fnth"r knew bet
ter.
The change in the sons appear
niEeT could not hide the marks by
which the fathss, knew th;>Roy. You
know that pcrSolla OF n grcae deal of
independence of character are apt to
indicate 1T III their walk. FOR That
2cnson the sailor almost always has
n peculiar step, not only because he
stands much on shipboard amid the
rocking OF the sca, and he hns to bal
ancc himself, but he has for the most
part mn independent character, which
would show III his gait. even if he
never went on the sea; and we know
from what trnnspircd aftcrward,
and from what tIanspmcI be
fore, that this prodignl son was of an
independent and frank nature; and |
suppose that the characteristics OF
his mind and heart were the charnc
tcristics OF his walk And so the
father knew him. He puts out his
withcrcd arms toward him, he brings
his wrinklcd face against the pale
check of his son: he kisses the wan
linz; he thanks God that the long
agony is over. when he was yet q