Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-16
KISS OF WELCOME.
Discourse of Rev. DR.. Talmage in
the City Of Brooklyn.
He Takes for His Text the PrOdigal Son
a Subject Upon Which He Has
Won Great Renown.
when He Was Yet Great Way OF His Father
saw Him, and Had Compassion, Ran,
Fell on His Neck and
Kissed Him"
Special to the Gazette.

BROOKLYN, n. Y, June 15.-Dr. Tai
mage's sermon for to-day was on the
4 Prodigal Son, and his text Luke XIV. 20:
"When he was yet a great way off his
father saw him and had com passion and
ran and fell on his neck and kissed
him. 5" Following is the sermon:
One of the deepest wells that iuspira-
ton ever opened is this well of para
bic which we can never exhaust. The
parable, 1 suppose, was founded on
facts. have described to you the going
away of this prodigal son from his
fathers house, and 1 have showed you
what hard time be had down in the
wilderness, and what very great mis-
take it was for him to leave so beautiful
a home for such a miserable desert.
But he did not always stay in the will
derness; he came back after a while.
We do not read that his mother came
10 greet him. L suppose she was
dead. She would have been the first TO
come out. The father would have given
the second kiss to the returning prodigal, ,
the mother the first. 1t may have been
tor the lack of her example and prayers
that he became a prodigal. Sometimes
the father does not know how to manage
the children of the household. The
chief work comes upon the mother. In
deed, no one gets over the calamity of
losing q mother in early life. Still, this
young man was not ungreeted when he
came back.
However well appareled we may be in
the morning when we start out on q
haf lob rhnk fIn
dust and the jostling, we have lost all
cleanliness of appearance. But this
prodigal, when he started from the swine
trough,
WAS RAGGED AND wRETCHED
and his appearance, after he had gone
through days of jOurneYing and expos
ure, you can more easily imagine than
describe. AS the people see this prodigal
coming on homewRrd, they wonder who
he is. They say: 81 wonder what prison
he has broken out of. 1 wonder what
lazaretto he has escaped from. 1 won
der with what plague he Will smite the
air. - Although these people may have
been well acquainted with the family,
yet they do not imagine that this is the
very young man who went off only lit
tie while ago with quick step, and ruddy
cheek, and beautiful apparel. The
young man, I think, walks very fast.
He looks as though he were intent upon
something very important. The people
stop. They look at him. They wonder
where he came from. They wonder
where he is going to.
You have heard OF a son who went of
to sea and never returned. All the peo-
pie in the neighborhood thought the son
would never return, but the parents
came TO no such conclusion. They would
go by the hour, and day, and sit upon
the beach, looking off upon the water,
expecting to see the sail that would bring
home the long-absent boy. And so
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 become
white, his cheeks are furrowed, his
heart is broken. What is all his bounti-
full table to him when his son may be
lacking bread? What is all the splendor
of the wardrobe of that homestead when
the son may not have a decent coat?
What are all the sheep on that hillside
to that father when his pet lamb is
gone? Still he sits and watches, look
ing out on the road, and one day he be-
holds foot-traveller. lie sees him rise
above the hill; frat the head and after
awhile the entire body, and as soon as
he gets far glance of him he knows it
is his recreant son. He forgets the
crutoh, and the cane, and the stiffness
of the joints, and bounds away. l
think the people all around were amazed.
They said: cit is only footpad. 1t is
only some old tramp of the road. Don't
go out to meet him.
THE FATHER KNEW BETTER.
The change in the sons appearance
could not hide the marks by which the
father knew the boy. You know that
persons of a great deal of independence
of character are apt to indicate it in their
walk. For that reason the sailor almost
Away has peculiar step, not only be-
Gauss he stands much on sEipboard amid
the rocking of the sea, aud he has TO
balance himself, but he has for the most
part an independent character which |
would show in his gait, even if he never
went on the sea; and we know from what |
-ranspired afterward, and from what |
-ranspired before, that this prodigal son |
was of an independent and frank nature |
and 1 suppose that the characteristics of |
mis- mind aud heart were the character; |
sites of his walk. And so the father |
Auoh ulius I16 puts Oul his WlIueT6u |
arms toward him; he brings his wrinkIed |
face against the pale cheek of his son; |
he kisses the wan lips; he thanks God |
mat the long agony is over. "When he
vas yet great way of, his father saw
him, aud had compassion, and ran
md fell on his neck and kissed HIM.
oh, do you not recognize that Father?
Who was it? 1t is God! I have no sym
,athy with that cast-iron theology which
epresents God as hard, severe and vim
liotive. God is a Father-kind, loving,
gentle, long suffering, patient,
nd He flies 10 our immortal rescue. Oh,
hat we might realize it. A wealthy
ady in one of the Eastern countries was
DING off tor some time, and she asked
er daughters for some memeuto to carry
With her. One of the daughters brought
marble tablet. beautifully inscribed;
nd another daughter brought a beautl-
vi wreath of flowers. The third daugh-
er came and said: "Mother, brought
sither flowers nor table
BUT HERE is MY HEART.
have inscribed itan over with your
anne, and wherever you go, it viii go
nth you. - The mother recognized it as
be best OF all the mement oes. oh, that our
ouls might go out toward our Father
hat our hearts might be written all over
18th the evidences of His loving kind
ess, and that we might never again for