Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-19


people sometimes put book off on the
other side of the light. They can see at
a distance great deal easier than they
can close bv. l do no know whether
this father could see well that which was
great way off. "HR father saw him. -
Perhaps he had been looking for the re-
turn of that boy especially that day. l
do not know but that he had been in
prayer, and that God had told him that
that day the reereant boy would come
home. "The father saw him q great
way of. -
l wonder If Gods eyesight can descry
us when we are coming back to Him?
The text pictures our condition-we are
a great way off. That young man was
not farther of from his fathers house,
sin is not farther off from holiness, hell
is not farther off from beaYen, than We
have been by our sins away from our
God; aye, SO far off that we could not
Rear his voice, though vehemently He
has called US year after 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 are ready to ac-
knowledge, IL your heart has been
changed by the grace of God, that you
are a great way off-aye, so far that you
cannot get back to yourselves. You
would like to come back. Aye, this mo-
ment you would start, If 1t we're not for
this sin, and that habit, and this disad-
vantage. But am to tell you of the
Fathers eyesight.
HHE SAW HIM A GREAT WAY OFF.
He has seen all your frailties, all your
struggles, all your disadvantages. He
has been longing for your coming. He
has not been looking at you with crit
les eye or a bailiff s eye, but with a
Fathers eye; and if parent ever pitied
a child, God pities you. You say:
''Oh, had so many evil surroundings
when l started life. - Your Father sees
it. You say: 81 have SO many bad
surroundings now, and it is very difficult
for me to break away from evil associa-
tons. Your Father sees it, and II you
start heavenward-as pray you may
your Father would not sit idly down and
allow you to struggle on up toward Him.
Oh, no! Seeing you great way of, He
would fly to the rescue. How long does
it take a father to leap into the middle
of the highway II his child be there, and
swift vehicle Is coming, and may de-
stroy him? Five hundred times longer
than it takes our heavenly Father to
spring to the deliverance of q lost child.
HWhen he was great way off his
Father saw him.
And this brings me to notice the IA
theirs haste. The Bible says he ran.
No wonder! He did not know but that
the young man would change his mind
and go back. He did not know but that
he would drop down from exhaustion.
He did not know but that something ia
tai might overtake him before he got up
to the doorsill, and so the father ran.
The Bible, for the most part, speaks of
God as walking. Gin the fourth watch
of the night it says, "Jesus came
unto them, walking on the sea- 'He
walketh upon the wings of the wind. -
Our first parents heard the voice of the
Lord, walking in the garden in the cool
of the day, but when sim
ner starts for God, the Faith
er runs to meet him. OH If a man ever
wants help, it is when he tries to become
a Christian. The world says to him /:
"Back with you. Have more spirit.
Don t be hampered with religion. Time
enough yet. Wait until you get sick.
Wait until you are old. - Satan says:
BACK with you; you are so bad that
God will have nothing to do with you;
or, ''You are good enough, and need
no Redeemer. Take thine ease, eat,
drink, and be merry.
TEN THOUSAND VOICES SAY:
''Back with YOU. God Is hard master
The church is q collection of hypocrites.
Back into your sins; back to your evil
! iudulgencIes; back 10 your praYerless
pillow. The silliest that a young man
ever does is to come after he has been
wandering. Oh, how much help q
man does want when he tries to become
| O Christian! Indeed, the prodigal can
not find his way TO his fathers house
| alone. Unless 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 surges than you could drive back the
surges OF your unforgiven transgressions.
What are we to do? Are we to fight the
| battle alone, and trudge on with no one
| 10 aid us, aud no rock TO shelter US, and
| no word of encouragement TO cheer usi
| Glory DE to God, we have 10 the text tho
| announcement: ''When he was yet {
| great way off, his father ran When
| the sinner starts for God, God starts fol-
the sinner. God does not come out with
a slow and hesitating pace. The infinite
spaces slip beneath His feet, and He
takes worlds at a bound. "The father
4 ran. Oh, wonderful meeting, wher
! God and the soul come together. ''Tht
/ father ran. - You start for God and
/ God starts for you and you meet, and
while the angels rejoice over the meet
! ing, your long-injured Father falls upor
! your neck with attestatlons OF compass
sion and pardon. Your poor, wander
ing, sinful, polluted soul and the loving
| the eternal Father have met.
1 remark upon the fathers kiss. CHE
fell on his neck, - my text says, "ant
! kissed him.. 1t is not every father tha
would have done that way. Some
would have scolded him, and said
s'Here, you went of with beautiful
clothes, but now you are all in tatters
You went off healthy, and come bael
sick and wasted with your designations.
| He did not say that. The son, all bag
gard, and ragged, and filthy, and
wretched stood before his father. The
father charged him with none of hi
| wanderings. He just received him. HI
| lust kissed him. His wretchedness wa!
| a recommendation 20 that fathers love
on, THAT FATHERS KISS.