Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-06-19


saw him.
And this brings me to notice the fathers
haste. The Bible says he ran. No won
derl He did not know but that the young
man would change his mind and 90 back
He did not know but that he would dror
down from exhaustion. He did moi
know but that something fatal might over
take him before he got up to the doorsiIl
and so the father ran. The Bible for the
most part speaks of God as walking. In
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 a sinner starts for God
the Father runs to meet him.
Oil If man ever wants help it Is when
ne tries to become 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 get DID," Satan saws: 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 a
collection Of hypocrites. Back into your
sins; back to your evil indulgences; back
to your praverless pillow. The silliest
thing that young man ever does is to
come home after he has been wandering. "
Oil how much help man does want when
| he tries to become a Christiani Indeed,
the prodigal cannot find his way home 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 can drive back the ocean
n InfO
are we to do? Are we to fight the battle
| alone. and trudge ON with no one to aid us,
and no rock to shelter US, and no word of
encouragement to cheer US? Glory be to
/ God, we have in the text the announce
ment: When he was great way of his
father ram When the sinner starts for
God. God starts for 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 bound, ~The
father ran" Oh, wonderful meeting, when
God and the soul come together -The
father ran You start for God and God
starts for you, and you meet; and while the
| angels rejoice over the meeting, your long
injured father falls upon your neck with
attestations Of compassion and pardon.
Your poor, wandering, sinful, polluted soul
and the loving, the eternal father have met.
Iremark upon the fathers kiss. HE fell
on his neck. my text says, and kissed
him. 1t is not every father that would
have done that way. Some would have
scolded him, and said: Here, you went of
with beautiful clothes, but now you are all
In tatters. You went Off healthy. ana came
back sick and wasted with your dissipa-
tions. He did not say that. The son. all
haggered and ragged and filthy and
wretched, stood before his father. The
father charged him with none of his wan
derlngs. He Just received him. He Just
kissed him. His wretchedness was a rec
ommendation to that fathers love. Oh,
that fathers kissi How shall I describe
the love Of God2-the ardor with which He
receives sinner back again? Give me a
plummet with which may fathom this sea.
Give me a ladder with which lean scale this
height. Give me words with which l can
describe this love. The apostle says in one
place. "unsearchable;" in another. past
finding out" Height overtopping all height;
depth plunging beneath all depth; breadths
comprising all immensity,
Oh, this Lowell God SO loved the world
He loves you. Don't you believe it? Has
He not done everything to make you think
SO? He has given you fife, health, friends,
home-the use of your hand. the sight of
your eye. He has strewn your path with
mercies. He has fed you. clothed you, de-
Tended you, loved you, importuned you all
your life long. Don't you believe he loves
you? Why. if now you should start mp from
both arms around you. To make you be-
lieve that He loves you He stopped to man
ger and cross and sepulchre. With all the
passions OF His holy nature reused He
stands before you to-day, and would coax
you to happiness and Heaven. oh, this
fathers kiss! There is SO much meaning
and love and compassion in it; SO much
pardon in it; so much heaven in it. / pro-
claim Him the Lord God. mereiful. gracious
and long suffering, abundant in goodness
and truth. Lest you would not believe Him.
He goes up Golgotha, and while the rocks
are rending, and the graves are opening,
and the mobs are bowling, and the sun is
nnldlng. ne DIES Tor you. See Himi See
Him on the Mount of Crucifxion, the sweat
on His brow tinged with the blood exuding
from His lacerated templesl See His ewes
swimming in deathi Hear the loud breath
ing OF the sufferer as He pants with the
world on His hearth Hark to the fall of
blood from brow and hand and foot on the
rocks beneath-dropl dropl dropi Look at
the nailsl How wide the wounds arel
Wider do they gape as His body comes
down upon them. Oh, this crucif1xion
agonyl Tears melting into tears. Blood
flowing into blood. Darkness dropping on
darkness. Hands of men joined with hands
OF devils to tear apart the quivering heart
of the Son Of Godl
Oh. will He never speak again? Will that
speak again; while the blood is suffusing
His brow. and reddening His cheek. and
gathering on nostril and lip, and you think
He is exhausted and cannot speak, He cries
out until all the ages hear Him, Father,
forgive them, they know not what they dol"
Is there no emphasis in such scene as
that to make your dry eyes weep and your
hard heart break2 viii you turn your back
upon it, and say by your actions what the
Jews said by their words: His blood be
on us, and on our children2" What does it
all mean, my brother. my sister? Why, it
means that for our lost race there was a
fathers kiss. Love brought Him down.
Lcve opened the gate. Love led to the
sacrifice. Love shattered the grave Love
lifted Him up in resurrection. Sovereign
Lowell Omnipotent Lowell Infinite Lowell
Bleeding Lowell Everlasting Lowell
Now, will you accept that Fathers kiss?
The Holy Spirit comes to you with His
melting, alarming, inviting, vivi-
Tying influence. Hearer, what creates in
thee that unrest? 1t is the Holy Ghost.
What influence now tells thee that it is
time to fly, that tomorrow may be too late:
that is one door, one road, one cross, one
sacrifice. one Jesus2 II is the Holy Ghost
My most urgent word is to those who, like
the young man in my text, are q great way
OIL, and they will start for home, and they
will get home. They will yet preach. the
gospel. and on communion days carry
around the consecrated bread. acceptable
to everybody because Of their holy life and
their consecrated behavior. The Lord is
going to save you. Your home has got to
be- r0bIIilt YOl1r nhvaioa1 haaIth ha<s o,ot ~, |