The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-07-01

how shall I 60 to work." Let me sa,
that mere whim, an underlined longin!
amounts to nothing. You must have
stout, tremendous resolution like thl
young man of the text when he SAID, .
will arise and 90 to my father"
THE ABOUNDING MERCY OF GOD.
"Ohv says some man, show do
know my father wants me? How do
know, if l 60 back, would be received
'tOh!" says some man, you don't know
where I have been, you don't know hoV
far l have wandered; you wouldr t tall
that way to me if you knew ali the 10
iquities I have. committed What il
that hutter among the angels Of God? l
is news, it is news! Christina found tn
lost.
Nor angels can their Joy contain,
But kindle with new FIRE:
The sinner lost, is found, they sing,
and strike the sounding Tyre.
When Napoleon talked of going int
Italy, they said: "You can't get there
If you knew what the Alps were yo'
wouldn't talk about it or think of it
You can't get your ammunition wagon
over the Alps" Then Napoleon ros'
in his stirrups and waving his hand to
ward the mnuntains. he said, 'Thert
shall be no Alps" That wonderful pas:
was laid out which has been the won
derment Of all the years since-the won
derment OF all engineers. And you tel
me there are such mountains of sin be
tween your soul and God, there Is M
mercy. Then see Christ waving hi:
hand toward the mountains. l hear hin
say, Il will come over the mountains O
thy sin and The hills of thy iniquity.'
There shall be no Pyrenees; there shall
be no Alps.
Again, I notice that this resolution Of
the young man Of the text was founded
in sorrow at his misbehavior. It wa:
not mere physical plight. 1t was grle
that he had 80 maltreated his father. Il
IS sad thing after father has done
everything for child to have that chile
be ungrateful.
How sharper than serpent's tooth it is,
TO have thankless child.
That is Shakespeare. ''A foolish son
is the heaviness ofhis mother" That is
the Bible. Well my friends, haye moi
some of US been cruel prodigals? Have
we not maltreated our Father? AND
such Father! So loving, so kind. Il
he had been a stranger, if he had for.
saken Us, If be had pounded US and
turned US out Of doors on the commons,
il would not have been so wonderful
our treatment OF him; but he is Father
so loving, so kind, and yet how many ei
US for our wanderings have never apollo
gized. We apologize for wrongs done
to our fellows, but some OF US perhaps
have committed ten thousand times ten
thousand wrongs against God and never
apologized.
l remark still farther that this rcsolu.
ton of the text was founded in feeling
of homesickness. I don't know how long
this young man, how many months, how
many years he had been away from his
fathers house; but there is something in
the reading OF my text that makes me
think he was homesick. Some Of you
know what that feeling is: Far away
from home sometimes, surrounded by
everything bright and pleasant-plenty
of frlends-you have said, II would give
the world to be home tonight" Well,
this young man wa' homesick for his
fathers house. I have no doubt when
he though. of his fathers house he said,
Now, perhaps, father may not be llv-
ing"
WAS THE PRoDIGAL's MOTHER DEAD?
We read nothing in this story-thls
parable founded on everyday life-we read
nothing about the mother. ltsays moth
ing about gong home to her. [ think
she was dead. I think she had died of
a broken heart at his wanderings. A
man never gets over having lost his
mother. Nothing said about her here.
But he is homesick for his fathers house.
He thought he would just like to 90 and
walk around the old place. He thought
he would just like to 90 and see if things
were as they used to be. Many a man
after having been off a long while has
gone home and knocked at the door, and
a stranger has come. II is the old home
stead, but a stranger comes to the door.
He finds out father is gone and mother
is gone, and brothers and sisters all gone.
think this young man Of the text said
to himself, ''Perhaps father may be
dead" Still he starts to find out. He
is hcmesick. Are there any here today
homesick for God, homesick for heaven?
A sailor. having been long on the
sea, returned to his fathers house, and
his mother tried to persuade him not to
go away again. She said: Now You
had better stay at home. Don't go away;
we don't want you togo. You will have
1t a great deal better here" B 1T it made
him angry. The night before he went
away again to sea he heard his mother
praying in the next room, and tha: made
him more angry. He went far out on
the sea aad storm came up, and be
was ordered to very perilous duty.
and he ran up the ratlines, and
amid the shrouds of the ship he
heard the voice that he had heard
in the next room. He tried to rally
his courage, but he could not silence
that voice he had heard in the nextroom,
and there in the storm and the darkness
he said: 0 Lord! what wretch I have
been; what wretch l am. Help me
just now, Lord God" And L thought
in this assemblage today there may be
some who may have the memory of a
fathers petition or mothers prayer
pressing nightly upon the soul, and
that this hour they may make the same
resolution l find in my text, saying, Il
will arise and 60 to my father"
OF THE RESCUED BOY.
A lad at Liverpool went out to bathe,
went out into the sea, went out too tar,
got beyond bis depth and he tloated far
away. a ship bound for Dublin came
along and took him on board. Sailors
are generally very generous fellows, and