The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1891-07-17

suppose have persuaded Jou that the
leprosy of sin is upon you, the worst of
all sickness. o! then you say Bring
me the balm of the Gospel. bring me
that divine medicament, bring me Jesus
Christ"
But says some one in the audiences,
"How do you prove that we are in a ru-
ined condition by sin?" Well can
prove it in two ways, and you may have
your choice. can prove II either by
the statements of men, or by the state
ment of God. Which shall it be? You
all say: LET us have the statement
of God" Well He says in one place:
"The heart is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked" He
says in another place: what is man
that he should be clean? and he which
is born of woman that he should be
righteous?" He says in another place:
"Thcre is none that doeth good, no, not
| one"
He says in another place: "As by
one man sin entered into the world. and
death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. 9"
"Well," you say, 81 am willing to ac-
knowledge that, but why should take
the particular rescue that you propose?"
| This is the reason: Except that man
be born again he can not see
the kingdom of God" This is
the reason: There is one name
| given under heaven among men.
Thereby they may he saved" Then
! there are a thousand voices here ready
TO say: "Well, am ready to accept
this help of the gospel; would like TO
have this divine cure; how shall / go to
work?" Let me say that mere within,
an underlined longing amounts to moth
! ing You must have stout, tremend-
GUS resolution like this young man of
| the text when he said; II will arise
and go to my father"
90" says some man, chow do know
my Father wants me? How do know,
If | go back, l would be received"
'O"' says some man, you don't know
where / have been; you don't know
! how far have wandered you wouldn't
talk that way to me if you knew all
the iniquities / have committed What
is that futter among the angels of God?
IL is news, it is news. Christ has found
the 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 into
Italy, they said: You can't get there;
if you knew what the Alps were you
wouldn't talk about it or think about
it; you can't get your ammunition
wagons over the Alps Then Napo-
leon rose in his stirrups and waving his
hand toward the mountains he said
There shall be no Alps" That won
derful pass was laid out which has been
the wondcrmcnt of all the years since
the wonderment of all engineers. And
you tell me there are such mountains
of sin between your soul and God, there
is no mercy. Then | see Christ waving
His hand toward the mountains; hear
Him say: IL will come over the mount
aims of thy sin and the hills of thy in
iquity.' There shall be no Pyrenees;
there shall be no Alps
Again. | notice that this resolution of
the young man of the text was founded
in sorrow at his misbchavior. 1t was
not mere physical plight 1t was grief
that he had so maltrcated his father. 1t
is a sad thing, after a father has done
everything for child, To have that
child be ungrateful.
'How sharper than aserpents tooth tits.
To have thankless child"
That is Shakespeare. "A foolish son
is the heavincss of his mother" That
is the Bible. Well my friends, have
not some of us been cruel prodigals?
Have we not maltreated our Father?
And such n father. So loving, SO
kind
/ remark still further that this resolu-
tion of the text was founded on feel
ing of Inconsistencies. | 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, sur
rounded by every thing bright and
pleasant, plenty of friends, you have
said:
II would give the world to be home
tonight" Well this young man was
homesick for his fathers house. have
no doubt when he thought of his ia
theirs house, he said; Now, perhaps,
father may not be living"
We read nothing in this story-we
read nothing about the mother. 1t says
nothing about going home to her
think she was dead ! think she had
died of "A broken heart at his wander !
ings, 4 man never gets over having !
lost his mother Nothing said about |
her here. But he is homesicll for his !