Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-06-22

"Ohp' says some man, how 90 know
my father wants met How do | know, Il
90 back, would be receiyedP "ohr
says some man, you don't know where
have been. you don't know how far have
wandered, you wouldn't talk that way 10
me IL you knew all the iniquities have
committed" What is that fiutter among
the angels Of Godi II is news, it is newsl
Christ has found the lost.
Nor angels can their Joy contain.
But kinde with new fire;
The sinner loot is found, they sing.
And strike the sounding Tyre.
When Napoleon talked of going into
Italy. they said: ''You can't get there.
II you knew what the Alps were you
wouldn't talk about 1t or think of IL.
You can't get your ammunition wagons
over the Alps" Then Napoleon rose
in his stirrups and waving his hand to
ward the mountains, he said, There
shall be no Alps" That wonderful pass
was laid out which has been the won
derment of sll the years since-the won
dermeut of all engineers. And you
tell me there are such mountains of sin be-
tween your soul and God, there is no
mercy Then see Christ waving his hand
toward the mountains. | hear him say,
81 will come over the mountains of thy sin
and the hills of thy iniquity." 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 sor-
row at his misbehavior. 1t was not mere
physical plight 1t was grief that he had
so maltreated his father. 1t is a sad thing
after a father has done everything for
child to have that child be ungrateful
How sharper than serpent's tooth, it is,
To have a thankless child.
That is Shakespeare. "A foolish son
is the heaviness of his mother That is
the Bible. Well, my friends have not
some of us been cruel prodigals2 Have we
not maltreated our Father2 And such
Fatherl So loving. so kind If he had
been a stranger, if he had forsaken us, If
he had iagellated us, If he had pounded
us and turned us out of doors on the com
mons, it would not have been so wonderful
our treatment Of him; but he is a Father
so loving, so kind, and yet how many OF
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 thou
sand wrongs against God and never apollo
gized,
remark still farther that this resolu-
tion of the text was founded in feeling
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, surrounded by every
thing bright and pleasant plenty of
friends-you have said, 81 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 fathers house he said, Now, per
haps, father may not be living"
WAS THE PRoDIGAL's MOTHER DEADP
We read nothing in this story-this par
able founded on everyday life-we read
nothing about the mother, 1t says moth
ing about going home TO her. think she
was dead. | think she had died Of a broken |
beart at his wanderings. A man never |
gets over having lost his mother. Moth
ing said about her here But he is home
sick for his fathers house. He thought he |
would Just like to go and walk around the |
old place He thought he would just like
to go and see If things were as they used
to be- Many man after having been off
a long while has gone home and knocked
at the door, and stranger has come. 1t
is the old homestead, but stranger comes
to the door, He finds out father Is gone
and mother is gone, and brothers and sis
ters 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 homesick. Are there any here today
homesick for God, homesick for heaveni
A sailor, after 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 bet
ter stay at home Don't go away; we
don't want you to 90, You will have it a
great deal better here" But it made him
angry The night before he went away
again to sea he heard his mother praying
In the next room, and that made him more
angry. He went far out on the sea and
storm came up, and he 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 whistle il of, he tried
to rally his courage, but he could not
silence that voice he had heard in the next
room aud there in the storm and the dark
ness he said; o Lord what wretch /
have been, what wretch am Help me
just now, Lord God" And l thought in
this assemblage today there may be some
who may have the memory Of fathers
petition or mothers prayer pressing
nightly upon the soul, and that this hour
they may make the same resolution | find
in my text, saying, II will arise and 80 to
my father"
ILLUSTRATION OF THE RESCUED BoY.
A lad at Liverpool went out to battle,
t,,t n Ia 40, "a.
beyond his depth and he foated far away.
A ship bound for Dublin came along and
took him on board. Sailors are generally
very generous fellows, and one gave him a
cap and another gave him jacket, and an
other gave him shoes. A gentleman pass
ing along on the beach at Liverpool found
the lads clothes and took them home, and
the father was heartbroken, the mother
was hearthroken at the loss OF their child
They had heard nothing from him day
after day, and they ordered the usual
mourning for the sad event. But the lad
took ship from Dublin and arrived in liv-
erpool the very day the garments arrived.
/ He knocked at the door, and the father
WAS overjoyed. and the mother was over
! ioyed at the return Of their lost son. Oh,
my friends. have you waded out too deepl
Have you waded down into sinh Have
you waded from the shorei Win you come
backi When you come back, will you
come IA the rags Of your sin. or will you
come ROBBED IN the Saviour's righteousness
believe the latter, Go home 10 your GOD
today lie is waiting for you. Go h0mel
Rut | remark concerning this resolution
Il WAS Immediately put into execution
The context Says. "he arose and came Z,
his father The trouble In nine hundneg
and ninety nine times out Of a thousand i