The Penn's Grove record., 1891-06-26

utht W Va itiHoWHt "a VIM VI uH ~ A'st
rave committed ten thousand times ten
thousand wrongs against God and never
a~pologized.
/ remark still farther that this resolution
of the tex was founded ina feeling of home
sickness. l don't know how long this young
man, now 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
friends-you have said, II would give the
world to be home tonight" Well, this
young man was homesick for his fathers
house. I have no doubt when he thought of
his fathers house he said, Now, perhaps,
father may not be living"
We read nothing in this story-this par.
able founded on everyday hfe-we read
nothing about the mother. 1t says nothing
about going nome to her. l 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 woul just like to 60
and walk around the old place. He
thought he would just like to go and see il
| things were as they used to he. Many @ man
after having been off a long while has gone
home and knocked at the door, and a stran-
kol q oliit ~ lo NV oNh baN g
stranger comes to the door. He finds out
father is gone and mother is gone, and
brothers and sisters all gone. l think this
young man Of the text said to himself, Per
haps father may be dead" Still he starts to
find out. He Is homesick. Are there any
here to-day homesick for God, homesick for
heaven
A sailor, after having been long on the
sea, returned to his fathers house, INT his
mother tried to persuade him not to go away
again. She said. Now you had better stay
at home. Don't 60 away; We don't want you
to go. You will have 1t a great deal better
here" But it made him angry. The night
before he went again to sea he heard his
mother praying in the next room, and that
made him more angry. He wen far out on
the sea. and a storm came up, and he was
ordered to very psrilous 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 it off,
he tried to rally his courage, but
he could not silence that voice he had
heard in the next ROOM, and there in
the storm and the darkness he said: 80 Lordl
what a wretch l ave bsen: what a wretch
/ am. Help me just now, Lord God" IL
I thought in this assemblage to-day there
may be some who may have the memory OF
Q fathers petition or q mothers prayer
pressing nightly upon the soul, and that
UllS hour Lut1 may uuhh6 tHt otiht ieSplubipli
l find in my text, saying, II will arise and
20 to my father"
A lad at Liverpool went out to battle, went
out into the sea, went out too far, got beyond
his depth and he foated far away. A ship
bound for Dublin came along and took him
on board. Sailors are generally very gener-
ous fellows, and one gave him a cap and
another gave him a jacket, and another gave
him shoes. A gentleman passing along on
the beach at Liverpool found the lads
clothes and took them home, and the father
was heartbroken, the mother was he~artbroken
at the loss of their child.
They had heard nothing from him day
after day, and they ordered the usual mourn
ing for the sad event. But the lad took ship
from Dublin and arrived in Liverpool the
very day the garments arrived. He knocked
at the door, and the father was overjoyed,
and the mother was overjoyed at the return
of their lost son. Oh, my friends, have yon
waded out too deepf Have you waded down
into sim? Have you waded from the shore9
viii you come backf When you come back,
will you come in the rags Of your sin, or Will
ness? l believe the latter. Go home TO your
God to-day. He is waiting for you. Go
homel
But I remark concerning this resolution,
it was Immediately put into execution. Inc
context says, 'He arose and came to his
father" The trouble in nine hundred and
ninety. MIN times out of a thousand is that
our resolutions amount to nothing because
we make them for some distant time. IL l
resolve to become a Christian next veal, that
! amounts to nothing at all. II | resolve to
become a Christian Tomorrow, that amounts
10 nothing at all. If / resolve at the service
tonight to become a Christian, that amounts
to nothing at all. If l resolve after ! go
home to-day to yield my heart to God that
- o.. ,Atlinr of oil Ihn nnlV KIND OF
resolution that amounts to anything is the
resolution that is Immediately put into exc
cutiop.
There is a man who had the typhoid fever.
He said. ooh il / could get over this ter
rible distressi II this fever should depart,
II I could be restored to health, l would all
the rest Of my life serve God." Inc fever
around the block. He got well enough to go
over to New York and attend to business.
He is well to-day-as well as he ever was.
Where is the broken vows There is a mar
who said long ago, 'If l could live to the
year 1891, by that time ! viii have my bust
ness matters arranged, and l will have time
to attend to religion, n VIII be a good'
thorough, consecrated Christian"
The Year 1891 has come. January, Febru-
ary, March, April, May, June-almost half
Of the year gone. Where is your broken
vows, ..Oh," scys some man., "In attend
to that when I can get my character fixed
up. WhenI eau get over my EVIL habits. l
am now given to strong drink" or. says sre
man, Il am given to uncleanness, OF, says tn.
man. III am given to dishonesty. When get
over nv present habits, then FIJI be a thor
ough Christian" My brother, you will get
worse and worse, until Christ takes you IN
hand. ''Not the righteous; sinners, Jesus
came to call"
Ohi but you say, "a agree with you on all
that, but 1 must put it off a little longer"
Do you know there were many VINO came as
near as you are to the kingdom OF God and
never entered 1t. l was at East Hampton
and / went into the cemetery to look around,
and in that cemetery thereare twelve graves
side by side-the graves OF sailors. ms
crew, some years ago, in n ship went into
the breakers at Amagansett, about three
miles AWAY My brother, then preaching at
East Hampton, had been at the burial.
These men Of the crew came very near being
saved.
The people from Amagansett saw the YES
sci and they shot rockets, and they sent
ropes from the shore, and these poor fellows
pot into the boat and they pulled nightly
Tor the shore, but Just before they got 10 the
shore the rope snapped and the boat capSlzed
and they were lost. their bodies atter"ard
washed up on the beach. Oh, whats solemn
day it was-I have been told it by my
brother-when these twelve men lay at the
foot of the pulpit and he read over them tho
funeral s~srvicei They came very near shore
within shouting distance of the shore-yet
did not arrive on solid land. There are some
men who come almost to the shore of Gods
mercy, but not quite, not quite. To be only
almost saved is not to he saved at all.
/ will tell you OF two prodigals, the one
that got back and theo other that did not get
back. In Virginia there is a very prosper
Gus and beautiful home in many respects. A
Young man wandered of from that home.
He wandered very far into sin. They heard
of him often, but he was always on the
wrong track. He would not go home. Al
the door of that beautiful home one night
there was a great cutlery. The young man
of the house ran Town and opened the door
10 see what was the matter. 1t was mid
night. The rest of the family were asleep.
There were the wife and the children Of THU
prodigal young man. The fact was he had
come home and driven them out. He said:
'tOut OF this house. Away with these chill
dren; l will dash their brains out. Out into
the Storm
The mother gathered them up and foi.
TIL next morning the brother, the young
man who had staid at home, went out to lind
this prodigal brother n son, and he came
where he was, n saw, the young man
wandering up and down in front OF the
place where he had been staying, and the
young man who had kept his integrity said
10 the older brother; Here, what does all
this mean2 What's the matter with your