Nevada County picayune., 1891-07-02
THE HOME-SICK SOUL"
Dr. Talmage Gives Words of Com-
 fort to Wandering Prodigals.
The Fathers Door Is Always Open and Welcome Assured to All whow will Forsakc Their Evil Ways and
 Turn to the Lord.

The following appeal to young men
 was delivered by Rev T. Dewitt Tal-
 mage in the Brooklyn tabernacle, from l the text:
 will arise and go to my fathcr.-Lukc NV, | ls.
 There is nothing ike hunger to take
 the energy out of q man. A hungry
 man can toll neither with pen nor hand
 nor foot There has been many an
 army defeated not so much for lack of
 ammunition as far lack of bread. It
 was that fact that took the fire out of
 this young man of the text. storm and
 exposure will wear out any mans life
 in time, but hunger makes quick work
 The most awful cry ever heard on earth
 is the cry for bread. A traveller tells us
 that in Asia Minor there are trees which
 bear fruit looking very much like the long bean of our time. It is called the
 carab. Once in awhile the people re-
 duccd to destituton would eat these
 carabs. but generally the carabs, the
 beans spoken of here in the text, were
 thrown only to the swine, and they
 crunched them with great avidity But
 this young man of my text could not
 even get them without stealing them. l So one day amid troughs he begins to
 soliloquizc. He says: ''rhcse are no l clothes for rich mans son to wear; 1 this Is no kind of business for Jew
 to be engaged in-feeding swine I'll go home; will arise and go to my father. :"
 know there are q grest many peo- 1 pie who try to throw fascination, q , withstanding all that Lord Byron and George sand have said in regard to it, it is mean. low, contemptible busi- ness. and putting food and fodder into the troughs of Il herd of iniqWties that l root and walow in the soul of man is a very poor business for men and women intended to be sons and daughters of the l Lord Almighty. And when this young man resolved to go home it was Il very l wise thing for him to do, and the only question is whether we will follow him. satan promises large wages if
 we will serve him: but he clothes his victims with rags and he piuchcs them with hunger, and w+en they start out i to do better he set, after them all the
 bloodhounds of pcrdtion. satan comes 1 to us to-day and he promises all luxu- rics, all emolumcnt>. if we will only serve him. Liar, down with thee to the pit. The wages of sin is death. 0. the young man of the text was wise when he uttered the resolution: "l will arise and go to my father"
 In the time Of Mary, the persecutor, q prosecutor came to Il Christian woman who had hidden in her house for the
 Lords sake one of Christ's servants, and the perSccutor said: Where is that herctic?" The Christian woman said; You open that trunk and you will see the heretic" The prosecutor l opened the trunk, and on the top of the i linen of the trunk he saw glass He said: "Thcre is no herctic here" An" 1 she said, you look in the glass and ] you will see the hcrctic'" As l take 1 up the mirror ot Gods word to-day, | would that instead of seeing the prodi- 1 gal son of the text, we might see our selves our want, our wandcrings, our sin. our lost condition, so that we might be as wise as this young man was and say: II will ai'i,r and go to my father" The rc-ula'i n af this text was formed in disgust at Aj, present circumstances 1 If this young man had h2"n by his em- 1 ployer set to cuitivatiug flowers, or training vines over an nrbur. or keep i ing account of the pork market or overseeing other laborrrS he would not have thought of going home. If he had had his pockets full of money, if he had been able to say: "f have thou sand dollars now of my own; what's the use of my going back to my fathers house? Do you think l am going back to apologize to the old man? Why. he would put me on the limits; he would not have going on around the old place such conduct aS l have been engaged in; won't go home; there is no req son why l should go home: have l plenty of money, plenty of pleasant surroundings, why should go home?' An. it was his paupcrism it was his bcggary. He had to go home
 some man comes and says to me: "Why do you talk about the ruined state of the human soul? Why don't you speak about the progress of the nineteenth century and talk of some thing more cNhilarating?" It is for this reason: A man never wants the Gospel until he realizes he k in q famne-struck state. Suppose should come to you in your home and you are in good, sound robust health, and l should begin to talk about medicines and about how much better this medicine is than that and some other medicine than some other medicine, and talk about this physician and that physician, After awhile you would get tired, and you would say: "l don't want to hear about medicines | Why do you talk to me of physicians? l | never have a doctor" Hut suppose l come into your house and find you se- verely sick and know the medicines that will cure you, and know the phy sician who is skillful enough to meet your case. You say: Bring on that medicine, bring on that physician. l am terribly sick and want help" If l come to you and you are all right in body and all right in mind. and all right in soul. you have need of nothing; but suppose have persuaded you that the l leprosy of sin k upon you, the worst of all sickness. 0, then you say: Bring me that balm of the Gospel, bring me that Divine medicament, bring me Jesus 1 Christ.
 | But says some one in the audience; "How do you prove we are m ruined condition by sin?" Well, can prove it ! in two ways, and you may have your choice. 1 can prove it either by the statements of men or by the statement l of God Which shall it be? Iou all say: