Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-07-11

after & father has done everything Ior q CHILD
70 have that child be ungratefll.
How sharper than a serpent tooth. ii Is,
To have s thaakless child
That is Shakespeare. "A foolish son is the
aeaviness OF his mother" That is the Bible
Well nv friends have not some of us been
cruel prodigalst Have we not n1altreated
our Father And such a Father So loy-
ing, so kind. If H had been a stranger, if
He had forsaken US. if He mad fagellatei Us.
If He had pounded Us and turned Us out Of
doors on the commons. 1t would not have
been SO wonderful-our treatment Of Him
but he is a Father 50 loving, 50 END, and
yet how many of Us for our wanderings have
never apologized. We apologize for wrongs
done 10 our fellows, but some OF Us perhaps
nave committed ten thousand times ten
thousand wrongs against Cod ana never
apolOglZad.
remark still farther that this resolution
Of the text was founded in a feeling Of home
sickness. don't know how long this young
man, how many months, how many years
he had been away from hi. father house:
but there Is something IN the reading Of my
text that makes me think h= was homeslck.
Some Of YOU know what that feeling Is. Far
away from home sometimes, surrounded b.
everything bright and pleasant plenty OF
friends-you have said, II would give the
world 10 be nome tonight. Well, this
young man was homesick for his fathers
house. l have no doubt when he thought OF
his fathers house he said, Now, perhaps,
father may not be living"
We read nothing III this stOry-thls par
able founded on everyday lfe-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 wanderings. A man never gets over
having lost his mother. Nothing said about
her here. But he Is hoInesick 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 g and SEQ if
things We're as they used to be. Many q man
after having been off a long while has gone
HON and knocked at the door, and a stran-
ger has come. 1t is the old homestead, 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, Per
haps father may be dead Still he starts to
find out. He Is homesick. Are there any
here today homesick for God, homesick for
heaven?
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 better stay
at home Don't goaway; we don't want you
to 90. You will nave it 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 went far out on
the sea, and a storm came up, and he was
ordered to very perllous duty, and he ran up
the ~ratlines, and amid the shrouds Of the
ship he heard the Vol e 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 be had
hDGr IN n nny ~~ - =.
the storm Md the darkness he said: 80 Lord
what a wretch l have been: what a wretch
| am. Help ME just now, Lord God.o And
thought in this assemblage to-day there
may be some who may have the memory Of
q fathers petition or a mothers PRAYER
pressing nightly upon the soul, and that
this hour they may make the same resolution
| lind In my text. saying, Il Will arise and
go to my father"
lad at Liverpool went out to battle, went
out into the sea, went out too far, got beyond
his depth and he fioated far away. A ship
bound for Dublin came along and took him
on board. Sailors are generally very gener-
GUS follows, and one gave him a cap and
another gave him a jacket, and another gave
nm shoes. A gentleman passing along on
ttle beach at Liverpool found the lads
clothes and took them home, and the father
was heartbrohen, the mother was heartbroken
at the loss of their child.
They had heard nothing from him day
liter day, and they ordered the usual mourn
ing for the sad event. But the lad took ship
rom Dublin and arrived in Liverpool the
, very day the garments arrived. He knocked
At the door, and the father was overjoyed,
ana the mother was overjoyed at the return
OF their lost son. Oh. my friends, have YOU
"aded out too deep? Have you waded down
iLtosln? Have you Waded from the shore?
WI YOU come back? When you come back,
will you come in the rags of your sin, or will
YOU come robed In the Saviour's righteous
A@ss2 | believe the latter. Go home to your
Sod to-day. He is waiting for you. Go
home
But l remark concerning this resolution.
II was Immediately put into execution. The
context says, He arose and came/to his
father The trouble in nine hundred and
ninety nine times out of a thousand is that
our resolutions amount to nothing because
we make them for some distant time. Ii |
resolve to become a Christian next wear that.
amounts to nothing at all. If l resolve to
hecome a Christian tomorrow, that amounts
to nothing at all. If | resolve at the service
tonight to become a Christian, t~hatamounts
to nothing at all. If l resolve after l 60
home to-day to yield my heart to God, that
amounts to nothing at all. The only kind of
resolution that amounts to anything is the
resolution that Is Immediately put into exc
cutlon.
There is a man who had the typhoid fever.
He said: oh if could get over this ter
rlble distressl II this fever should depart,
if | could be restored to health, l would all
the rest of my life serve God" The fever
departed. He got well enough to walk
around the block. He got well enough to go
over to New York and attend to business.
lie Is we'll to-day-as well as he ever was.
Where is the broken vow3 There is a man
who said long ago, IF l could live to the
year 1891, by that time | will nave my bust
Hess matters arranged, and I will have time
TO attend TO religion, and I will be a good
thorough, consecrated Christian"
The year 1891 has come. January, Febru-
airy. March, April, May, June-almost half
of the year gone. Where Is your broken
vows. oh" says some man, "rn attend
TO that when l can get my character fixed
up. When can get over my evil habits. |
am now given to strong drink" or, says the
man, lam given to u~ncleanness," or, say the
man, Il am given to dishonesty. When | get
over my present habits. then I'll be a thor
ough Christian" My brother. you win get
worse aud worse, until Christ takes you IN
hand. Not the righteous: sinners. Jesns