News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-06-25

an underlined longing amounts to moth
ing. You must have a stout, tremen-
dous resolution like this young man of
the text when he said, II will arise and
go to my father.
'OhP says some man, how do
know my father wants me2 How do
know, if l go back, would be re
eeivedW 'OhP' says some man, you
don't know where l have been; you
don't know how far l have wandered;
you wouldn't talk that way to me if
you knew all the iniquities l have com
mitted." What is that flutter among
the angels of God2 1t is news, it is
newsl 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 of it.
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 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, 81 will come over the noun
tains of thy sin and the hills of thy in
iquity." There shall be no Pyrenees;
there shall be no Alps.
A GoDLY SORROW FOR SIN.
Again, | notice that this resolution OF
the young man of the text was found
ed in sorrow at his misbehavior. 1t
was not mere physical plight. 1t was
grief that he had so maltreated his
father 1t is sad thing after father
had done everything for child, to have
that child be ungrateful
| How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is,
To have thankless child.
That is Shakespeare. "A foolish son
is the heaviness of his mother" That
is the Bible. Well, my friends, have not
SOIAC Vi 10 DCCI Vi ltSA BlONiSSStloF Lave
we not maltreated our father2 And
such fatherl So loving, so kind. If
he had been a stranger, if he had for
saken us, if he had fiagellated us, if he
had pounded us and turned US out of
doors on the commons, it would not
have been so wonderful-our treatment
of him, but he is father so loving, SO
kind, and yet how many of US for our
wanderings have never apologiZed. We
apologize for wrongs done to our fell
lows, but some of us perhaps have COM
mitted ten thousand times ten thou
sand wrongs against God and never
apologiZed.
remark still further that this reso-
luton of the text was founded in feel
ing of inconsistencies l don't know
how long this young man, how many
months, how many years, he had been
away from his.father's house, but there
is something in, the reading of my text
that makes Inc think he was homesick.
Some of you know what that feeling is.
Far away from home, sometimes sur
rounded by everything bright and
pleasant-plenty of friends-you have
said, Il 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"
We read nothing in this story-this
parable founded on everyday life-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 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 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 u long while, has gone home
and knocked at the door, and stran-
ger has come. 1t is the oldhomestead,
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, Perhaps father may be
dead" Still he starts to find out. He
is homesick. Are there any here to-
day homesick for God, homesick for |
heaven2
A MOTHERS PRAYER FOLLOWED HIM.
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, Nov
you had better stay at home; don't go
away; we don't want you to go; you
will have it a great deal better here"
But it made him angry. The night be-
fore 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 rat |
lines, 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 i'll the next room, and there in |
the storm and the darkness he said: |
80, Lord what a wretch l 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 a |
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, Il
will arise and go to my father"
A lad at Liverpool went out to bathe
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 generous fell
lows, and one gave him a cap and an
other 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 heartbroken at the loss of
their child. They had heard nothing
from him, day after day, and they Or
dered the usual mourning 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 you waded
out too deep2 Have you waded down