The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-07-08

he had been away from his fathers, house,.
but there is something in. the reading OF my
text that makes, me think be was, homesick.
Some of you know what that feeling is, Far
away from home sometimes, surrounded By
everything bright and pleasaut-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, Nov, perhaps,
father may not be living"
We read nothing in this story-this par:
able founded on everyday lte-we read
nothing about the mother. It says nothing
about going home to her. I think she was
dead. think she he'd died Of q broken heart
at his wanderings A man never gets over
having lost his mother. Nothing said aoons
her here. But be is shonesick for bis tathera
house. He thought he would just like to 60
and walk around the old place. He
thought he would just like to 60 and see II
things we're as they used to be. Many man
after having been of long while has gone
home and knocked at the door, and stran-
ger has come. It is the old homestead, but
stranger comes to the door. He finds out
father is gone and mother is gone, and
brothers and sisters all gone. 1 think this
young man Of the textsaid to hlmsalf, fer-
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, and his
mother tried to persuade him not to so away
again. She said: snow you had better stay
at home. Don't 60 away; we don't want you
to 90. You will have 1t 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 storm came up, and he was
ordered to very perilous duty, and be ran up
ship he heard the voice that he had heard in
the next room. He tried to whistle it of,
he tried to rally his courage, but
he could not silence that voice be had
heard in the next room, and there in
the storm and the darkness be said: 70 Lord |!
what wretch I have been: what a wretch
am. Help me just now, Lord God" And
thought in this assemblage to-day there
may be some who may have the memory Of
a fathers petition or a mothers prayer
pressing nightly upon the soul, and that
l find in my text saying, ~ will arise and
go to my father"
A lad at Liverpool went out to batha, went
out into the sea, went out too far, got beyond
his depth and he hoated far away. A ship
bound for Dublin came along and took him
on board. Sailors are generally very gener-
Gus fellows, and one gave him cap and
another gave him 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.
l,ol i'm, "
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 you
wadei out 600 deep? Have you walled down
into sin, Have you waded from the shore?
Will 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
ness? believe the latter GO home to your
God to-day. He is waiting for you. Go
home,
But remark concerning this resolution,
it was immediately put into execution. Tho
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 soms distant time. II l
resolve to become Christian next year, that
amounts to nothing at all. If I resolve to
become Christian tomorrow, that amounts
to nothing at all. If resolve at the service
tonight to become Christian, that amounts
to nothing at all. II resolve after I go
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
cutiou.
There is man who had the typhoid fever.
He said: ''Oh! il I could get over this ter
rible distress! If this fever should depart,
the rest of my life serve God" The fever
departed. He got we'll enough to walk
around the block. He got well enough to go
over to New York and attend to business.
He is we'll to-day-as well as he ever was.
Where is the broken vow? There Is man
who said long ago, ''If could live to ths
year 1891, by that time will have my busi-
ness matters arranged, aod will have time
to attend to religion, and 1 will be good,
thorough, consecrated Christian"
The year 1891 has come. January, Febru-
Of the year gone. Where is your broken
vows. oh" says some man, "rn attend
to that when I can get my character fixed
up. When can get over my evil habits. l
am now given to strong drink" or, says the
man, lam given to uncieanness," or, says the
man, 81 am given TO dishonesty. When I get
over my present habits then I'll be thor
ough Christian" My brother you will get
worse and worse, until Christ takes you in
hand. Not the righteous; sinners, Jesus
came to CALI"
Oil but you say, 81 agree with you on all
that, but 1 must put it off little longer"
M vr
near as you are to the kingdom OF God and
never entered it. l was at East Hampton
and went into the cemetery to look around,
and in that cemetery there are twelve graves
side by side-the graves OF sailors. This
crew, some years ago, i'll 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 ves-
sci and they shot rockets, and they sent
ropes from the shore, and these poor fellows
got into the boat, and they pulled nightly
for the shore, but just before they got to the
shore the rope snapped and the boat capsized
and they were lost, their bodies afterward
washed up on the beach. Oh, whata 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 the
funeral service! 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 be saved at all.
will tell you Of two prodigals, the one
that got back and the other that did not get
back. In Virginia there is q very prosper
Gus and beautiful home in many respects. A
young man wandered off from that home.
He wandered very far into sin. They heard
Of him often, but he was always on the