Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-06-25

dllSelS VI IL Is uCWS, IL 10 hS"S
| 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.
Whhn 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 toward the mountains, he said:
''There shall be- no Alps" That wonder
full pass was laid out which has been the
wonderment of all the years since-the
wonderment of all engineers. And you
tell NE there are such mountains of sin be-
tween your soul and God, there Is no
mercy Then 1 see Christ waving his hand
toward the mountains: l hear him say: 81
will come over the mountain of thy sin and
the hills of thy iniquity" There shall be
no Pyreneees; there shall be no Alps.
NOT MERE PHYSICAL PLIGHT.
Again, I notice that this resolution of
the young man of the text was founded
in sorrow at his misbehavior. 1t was not
mere physical plight. 1t was grief that
he had so maltreated his father. 1t is a sad
thing after father has done everything
for child to have that child ungrateful.
How sharper than serpents tooth it is,
To have thankiess child"
That is Shakespeare. "a foolish son is
the heaviness of his mother" That is the
Bible. Well, my friends, have not some of
us been cruel prodigals2 Have we not
maltreated our Fathers And such a
Father! So loving, so kind. If He had
been a stranger, if He had forsaken US, if
He had fiagellated US, if He had pounded
US and turned US out of doors on the COM
mons, it would not have been so wonderful
our treatment of him; but He is a
f,%l L., H.
of US for our wanderingS have nevar apol-
ogized. We apologize for wrongs done to
our fellows, but some of US perhaps have
committed ten thousand times ten thousand
wrongs against God and never apOlogiZed.
remark still further that this resolution
of the text was founded in feeling of
honlesickness. don't know how long this
young man, how many months, how many
years, he had been away from his fathers
house; but there is something in the read
ing of my text that makes me think he was
homeSick. Some of you know what that
feeling is. Far away from home some
times, surrounded by everything bright and
pleasant-plenty of friends-you have
said: 81 would give the world to be home
tonight" Well, this young man was home
sick for his fathers house. l have no doubt
when he thought of his fathers house, he
said: Snow, perhaps, father may not be
iving'
NOTHING ABOUT MOTHER.
We read nothing in this story-this para
bic founded on everyday life-we read moth
ing about the mother. 1t says nothing about
going home to her. / think she was dead.
l think she had died of 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 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 of for long while,
has gone home and knocked at the door.
and a stranger has come. 1t 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. 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 home
sick for God, homesick for heavenl
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 bet
ter 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 before 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 a storm came
up and be was ordered to very perilous
duty, md be rnu up tho rAtltnes, and amid
fAs sAreuds a khsB ship he hsard the voice