The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-08-26

THE ALL fOWEhflL NAME
"Well," you say, 81 am willing to ac-
knowledge that, but why should | take
the particular rescue that you proposey
This is the reason, Except man be
born again he cannot see the kingdom
of God" This is the reason, "There
is one name given under heaven among
men whereby they may be saved, J."
Then there are thousand voices here
ready to say, "Well, am ready to ac-
cept this help of the Gospel; would
like to have this divine cure; how shall
GO to work. Let me say that mere
within, an underlined longing amounts to
nothing. You must have a stout, tre-
mendous resolution like this young man
of the text, when he said, 81 will arise
and go to my father"
"Oh," says some man, show do know
my father wants me? How do know, if
/ go back, l would be receivedp "Oh,"
says some man, lyon don't know where
l have been; you don't know how far
have wandered; you wouldn't talk that
way to me if you knew all the iniquities
l have committed" What is that flutter
among the angels Of God? 1t is newsi
it is news! Christ has found the lost.
Nor angels can their JOY contain,
But kindled 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 you 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 wonderful pass was laid
| out which has been the wonderment 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, and l hear him say, 81 will
come over the mountains of thy sin and
the hills of thine iniquity." There shall
be no Pyrenees; there shall be no Alps.
Again, 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
be ungrateful.
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it Is
| To have thanllless 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 prodigals?
Have we not maltreated our Father?
And such a Father! So loving, so kind.
If he had been stranger, if he had for
saken us, if he had fagellated 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 apologizedl We
| apologize for wrongs done to our fell
lows, but some of us perhaps have COM
mitted ten thousand times ten thousand
wrongs against God and never apollo
gized.
| THE DlSGUSTED PRODIGAL.
| remark still further that this reso-
| luton of the text was founded in feel
| ing of homesickness. | do not know
| how long this young man. how many
months, how many years, he had been
away from his fathers house, but there
is something about the reading of my
| text that makes me think he was home
sick. Some of you know what that feel
ing is. Far away from home sometimes,
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 homesick for his fathers house.
have no doubt when he thought of his
fathers house he said, "Now perhaps
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. l
think she was dead. I think she had
died of broken heart at his wander
ings, or perhaps he had gone into dissi-
patton from the fact he could not re-
member loving and sympathetic moth
er. A man never gets over having lost
his mother. Nothing said about her
here. But he is homesick for his ia
theirs 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 a
long while has gone home and knocked
at the door, and stranger has come. 1t
is the old homestead, but a stranger
comes to the door, He finds out father
is gone, 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 OIL
the sea, returned to his fathers house
and his mother tried to persuade hin
not to go away again. She said: "Nov
you had better stay at home; don't g
away; we don't want you to go. Yor
will have it a great deal better here.
But it made him angry. The night be
fore he went away again to sea he heart
his mother praying in the next room
and that made him more angry. I'll
went far out on the sea, and storm
came up, and he was ordered to yer.
perilous duty, and he ran up the rat
lines, and AMID the shrouds Of the shil
he heard the voice that he had heart
in the next room.
He tried TO whistle it off: he tried t.
rally Ills courage; but he could not 81
leuce that voice he had heard in the mex
room, and there in the storm and tn
darkness he said: 80 Lord, what
wretch l have been, what wretcl
! am! Help me just now, Lord God.
And l thought in this assembling
today there may be some who ma
have the memory of a fathers petitio
or mothers prayer pressing mightil
!, upon the soul, and that this hour the
may make tie same resolution find i
my text, saying, II will arise and go t