The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-09-01

OF the young man Of the text was
founded IN sorrow at his misbehayior.
lt was not mere physical plight. It
4 A va, vas grief that he had 50 maltreated
ms ! father, 1t is a sad thing after a
/ iat ne has done rything for child
TO have that child be unerateful.
How sharper than serpcnts tooth, ii is,
10 have thankless child.
That is Shakespeare. IA foolish
son is the heayiness OF his mother y
mat ls the Bible. Well, my friends,
nave g not some Of us been cruel prodi-
gals! Have we not maltreated our
rather? And such Father! So low
Ing, 90 kind. If he had been g. stran-
ger, II he had forsaken us, if he had
negotiated us, if he had pounded us
ana turned us out of doors on the
commons, 1T would not have been so
Wonderful-o treatment of him: bnt
ne ls q Father so loving, so kind, and
yet how many of us for our wander
lngs have never apologized. We apol-
oglze for wrongs done to our fellows.
but some OF us perhaps have commit
ted ten thousand times ten thousand
wrongs against God and never apollo
gized. 80
! remark still further, that this reso-
luton OF the text was founded ina
feeling of inconsistencies.
we read nothing in this story
tn, this parable founded on everyday
llfe-we read nothing about the moth
er. 1t says nothing about going home
TO her. think she WAS dead. I think
she had died of a broken heart at his
W.anderings, or perhaps he had gone
into dissipation from the fact he could
not remember a loving and sympa-
thetic mother. 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 60 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 a man after
having been off long while, has gone
home and knocked at the door and a.
stranger has come. It is the old home
stead, but stranger comes to the
door. He finds out father is gone,
mother is gone and brothers and
sisters all gone. I 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 to-day homesick
for God, homesick for heaven?
But | remark the characteristic of
this resolution was, it was immediate-
lie put into execution.
The context says che arose and came
to his father" The trouble in nine hun
dred and ninety-nine cases out of a.
thousand is that our resolutions
amount to nothing because we make
them for some distant time. If I re-
solve to become a Christian next year,
that amounts to nothing at ALL If I
resolve to become Christian tomor-
row, that amounts to nothing at all.
Ii resolve at the service today to be-
come a Christian, that amounts to
nothing at all. If I resolve after I 20
home today 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 execution.
Today | offer you the pardon of the
Gospel-full pardon, free pardon. I
40 not care what your crime has
been. Though you say you haye
committed a, crime against God,
against your own soul, against your
fellow.man, against your family,
against the day of Judgment, against
the Cross OF Christ-whatever your
crime has been, mere is pardon, full
pardon your heavenly Father throws
his arms about you and says. "My
son, Itorgive you. It is all ri ht You
are as much in my favor now as if
you had never sinned." Oh! there is
Joy on earth and Joy in heaven. Who
will take the Fathers embrace?