The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1892-10-15

don't know where l have been; you
don't know how far ] have wandered;
you wouldn't talk that way If you knew
all the iniquities have committed"
What is that f1utter among the angels
of God? 1t is news, 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
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 be-
lief that he had so maltreated his
father. 1t is a sad thing after a
father has done everything for child
to have that child be ungratefuL
How sharper than q serpsnt's toooth, 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 some Of us been cruel prodigals?
Have we not maltreated our Father?
And such Fatheri 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
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thousand wrongs against God and never
apologized.
remark still further that this reso-
luton of the text was founded in a
feeling of inconsistencies 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
homesick. Some Of you know what
that feeling is. Far away from home
sometimes, surrounded by everything
bright and pleasant-plenty of friends
you have said: IT would give the
world to be home tonight" Well, this
Young man was homesiok 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.
/ think she was dead. 1 think she had
died of broken heart at his wander
ings, or perhaps he had gone into dis
sipation from the fact that he could not
remember loving and sympathetic
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 woul d
just like to go out and walk
around the old place. He thought he
would just like to go and see if things
we're as they used to be. Many a man,
after having been of a long while, has
gone home and knocked at the door and
q stranger had come. It is the old
homestead, but q stranger comes to the
door. He finds out father is gone,
mother is gone, and brothers and sisters
are 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 Heaven?
A sailor, after having been long at
sea, returned to his fathers house, and
his mother tried to persuade him not
to go away again. She said: ''Now
you had better stay at home; don't &c
away, we don't want you to go. You
will have it a greet deal better here. u
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 a
storm came up, and he was ordered to
very perilous duty, and he ran up the
ratlines, 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 tina,
voice he had heard in the next room
and there in the storm and darkness he
said: ''Oh! Lord, what wretch am
Help me just now. Lord God" And
thought in this assemblage to-day there
may be some who may have the mem.
DRY of fathers petition or mothers
prayer meeting pressing nightly upon
the soul, and that this hour they may
make the same resolution find in my
text, saying: II will arise and go to my
father"
A Lad at Liverpool went out to battle.
went out into the sea, went out too far,
got beyond his depth, and he fioated
far away, A ship bound for Dublin
came along and took him on board.
Sailors are generally very generous fel.
lows, and one gave him cap and an
other 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 oi
their child. They had heard nothing
from him day after day, and they
ordered 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. o! my friends, have you waded
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