Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1892-09-01

..,o ,,,rro man of the text was
s 9, vms in Sorrow athis misbehavlor:
It was not mere physical p ngns. ID
was grief that he had so mal't tte"
His father, It is sad thing AFTER y, .
father has done everything for a chlo
~ Nave that child be ungratetul.
How sharper than serre,nts too'n' n '''
TO have thankless child.
That is Shakespeare: "a foollsn
son is the heaviness OF his mocnel.
That Is the Bible. Well, my TRENDS
have not some OF US been cruel prool-
gals? Have we not maltreateo our
Father? And such a Father! so low
ing, so kind. If he had been q STRAP,
ger il he had forsaken US, if he had
fiagellated us, ii 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 a Father so loving, so kind, ana
vet how many Of us for our WANDER
ings have never apologized. We apol-
osize for wrongs done to our fellows,
but some of lis perhaps have commit,
ted ten thousand times ten thousand
wrongs against God and never apolo'
gized.
remark still further, that this reso-
luton of the text was founded III
feeling of inconsistencies.
We read nothing in this story
this parable founded on everyday
life-we read nothing about the moth
er. 1t says nothing about going home
to her. think she was dead. l think
she had died OF q broken heart at his
wanderings, or perhaps he had gone
into dissipation from the fact he could
not remember a loving and sympa-
thetic mother A man nevergets 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 60 and see if things were as
they used to be. Many q man after
having been off q long while, has gone
home and knocked at the door and a
stranger has come. 1t is the old home
stead, but a stranger comes to the
door. He finds out father is gone,
mother is gone and brothers and
sisters all gone. l 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 I remark the characteristic OF
this resolution was, it wasimmediate-
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 l re.
solve to become a Christian next year,
that amounts to nothing at all. If
resolve to become a Christian tomor.
row, that amounts to nothing at ALL
If resolve at the service today to be.
come a Christian, that amounts to
nothing at all. If 1 resolve after l GO
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 l offer you the pardon of the
Gospel-full pardon, free pardon.
do not care what your crime has
been. Though you say you have
committed 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 YOU,
crime has been, here is pardon, full
pardon your heavenly Father throws
his arms about you and says: "My
son, I forgive you. It is all ri ht. Yor
are as much in my favor now as i
you had never sinned." Oh! there is
Joy on earth and Joy in heaven. Who
will take the Fathers embrace?