The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-11-14


the press last Sunday, Home Again"
the text chosen being: Bring hither
the fatted calf and kill it," Luke xv.,
23:
In all ages of the world it has been
custom ary to celebrate joyful events by
festivities-the signing of treaties, the
proclamation of peace, the Christmas,
the marriage. However much on other
days of the year our table may have
stinted supply, on Thanksgiving day
there must be something bounteous
And all the comfortable homes of
Christendom have at some time cele-
brated joyful events by banquet and
festivity.
Something has happened in the old
homestead greater than anything that
has ever happened before, A favorite
son, whom the world supposed would
become vagabond and outlaw for
ever, has got tired of sightseeing and
has returned to his fathers house. The
world said he would never come back.
The old man always said this son
would come. He had been looking for
him day after day and year after year.
He knew he would come back. Now,
having returned to his fathers house,
the father proclaims celebration. There
is a calf in the paddock that has been
kept up and fed to utmost capacity, so
as to be ready for some occasion Of joy
that might come along. All! there
never will be grander day on the old
homestead than this day. Let the
butchers do their work, and the house
keepers bring into the table the smok-
ing meat. The musicians will take
their places, and the gay groups will
move up and down the floor. All the
friends and neighbors are gathered in
and extra supply is sent out to the
table of the servants. The father pre-
sides at the table, and says grace, and
thanks God that his long-absent boy is
home again. Oh! how they missed HIM;
how glad they are to have him back.
One brother indeed stands pouting at
the back door and says: "This is q
great ado about nothing; this bad boy
should have been chastened instead of
greeted; veal is too good for him" But
the father says: Nothing is too good;
nothing is good enough" There sits
the young man, glady at the hearty re-
ception, but shadow of sorrow fitting
across his brow at the remembrance of
the trouble he had seen. All ready
now. Let the covers lift. Music He
was dead and he is alive again! He
was lost and he is found! BY such
bold imagery does the Bible set forth
the merry making when soul comes
home to God.
First of all, there is the new con-
verts Joy. 1t is no tame thing to be-
come Christian. The most tremend-
GUS moment in mans life is when he
surrenders himself to God. The grand
est time on the fathers homestead is
when the boy comes back. Among the
great throng who. in the parlors of my
church, confessed Christ one night was
young man. who next morning rang
my door-bell and said: "Sir, 1 cannot
contain myself with the joy / feel; l
came here this morning to express it.
have found more joy in five minutes
in serving God than in all the years OF
my prodigality, and came to say So"
! You have seen, perhaps, man run
ming for his physical liberty, and the
officers Of the law after him; and you
saw him escape, or afterward you
heard the Judge had pardoned him, and
how great was the glee of that rescued
man; but it is very tame thing that,
compared with the running for ones
everlasting life-the terrors of the law
after him, and Christ coming in to par
don and bless and rescue and save. You
remember John Bunyan, in his great
story, tells how the Pilgrim put his fin
gers in his ears and ran, crying: Life,
life, eternal life!" A poor car driver,
after having had to struggle to support
his family for years suddenly was in.
formed that large inheritance was
his, and there was joy amounting to be-
wilderment, but that is small thing
compared with the experience of one
when he has put in his hands the title
deed to the joys, the raptures, the
splendors of Heaven, and he can truly
say: "Its mansions are mine, its tenn
pies are mine, its songs are mine, its
God is mine"
o, it is no tame thing to become a
Christian. 1t is merry making. 1t is
the killing of the fatted calf. 1t is ju-
bilee. You know the Bible never com.
pares it to funeral, but always com
pares it to something bright. 1t is more
apt to be compared to a banquet than
any thing else. 1t is compared in the
Bible to the water-bright, flashing
water; to the morning fire.
worked, mountain-transfgured morn
ing. | wish / could to-day take all the
Bible expressions about pardon and
peace, and life and comfort, and hope
and heaven, and twist them into one
garland, and put It on the brow of the
humblest child of God in all this land,
and cry: Wear it, wear 1t now, wear
it forever, son of God, daughter of the
Lord God Almighty. o, the joy of the
new convert! 0, the gladness of the
Christian servicel
You have sometimes seen man in a
religious assembly get up and give his
experience. Well, Paul gave his ex-
perience. He rose in the presence OF
two churches--the church on earth and
the church in Heaven-and he said:
"Now, this is my experiences: sorrow
full, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet
making many rich; having nothing, yet
possessing all things II all the peo'
pie who read this sermon knew the
joys OF the Christian religion, they
would all pass over into the kingdom