The Bossier banner., 1894-12-27

a Turkish sultan-hard and unsympa-
thetic, and listening not to the cry OF
his subjects. A man told me he saw,
in one of the eastern lands, king rid
ing along, and two men were in alter
cation, and one charged the other with
having eaten his rice; and the king
said. Then slay the man, and by
post-mortem examination find whether
he has eaten the rice" And he was
slain. All! the cruelty of scene like
that. Our God is not sultan, not
despot, but a father-kind, loving, for
giving, and he makes all heaven ring
again when prodigal comes back. Il
have no pleasure he says, sin the
death of him that dieth."
Ii a man does not get to Heaven, it,
is because he will not go there. No
difference the color, no difference the
history, no difference the antecedents,
no difference the surroundings, no diff
ference the sin. When the white
horses of Christ's victory are brought
out to celebrate the eternal triumph.
you may ride one of them, and as God is
greater than all, His joy is greater; and
when a soul comes back there is in
his heart the surging of an infinite
ocean of gladness; and to express that
gladness it takes all the rivers of pleas
ure, and all the ages of eternity. 1t is
joy deeper than all depth, and higher
than all height, and wider than all
width, and vaster than all immensity.,
1t overtops, it undergirds, it outweighs
all the united splendor and joy of the
universe. Who can tell what Gods JOY
is?
You remember reading the story of a
king, who on some great day of festivi-
ty scattered silver and gold among the
people, who sent valuable presents to
his courtiers; but methinks when a
soul comes back, God is so glad that to
express His joy He filings out new
worlds into place, kindles up new suns,
and rolls among the white-robed an
thems of the redeemed a greater halle
lujah, while with voice that reverber-
ates among the mountains of franckin-
cense and is echoed back from the
everlasting gates, He cries: This, my
son, was dead, and is alive again!'
New Orleans 1 saw a Mexican fiutist,
and he played the solo, and then after
ward the eight or ten bands of music,
accompanied by the great organ, came
in; but the sound of that one flute, as
compared with all the orchestra, was
greater than all the combined joy of
the universe, when compared with the,
resounding heart of Almighty God.
For ten years father went three
times day to the depot. His son went
off in aggravating circumstances, but
the father said, He will come back"
The strain was too much, and his mind
parted; and three times a day the
father went. In the early morning he
watched the train--its arrival, the
stepping out of the passengers and
then the departure of the train
At noon he was there again,
watching the advance of the train,
watching the departure. At night,
there again, watching the coming,
watching the going, for ten years. He
was sure his son would come back.
God has been watching and waiting
for some of you, my brothers, ten
years twenty years, thirty years,
forty years, perhaps fifty years-wait-
ing, waiting, watching, watching;
and if this morning the prodigal should
come home, what a scene of gladness
| and festivity, and how the great
| Fathers heart would rejoice at your
| coming home. You will come some of
you. will you not? You will! you will!
I notice also that when prodigal
comes home there is the joy of the
ministers ofreligion. Oh, it is grand
| thing to preach this Gospel! / know
there has been a great deal said about
the trials and the hardships of the
! Christian ministry. / wish somebody
would write good, rousing book about
| the Joys, of the Christian ministry.
Since entered the profession, have
seen more of the goodnes of God
than will be able to celebrate in all
eternity. / know some boast about
| their equilibrium, and they do not rise
| into enthusiasm, and they do not break
| down with emotion; but confess to-
you plainly that when see a man COM
ing to God and giving up his sin, feel
in body, mind and soul transport
When / see man, who is bound hand
and foot in evil habit, emancipated, i
rejoice over it as though it were
my own emancipation. Wle.I, in our
communion service, such throngs of
young and old stood up at the altars,
and IN the presence of Heaven and
earth and hell, attested their allie
glance to Jesus Christ, / felt joy
! something akin to that which the
apostle describes when he says:
whether in the body can not tell,
OF out of the body can not tell; God
knoweth."
At the banquet of Lucullus sat Cicero
the orator. AT the Macedonian fes-
tival sat Phillip the conqueror. At the
Grecian banquet sat Socrates the phf-
lospher; but but at our Fathers table
sit all the retu ened prodidals, more
than conquerors. The table is so ,Side
its leaves reach across seas and across
lands. Its guests are the redeemed
of earth and the glorified of Heaven.
The ring of Gods forgiveness on every
hand, the robe of the Saviour's light