The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1896-04-17

He thought he would Just like to go and
see If things were as they used to ba
Many a man after having been OF q
long while has gone home and knocked
at the door, and a stranger has come.
1t is the old homestead, but a stranger
m to the door. He finds out tina.
father is gone, and mother is gone, and
brothers and sisters all gone. / think
this young man of the text said to him.
self, Perhaps father may be dead
Still, he starts to find out. He is
homesick. Are there any here to-day
hcmesick for God, homesick for heav-
en-? A sailor, after having been long
on the sea. returned to his fathers
house, and his mother tried to persuade
him not to go away again. She said,
Nov, you had better stay at home.
Don't go away. We don't want you to
go. You will have it a great deal bet
ter here" But it made MIN angry. The
night before 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 p~erilous 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 cour-
age; but he could not silence the voice
he had heard in the next room, and
there in the storml and darkness he
said, 20 Lord! what a wretch l have
been? What a wretch I am! Help me
just now, Lord Cod" And I thought
in this assemblage to-day there may be
some who may have the memory of a
fathers petition, or a mothers prayer
pressing nightly upon the soul, and
that this hour they may make the
same resolution l find in my text, say
ing: 81 will arise and go to M father"
A lad at Liverpool went out to bathe;
went out into the sea, went out too far,
got beyond his depth and he floated far
away. A ship bound for Dublin came
along and took him on board. Sailors
are generally very generous fellows.
and one gave him a cap, and another
gave him a 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 Of their
child. They had heard nothing from
him day after day, and they ordered
the usual mourning for the sad event.
arrived in Liverpool the very day the
mourning arrived. He knocked at the
door, the father was overjoyed and the
mother was overjoyed at the return Of
their lost son. Oh, my friends, have
you waded out too deep? Have you
waded down into sin? Have you waded
from the shore? Will you come back?
When you come back will you come in
the rags Of your sin, or will you come
robed in the Savior's righteousness? l
believe the latter. Go home to your God
to- day. He is waiting for you. Go
home!
But I remark the characteristic of
this resolution was, it was Immediately
put into execution. The context says
"he arose and came to his father" The
trouble in nine hundred and ninety
nine times out of a thousand is that our
resolutions amount to nothing, because
we make them for some distant time.
If I resolve to become a Christian next
year that amounts to nothing at all.
If 1 resolve to become q Christian to-
morrow, that amounts to nothing at
all. If I resolve at the service this day
to become a Christian, that amounts to
nothing at all. If l resolve after / go
home to-day 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. There
is a man who had the typhoid fever, he
said: ooh! if I could get over this ter
rible disease; if this fever should de- |
part; if I could be restored to health,
I would all the rest of my life serve !
God" The fever departed. He got well
enough to walk around the block. He
got well enough to go yer to business.
He is well to-day-as we'll as he eVer
was. Where is the broken VOW?