Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-04-06

! should be riShteous?' He says III anoth
! er place, ''There is none that doeth good
no, not one. - He says in another
place, 'tAs by one man sin entered into
! the world, and death by sin, and SO
death passed upon all men, for that all
had sinned.'' ''Well,'' you say, 81 am
willing to acknowledge that, but WHY
| should I take the particular rescue that
you propose?" This is the reason Eek
cept man be born again he cannot see
the kingdom of God. - This is the rea-
son: ''There is one name given under
| heaven among men whereby they may
be saved" Then there are a thousand
voices here ready to say: ''Well, am
ready to accept this help of the gospel
I would like to have this divine cure
How shall ] go to work." Let me say
that mere whim, an underlined longing,
amounts to nothing. You must have a
stout, a tremendous resolution like this
young man of the text when BE said, ST
will arise and go to my father. - ooh,
says some man, chow do I know my
father wants me? How do I know if go
back Iwould be received?" "Oh," says
some man, "you don't know where /
have been. You don't know how far I
have wandered on wouldn't talk that
way to me if you knew all the iniquities
I have committed. F." What is that fiutter
among the angels of God? What is that
horseman running with quick dispatch!
It is neWsI It is news Christ has found
the lost
Nor angels can their joy contain,
But kindle with new fire
The sinner lost is found, they sing,
l. And strike the sounding Tyre.
When Napoleon talked Of going into
Italy, they said: "You can't get there.
If you knew what the Alps were. you
wouldn't talk about it or think about it.
You can't get your ammunition wagons
over the Alps. - Then Napoleon rose in
his stirrups, and, waving his hand to-
ward the mountains, he said, "There
shall be no Alpsg' That wonderful pass
was laid out which has been the won
derment Of all the years since-the Won
derment of all engineers And you tell
me there are such mountains Of sin be-
tween your soul and God there is no
mercy. Then I see Christ waving his
hand toward the mountains I hear him
say, 81 will come over the mountains of
thy sin and the hills of thine iniquity. -
There shall be no Pyrenees; there shall
be no Alps.
Repentant.
Again, I notice that this resolution of
the young man of my text was founded
in sorrow at his misbehavior. 1t was not
mere physical plight. It was grief that
he had so maltreated his father. 1t is q
sad thing after father has done every
thing for child to have that child IN
grateful.
How sharper than serpent's tooth it is
To have thankless child.
That is Shakespeare. GA 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
a Fatherl Three times a day has he fed
thee. He has poured sunlight into thy
day, and at night kindled up all the
street lamps of heaven. With what vari-
cites Of apparel he hath clothed thee for
the seasons. Whose eye watches thee?
Whose hand defends thee: Whose heart
sympathizes with thee? Who gave you
your children? Who is guarding your
loved ones departed? Such Fatherl So
loving, SO kind. IL he had been a stran-
ger, if he had forsaken us, if he had
1agellated 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 a Fa-
ther, SO loving, SO kind, and yet how
many Of as for our Wanderings have
never apologized! If we say anything
that hurts our friend S feelings, if we do
anything that hurts the feelings of those
in whom we are interested, how quickly
we apologize We can scarcely wait IN
til we get pen and paper to write let
ter of apology. How easy it is for any
one who is intelligent, right hearted,
to write an apology or make an apollo
gy! We apologize for wrongs done to our
fellows, but some of US perhaps have
committed ten thousand times ten thou
sand wrongs against God and never
apologized.
Iremark still further that this resolu-
tion of the text was founded in a feel
ing of inconsistencies. I 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 some
thing 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, surround
ed by everything bright and pleasant
plenty of friends-you have said, ct
would give the world to be home to-
night. - Well, this young man was
homesick for his fathers house. I have
no doubt when he thought of his fathers
house he said, CHOW perhaps father
may not be living" We read nothing
in this story-this parable-foundedo on
everyday life; we read nothing about
the mother. It says nothing about going
home to her. I think she was dead. I
think she had died of broken heart at
his wanderings, or perhaps he had gone