The Yale expositor., 1896-04-10

- "S' W. say, Lct us nave luc STATE
ment of God" Well, he says in one
place, "The heart Is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked" He
says In another place, What Is man
that nc should be clean? and he which
Is born Of woman, that he should he
righteous?" He says in another place.
There is none that doeth good--no.
not one" He says In another place,
GAS by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin, and so death
passed upon all men, for that all had
sinned." We'll" you say, 81 am will
ing to acknowledge that, but why
should 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, ara
ready to accept this help of the Gospel;
| would like to have this divine cure;
how shall I go to work." Let me say
that mere whim, an underlined long
ing amounts to nothing. You must
have a stout, a tremendous resolution
like this young man of the text when
he said. II will arise and go to my
father" oh says some man. how
do / know, if I go back, / would be
received?" "Oh," says some man, you
don't know where ! have been: you
don't know how far l have wandered;
you wouldn't talk that way to me II
you knew all the iniquities have COM
mitted." What is that flutter among the
angels of God? What is that horscman
running with quick dispatch? It is
news, 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.
And strike tho 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 toward the mountains, he said,
There shall be no Alps" That won
derful pass was laid out which has been
the wonderment of all the years since
the wonderment of all engineers.
And you tell me there are such noun
tains of sin between your soul and
God, there is no mercy. Then I see
Christ waving his hand toward the
mountains. l hear him say, Il will
come over the mountains of thy sin
and the hills Of thine iniquity." There
shall be no Pyrenees; there shall be no
Alps.
Again: I notice that this resolution
of the young man of my text was found
ed in sorrow at his misbehavior 1t was
not mere physical plight. 1t was grief
that he had so maltreated his father.
1t is a sad thing after father has done
everything for child to have that child
ungrateful.
How sharper than a serpents tooth
it is,
To have a thankless child.
That is Shakespeare. "a foolish son
is the heaviness of his mother" That
is the Bible. Well, my friends, have
not some of us been cruel prodigals?
Hav. we not maltreated our Father?
And such Father! Three times day
has he fed thee. He has poured sun
light into thy day and at night kindled
ND all the strcet-lamps of heaven. With
what varieties 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 de-
parted? Such a father! So loving, so
kind. If he had been a stranger; il he
had forsaken us; il he had 1agellatcd
us; IL he had pounded us and turned
us out Of doors on the commons, it
would not have been so wonderful
our treatement of him: but he is a
Father, so loving, SO kind, and yet how
many of us for our wanderings have
never apologiZed! If we say anything
that hurts our friends feelings, if we
do anything that hurts feelings of those
in whom we are interested, how quick
ly we apologize! We can scarcely wait
until we get pen and paper to write a
letter of apology. How easy it is for
any one who is intelligent, right-hoart-
ed, to write an apology, or make an
apology! We apologize for wrongs
done to our fellows, but some of us per-
haps have committed ten thousand
times ten thousand wrongs against God
and never apologized.
remark still further, that this reso-
luton of the text was founded in feel
ing OF inconsistencies. / 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 something about the reading Of my
text that makes me think he was home
sick. Some Of you know what that feel
ing ia. Far away from home some
times surrounded by everything bright
and pleasant--plenty of friends-you
have said: 81 would give the world to
be home tonight" Well, this young
man was homesick for his fathers
I,o nh