The Monitor-register., 1896-04-10

Italy, they salu. fou canr get There.
If you knew what the Alps were. Won
wouldn't talk about it or think about II
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, ssThere
shall be no AlpsV' 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 he.
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.n
There shall be no Pyrenees; there shall
be no Alps.
R~epentant.
Again, I notice that this resolution Of
the young nan of my text was founded
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 a father has done every
thing for a child to have that child IN
grateful.
How sharper than a serpent's 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? Have
we not maltreated our Father? And such
a Father 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 a Father So
loving, so kind. If he had been a stran-
ger, if he had forsaken us, if he had
fagellated 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, Sc kind, and yet how
many Of us for our wanderings have
never ~apologizedl If we say anything
that hurts our friends feelings, if we do
anything that hurts the feelings of those
in whom we are interested, how quickly
we a%pologizel We can scarcely wait un-
til we get pen and paper to write a let
ter of apology. How easy it is for any
one who is intelligent, right hearted,
to write an apology or make an apollo
cyl We apologize for wrongs done to our
| Fa11or,. 1-A o,,o - 80 Narbonc houo
committed ten thousand times ten thou
sand wrongs against God and never
~apologized.
Iremark still further that this resolu-
ton 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, 81
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, "Now perhaps father
may not be living" We read nothing
in this story-this parable-founded on
/ everyday life; we read nothing about
the mother. 1t says nothing about going
home to her. / think she was dead.
think she had died of a broken heart at
his wanderings, or perhaps he had gone
into. dissipation from the fact that he
could not remember a loving and SYM
pathetic mother. A man never gets ovel
having lost his mother. Nothing said
about her, but he is homesick for his ia
theirs house. He thought he would just
like to go and walk around the old place.
He thought he would just like to go and
see if things were as they used to be.
Many a man after having been off a
long while has gone home and knocked
at the door, and a stranger has come. 1t
is the old homestead, but a stranger
comes to the door. He finds out father
is gone, and mother is gone, and broth
ers and sisters are all gone. I think this
young man of the text said to himself,
"Perhaps father may be dead" Still,
he starts to find out. He is homesick.
Are there any here today homesick for
God, homesick for heaven?
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: "Now,
you had better stay at home. Don't go
away. We don't want you to go. You
will have it a great deal better here. .
But it made him angry. The night be-
fore he went away again to sea he heard
bis 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
perilous duty, and he ran up the rat
lines, and amid the shrouds OF the ship
he heard the voice that he had heard in
the next room. He tried to whistle 1T
off, he tried to rally his courage, but he
could not silence the voice he had heard
in the next room, and there in the storm
and darkness he said: so Lord, what a
j wretch I have beeni What a wretch !
ami Help me just now, Lord God"
And I thought in this assemblage today
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 I find in my
text, saying, 81 will arise and go to my
father"
A lad at Liverpool went out to battle;
went out into the sea-, went out too far,
got beyond his depth. and he foated 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 IA
Their 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. But the lad
took ship from Dublin and arrived in
| Liverpool the very day the mourning
arrived. He knocked at the door. The IA
| ther was o%verjoyed 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 Saviour's
| righteousness? I believe the latter. Go
home to your God today. He is waiting
for you. Go homel
The Turning Point.
But REMARK the characteristic of this
| resolution was, it was Immediately put
into execution. The context says, HE
arose and came to his father" The