St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-05-30

tremendous resolution Ike this young
man In the text when he said: Il will
arise and 60 to. my father" ''Oh, /"
says some man. '.how do
know my father wants me3 how
do I know # I go back, l would
be received?" ''Oh,.' says some man,
''you don't know where / have been;
you don't know how far have wan
dered. You wouldn't talk that way ia
me If you knew all the iniquitico8
have committed" What is that hut-
ter among the angels Of God? What is
that horseman running with quick dis.
patch. 1t is news! 1t is news! Chriss
has found the lost.
Nor angels can their joy contain.
But kindlc with new IRE,
The sinner lost II found. they sing,
And strike the sounding Tyre.
Again: l notice that this resolution
of the young man of my text was
founded In sorrow at his misbehavior.
It was not mere physical plight. It
was grief that he had so maltreated
his father. 1t is sad thing after fa.
ther has done everything for . child to
have that child ungTatefp].
How sharper than . serpcnt's tooth 1t IL,
TO have 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 ms been cruel prodigals?
Have we not msltreatcd our Fa-
ther? And such a Father!
Three times q day has He fed thec. He
has poured sunlight into thy day and
at night kindlcd up all the street lights
of Heaven. With what varieties of
apparel He hath clothed thee for the
season. Whose eye watches thecf
Whose hand defends thee? Whose
heart sympathizes with thee? Who
gave you your children? Who Is guard
ing your loved ones departed? Such
Father. So loving, SO kind. If He
had been a stranger; il He had for
saken 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 treat
ment of Him; but He is a Father, so
loving, SO kind, and yet how many Of
us for our wandering have never
apologized: If we say anything
that hurts our friends feel
ings, if we do anything that
hurts the feelings Of those in whom we
are interested how quickly we
apologize! We can scarcely wait until
we get pen and paper to write letter
of apology. How easy It is for anyone
who is intelligent, right-hearted. to
write an apology, or make an apology.
We apologize for wrongs done to our
fellows, but some of US perhaps 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 .
feeling of home-sickness. 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 read
ing of my text that makes him think
he was homesick. Some Of you know
what that feeling is. Far away
from home sometimes, surrounded
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: snow, 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. L. think she had died
of q broken heart at his wanderings,
or. perhaps he had gone into dissipa-
ton from the fact that he could not
a loving and sympathetic
mother. A man never gets over hav-
ing lost his mother. Nothing said
about her, but he is homesick for his
fathers house. He thought he would
just like to go and walk around the old
place. lie thought he would just like
to go and see If things were as they
used to be. Many a man after having
been OF a long while has gone home
and knocked at the door, and
. stranger hae come. 1t is the old
but stranger comes to
the door. He::6nds out his father is
gone, and mother is gone, and brothers
and sastIfs I'll Zone. think this young
man of the text said to himself: per
haps father may be dead" Still, he
starts to find out. He is homesick.
Are there any here to-day homesicl
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 60 away again. She
said: snow, you had better stay
At home. sDon't 60 away. We
don't want you to go. You will have
Il a great deal better here" But it
made him 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 storm came up
and he was ordered to . very perilous
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 OF, 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: 20 Lord! what
, wretch I am! Help me just now,
Lord God" And thought in thus as
to-day there may be some
who may have the memory of q fa-
ther,s petition, or n mothers prayer
pressing nightly upon the soul, and
that this hour they make the same res
luton l find in my text. saying: II
will arise and go to my father"
But remark the characteristic of
his resolution was. it was immediate
v put into execution. The context
says ''Hc arose and came to His Fa-
her" The trouble In 800 times out of
100 is that our resolutions amount to
because we make them for
some distant time. If resolve to be-
come a Christian next year, that |
mounts to nothing at all. II II