The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-04-22
REV. DR. TAIIMAGE.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subject: 1.-THE Prodigal's Return"

There is nothing like hunger to take thu
energy out Of a man. A hungry man car
toll neither with pen nor hand nor foot
There has been many an army defeated no
80 much for lack OF ammunition as for lacl
OF bread, It was that fact that took the flrt
out of this young man OF the text. Storm
and exposure will wear out any mans life il
time, but hunger makes quick work. The
most awful cry ever heard on earth Is the
cry for bread. A traveller tells US that il
Asia Minor there are trees which bear fruit
looking very much like the long bean of oul
time. It Is called The carob. Once in awhile
the people, reduced to destitution, would ca,
these carobs, but generally the carobs-the
beans spoken Of here in the text-were
thrown only to the swine, and they cruncheo
them with great avidity. But this young
man of my text could not even get them
without stealing them. So one day, amid
the swine troughs, he begins to soliloqu zs.
He says: "These are no clothes for rtcr
mans son to wear This is no kind OF busi-
ness for q Jew to be engaged in, feeding
swine. I'll go home. I'll go home. viii
arise and so to my father"
know there are great many people who
try to throw a fascination, romance. q
halo, about sin: but, Notwithstanding all tha,
Lord Byron and George Sand have said in
regard TO it, it is mean. low, contcmptlDle
business, and putting food and fodder into
the troughs of O herd of iuiquities that root
and wallow in the soul OF man is a very poor
business for men and women intended TO pc
sons and daughters OF the Lord Almighty,
and when this young man resolved to 80
home it was very wise thing for him to 40,
land the only question is whether we vii! 1oi-
low him. Satan promises large wages II we
will serve him, but he clothes his victims
with rags, and he pinchcs them with hunger,
and when they start out to do better he sets
after them all the bloodhounds OF hell. Satan
comes to US to-day. and he promises all lux
uries and emolumentS II We will only serve
him. Liar, down with thee to the pit! "The
WAGES of sin is DEATH" Oh the young man
o.fhe text Was %se- -yhen he utterrd the res,
olution, II will arise airaogo to my iather.
In the time Of Mary, the perseIS.or, pe[se,
cutor came to a Christian woman NY neu 'u
hidden in her house for the Lords sass-S Sne
of Christ's servants, and the prosecutor SAID;
,"Where is that heretic?" The Christian wo-
man said, ''You open that trunk, and You
will see the hereto" The prosecutor opened
the trunk. and on the top of the linen of the
trunk he saw glass. He said. "There Is no
hereto here" "Ah!" she said. you look
in the glass, and you will see the hereto"
As I take up the mirror OF Gods word to-
day would that instead OF seeing the prod
igal of the text we might see ourselves-our
want, our wandering, our sin, our lost con-
dition, so that we might be as wise as this
Young man was and say. 81 will arise and
90 to INV father" The resolution Of this
text was formed in disgust at his present
circumstances. II this young man had been
by his employer set to culturing flowers, or
training vines over III arbor, or keeping an
account of the pork market. or overseeing
other laborers, he would not have thought Of
going home-if he had had his pockets full
Of money; if he had been able to say: 81 have
$1,000 now of my own. What's the use OF
my going back to my fathers housef Do
you think I'm going buck to apologize to the
old man? Why, he would put me on the
limits. He would not have going on around
the old place such conduct rs have been
engaged in. won't 60 home. There is no
reason why I should go home. have plenty
of money. plenty of pleasant surroundings.
Why should 60 home?" All, it was his
pau perism, it was his beggary! He had to
90 home. Some man comes and says to me;
"Why do you talk about the ruined state OF
the human soul2 Why don't you speak
about the progress of the nineteenth
century and talk of something more
exhllarating?" 1t is for this rea-
son: A man never wants the gospel un-
til he realizes he is in a famine struck State.
Suppose should come to you in your home,
and should begin to talk about medicines,
and about how much better this medicine is
than that, and some other medicine than
some other medicine, and talk about this
physician and that physician. After awhile
YOU would get tired, and you would say:
III don't want to hear about medicines. Why
do you talk to me of physicians2 1 never
have DOCTOR" But suppose I come into
your house, and find you severely sick and
know the medicines that will cure you, and
know the physician who is skillful enough
10 meet your case. You say: Bring on all
that medicine; bring on that physician. I
am terribly sick, and want help" If I
come to you, and you feel you are all right
in body, and all right in mind, and all right
in soul, you have need Of nothing, but sup
pose have persuaded you that the leprosy
of sin Is upon you, the worst OF all sickness.
Oh. then you say, "Brin2 me that balm OF
the gospel; bring me that divine medical
ment; bring me Jesus Christ"
"But," says some one in the audience,
show do you know that we are in a ruined
two ways, and you may have your choice. I
can prove it either by the statements OF men
or by the statement Of God. Which shall it
be? You say, "Let US have the statement Of
God" Well, He says in one place, "The
heart Is deceitful above all things and desper-
ately wicked" He says III another place,
"What is man that he should be clean, and
he which is born OF woman that he should
be righteous?" He says in another
place, "There is none that doeth good
no, not one." He says in another place,
"As by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, fer that all had sinned." "Wel," !"
you say ~ am willing to acknowledge that,
but why should I take the particular rescue
that you propose?" This is the reason: "E1-
cept man be born again he cannot see the
kingdom of God" This is the reason:
"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 Suy that q mere whim, an underlined
longing, amounts to nothing. You must
have a stout, u tremendous resolution like
this young man Of the text when he said, II
will arise ami 80 to my father" "Oh," says
some man, chow do know my father wants
me? How do know if 60 back would
be received?" "Oh," says some man, ''you
know how lar 1 have wandered. You
wouldn't talk that way to me If you knew
all the iniquities have committed" What
is that flutter among the angels OF God!
What is that horseman running with quick
dispatch? 1t is news! 1t 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 the sounding lyres
When Napoleon talked of going into Italy,
they said: ''You can't get there. If you
knew what the Alps were. you wouldn' talk
about it or think about it. You can't get
your ammunition wagons over the Alps. "