Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-03-12

clock" She made no answer, but soon
lied. There Is elo,k scene In every his
tory. II some Of you would riso from the
bed Of leihargy and come out from your de-
iirium Of siu and look on the clock Of your
destiny this moment. you would see and
hear something YOU have not seen or heard
before, and every tick 0f the minute, and
every stroke Of the hour and every swing OF
the pendulum would say, Now, now, now,
now" Oh. come home 70 your Fathers
housed Come home, proiigal, from the
wilderness! Come home. come home!
But notice that when the proiigal came,
there was the fathers ioy He did not greet
him with any formal How do you dor He
lid not come ont aud say: 'I0u are unit 10
enter. Go aud wash in the trough by the
I we'll, and then you can come In. We have
| hal enough trouble with you" All, no!
1 When the proprietor Of that estate pro-
claimed festival, Il was an outburst OF
fathers love and fathers joy. God Is your
1 fnthrr. | have not much sympathy with
the description Of God sometimes hear, as
| though He were Turkish sultan, hard
aud unsympathe,ir. aud listening not
| to the cry Of His subjects. man
[ told me he saw in one OF the
I eastern lands "A king riding along.
AMI two men were In alteration and one
/ charged the other with having eaten his rice,
/ and the king said Then STAY the man, and
| bv post mortem examination find whether
| he has eaten the rice" And he was slain.
( All, the cruelty OF scene like that Our
/ God is not a sultan, not a despot, bur
/ Father-kind, loving, forgving--and lie
| makes all heaven ring again whena proligal
/ comes back. Il have no pleasure" He says,
/ sin the death OF him that dieth.' All may
/ be saved Ii man does not get TO heaven,
| il Is because he will not 90 there. No
| difference the color, no difference the
/ history, no difference the antecedents,
/ no difference the surroundings, no dill
/ ference the sin. When the white horses
/ OF Christs victory are brought out to
/ celebrate the eternal triumph, you may
| ride one Of them, and as God is greater than
| all, His Joy is greater, and when soul
comes back there is in His heart the
surging OF an infinite ocean OF glaf-
ness, and to express that gladness 1t
! takes all The rivers OF pleasure, all
/ the thrones OF pomp and all the ages OF
eternity. 1t is n JOY deeper than all depth
and higher than all height and wider than
! all width and vaster than all i'm
mensity. 1t overtops, 1t undergirds,
/ ii outweiGhs all the united spendor
and Joy of the universe and who can
! tell what Gods joy Isl You remember read
/ icg the story OF king who on some great
! day of festivitY scattered silver and gold
among the people, who sent valuable presents
! TO his courtiers, but methinks, when soul
!
/ his JOY He filings out new worlds into space
and kindles up new sums and rolls among
| the white robed anthems of the redeemed
greater halleluiah. while with voice that
! reverberates among the mountains OF frank
/ incense and is echoed back from the ever
lasting gates he cries. This, my son, was
! dead and he is alive again.
At the opening of the exposition in New
Orleans / saw Mexican nutist, and he
/ played the solo, and then afterward the eight
/ OF ten bands OF music, accompanied by the
great organ, came in. but the sound OF that
one flute US compared with all the orchestras
was greater than all the combined Joy OF the
! universe when compared with the resound-
| ing heat OF Almighty God. For ten years a
father went three times day to the depot.
I His son went of in aggravating circum-
/ stances, but the father said, ale will come
/ back. The strain was too much and his
mind parted, and three times day the father
went. In the early morning he watched
the train. its arrival, the stepping ont
/ Of the passengers and then the departure
OF the train. At noon he was there again
watching the advance of the train. watching
the departure. At night he was there again,
watchdog the coming, watching the going
I, for ten years. He was sure his son would
como back. Goi has been watching and
waiting for some Of you. my brothers, ten
wears, twenty years, thirty years, forty years
perhaps flfty years, waiting, waiting,
watching, watching and II now the prodigal
should come home, what a scene OF gladness
and festivity, and how the great Fathers
heart would rejoice at your coming home.
You will come, some Of you, will YOU not?
You will, you will.
/. notice also that when prodgal comes
home there is the Joy of the ministers OF re-
{. ,3iEion. Oh, it is n grand thing to preach this
| gospel, | know there has been great deal
Said about the trials ana the hardships of
the Christian ministry. l wish somebody
would write Il good rousing book about the
JOYS Of the Christian ministry, Since | en-
tered the profession have seen more of the
goodness OF God than | will be able to cele-
brate in all eternity. | know some boast
about their equilibrium, and they do not
rise into enthusiasm, and they do not break
down with emotion. but | confess to you
plainly hat when | see IA man coming to God
and giving up his sin feel in body, mind
and soul Il transport. When | see Il man
bound hand and foot in evil habit emanci-
pated, ! rejoice over 1t rs though 1t were my
own emancipation
: lnotlce also when the prodigal comes back
II all earnest Christians rejoice. If you stood
on Montauk point and there was hurricane
at sea, and it was blowing toward the shore,
and a vessel crashed into the rocks, and you
saw people get ashore in the lifeboais, and
the very last man got on the rocks in safety,
you could not control your JOY And it Is a
glad time when the church of Goi sees men
who are tossed on the ocean of their
sins plant their feet on the rock
Christ Jesus. Oh, when prodigals come
home, Just hear the Christians sing. just
hear the Christians pray. 1t is not Il stereo.
typed suppl cation we have heard over and
over again for twenty years. but putting Of
the case in the hands of God with an impor-
tunate pleading No long PRAYERS Men
never pray at great length unless they have
nothing to say and their hearts are hard and
cold. All the prayers in the Bible that were
answered were short prayers God be
mercitu to me sinner" "Lord that | NAV
receive my sight" Lord, save me- or
perish"
Once more / remark that when the prod
iga gets back the inhabitants of heaven
keep Iestal. am very certain of it. If you
have never seen 4 telegraph chart you have
no idea how many cities are connected to-
gether, and how many lands. Nearly all the
neighbC rhoods OF the earth seem reticulated,
and news flies from city to city and from
continent to continent. But more rapidly
go the tdings from earth to heaven, and
when prodiga returns ii is announced be-
fore the throne Of God. And ii these souls
now present should enter the kingdom there
would be some one in the heavenly kingdom
10 say! That's my father" "Ihat's my
mother" That's my son." "That's the one
used TO pray for That's the one for
whom ! wept so many tears" and one soul
would say "Hosanna!' and another soul
would say ''HalleIuiah!"
Pleased with the news, the saints below
In songs the tongues employ.
Beyond the skies the tidings go,
And heaven is filed with iov.