The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-03-11

tCtuHtt0 ctaA " Ia anu bh tnHA ouC iot
grip was brought beyond the circle and died.
Some OF you have stepped beyond that
circlc. Would you not Ike this day, by the
grace OF God, to step back? This, l say to
you, Is your hour OF salvation. There was
In the closing hours OF Queen Anne what is
called the clock scene. Flat down on the
pillow In helpless sickness. she could not
move her head or move her hand. She was
waiting for the hour when the ministers
OF state should gather in angry contest
and worried and worn out by the COM
ing hour. and In momentary absence OF
the nurse, in the power, the strange
power, which delirium sometimes gives
one, she arose and stood in IRON Of the
clock and stood there watching the clock
when the nurse returned. The nurse said,
$40 you see anything peculiar about that
clock?" She made no answer, but soon
died. There is q clock scene in every his
tory. If some of you would rise from the
bed OF lethargy and come out from your de-
lirium OF sin and look on the clock OF your
destiny this moment, you would sec and
hear something YOU have not seen or heard
before, and every tick OF the minute, and
every stroke Of the hour and every swing OF
the pendulum would say, ''Now. now, now,
now.'' Oh, come home to -FOUR Fathers
house. Come home, q prodigal, from the
wilderness! Comehome, come home!
But l notice that when the prodigal came,
there was the fathers JOY. He did not greer
him with any formal How do you do?" He
did not come out ana say: You are unfit TO
enter. Go and wash in the trough by the
we'll, apd then you can come in. We have
had enough trouble with you" All, no.
When the proprietor OF that estate pro-
claimed festival, it was m outburst OF u
fathers love and a fathers Joy. God is your
father. l have not much sympathy with
the description Of GOO | sometimes hear, rs
though He were u Turkish sultan. hard
and unsympathetiH. and listening not
to the cry Of His subjects. A man
told me he saw in one OF the
eastern lands n king riding along,
and two men were In alteration and one
charged the other with having eaten his rice.
and the king said. ''Then STAY the man, and
by post mortem examination find whether
he has eaten tho rice" And he was slain.
Alb. the cruelty OF Il scene like that! Our
God is not u sultan, not n despot, bur n
Fa,her-kind. loving, forgivlng-and He
makes all heaven ring again whena prodigal
comes back. IL have no pleasure" He says,
sin the death Of him thit dieth." All may
be saved. II q man does not get TO heaven,
ii Is because he will not 20 there. No
difference the color, no difference the
history, no difference tho antecedents,
no difference the surroundings, no diff
ference the sin. When tho White horses
Of Christ's victory are brought out 10
| celebrate the eternal triumph. you may
ride one OF them, and rs God Is greater than
all, His JOY is greater. and when n soul
comes back there is in His heart tho
surging OF an infinite ocean OF glat-
ness, and to express that claGness 1t
takes all the rivers Of pleasure, all
the thrones of ponp and all the ages of
eternity. 1t is a joy deeper than all depth
and higher than all height and wider than
all width and raster than all i'm
mcnsity. 1t oyertops, it undergirds,
it outweighs all the united spiendor
and Joy OF the universe and who can
tell what Gods Joy ISL You remember read
iCg The story of q king who on some great
day Of festivity scattered silver and gold
among the people. who sent valuable presents
to his courtiers, but mcthinks. when a soul
comes back, God is SO glad that to express
his Joy He filings out new worlds into space
and kindles up new sums and rolls among
the white robed anthems OF the redeemed u
greater halleluiah, while with a voice TINT
reverberates among the mountains OF frank
incense and Is echoed back from the ever
lasting gates ho cries, "This, my son, was
dead, and he Is alive again.
At the opening of the exposition in New
Orleans l saw u Mexican fiutist, and he
played the solo, and then afterward the eight
of ten bands OF music, accompanied by the
great organ, came In. bnt the sonnd ofthL.S
one flute rs compared with all the orchestras
was greater than ail the combined Joy OF the
universe when compared with the resound-
ing heart of Almighty God. For ten years q
father went three times Il day to the depot.
His son went off in aggrnvatinS circum-
stances, but the father said, she will come
back" The strain was too much and his
mind parted, and threetimes a day the father
went. In the early morning no watched
the train. its arrival, the stepping out
Of tho 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,
for ten years. He was sure his son would
come back. God has been watching and
waiting for some Of YOU. my brothers, ten
years. twenty years, thirty years, forty years,
perhaps fifty years, waiting, waiting,
Watching, watching aud II now the prodigal
should come home. what n scene OF gladneSS
and festivity, and how tho 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 q prodigal comes
home there Is the JOY of tho ministers of re-
! 1glOn. On, III Is u Sfi1nu tnllS 10 pTtucu lHls
gospel! know there has been u great deal
said about the trials ana the hardships OF
the Christian ministry. l wish somebody
would write n good r1uslng book about the
joys Of the Christian ministry, Since l en-
tered the profession / have seen more OF the
goodness OF God than l will be able to cele.
brate in all eternity. l know some boast
about their equilibrium, and they do not
rise into enthusiasm. and they do not break
down with emotion, but l confess to YOU
plainly that when l see u man coming to God
and giving up his sin l feel in body, mind
and soul a transport. When | see a man
bound hand and foo In evil habit enamel
pated, l rejoice over il rs though it were my
own emancipation.
Inotice also when the p~rodigal comes back
all earnest Christians rejoice. IL you stood
on Montauk point and Their was n hurricane
at sen, and 1t was blowing toward the shore.
and a vessel crashed into tho rocks, and you
saw people get ashore In tho lileboais. and
the very last man got on the rocks in safety.
you could not control your joy. And 1t IS Il
glad time when the church of Go sees men
who are tossed on the ocean of thei,
sins plant their feet OF the rock
Christ Jesus. Oh. when prodigals come
home, lust hear the Christians sinr. Just
hear the Christians pray. 1t Is not II stereo.
typed suppli,atlon we have heard over and
nvnr opn,n fpr tunpty yanra but n pnttinU pi