The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-03-06
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
"THE PfoDiCAu5 FATHER"

an lpliillns TALK on THIS hfhnuH AlHiis
cal story by tile Bev. Dr. y. Wilbur
Chapnan-How II Reveals one Part
of God'a Nature.
NEW YoHR Cry The following sermon
entitled "Ihe Prodimls Father" rs one OF
q series prepared for the press hy the dis
tlngulshed evangelist, the Ecy. Dr. j. WIZ
bur Chapman. 10 was preached from the
text. But when he was yet q great way
of his father saw him and he'd
compassion aud ran and kissed
him and said 10 his servants,
Bring forth the best robe and put It on
him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes
on his feet. and bring hither tbs rated
calf and Kill it" Luke XIV: 2O-23.
Of making many sermons on the prodlgal
son there seems TO have been no end.
Yet j was IN the ministry fifteen years be-
fore i preached from amy part OF the para
bic. There may be many reasons why, as
a rule, we turn away from t.. IL may be
that the picture Is too realistic.
1 was standing in the prison chapel at
Joliet Illinois, when a request was made
that / should conduct "a service for the con-
victs. just as / was leaving the building
the officer said TO me, BY the way, If you
should come do not preach upon any part
of the prodigal. We have had twentyfour
ministers here by actual count, and every
ono of them gave us the prodlgal son, and
these poor fellows have had about as much
prodgal as they can stand"
IL may also be that we have turned away
from it because it is such familiar ground
that it has lost its charm for us. ! was
sweeping through the magnificent Rocky
Mountain scenery some time ago, and when
we had plunged into the Royal Gorge, and
later swung into the Grand Canon 1t
T. d limo
could not be found in all the world, and If
| / had. never been impressed before with
the existence Of God I should have cried
out unto Him in the midst of those mount
ain peaks. l noticed that every one IN the
car with one single exception, was gazing
in raDt admiration This one woman was
intently reading a book, and to my GER
tain knowledge she did not lift her eyes
once from the printed page while we were
in that wonderful scenery. When we had
swung out into the great table land l over
! heard her say to a friend, "Ihis is the thir-
| teenth time / have crossed the mountains.
| The first time l could not keep the tears
| from rolling down my cheeks, so impressed
/ was [, but now" she said, Il know it so
\ well that | frequently 60 through the whole
range with scarcely a glance cast out of
| the window" 1t is thus, alas! that we
read Gods word, and that which fills
! heaven with wonder and furnishes the an
! gels a theme for never-ending praise, we
read with Indifference or fail to read at all
| And yet my own confession is that | never
have had until recently the best of this
story of the prodigal.
/ thought il was to give us a vision Of the
! younger son, and as such it would be a
message to backsliders, and while this is
| one part of the Interpretation it is not by
any means the best part Then it occurred
| to me the story might have been given us
| that we should take warning from the sci.
! fishness of the elder brother, but | con.
! ceived such a dislike for this character
! that never cared to consider him even for
a moment. But it has in these later days
| become to me one of the sweetest portions
of all the New Testament because / believe
the parable was written that we might fas
ten our eyes upon the father of the parable
and in that father get a glimpse of God.
Did it ever occur to YOU that in the pic
lures of the fathers of the Bible you were
always given vision of one part of the
nature of God? Jacob crying out, "Me VI
have bereft of my children Joseph is not
! Simeon is not and now You will take Ben
iamin from me-" is an illustration Of Coo
crying out in His great tenderness over thu
lost. David exclaiming. ooh, Absalom, my
son, my SON. would God l had died FOL
thee" is lust a hint as to the way Goo
feels over His lost ones for whom His Scr
has really died. And yet better than any
picture of a father as the revelation o
God is the life of the Son of God from
whose lips we have heard these words, eli
that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.
But putting all these things together, ant
in the light of them reading the story o
the prodigal, our hearts burn within us al
we see God.