Newport weekly independent., 1903-01-30
THE DIVINE WOOING.
What God Has Done to Win Sinful
 Man Back to Himself.
Ahenated by Sin, Man Finds Recon ciliatiOn Through Christ Jesua Sermon by the "Highway
 and Bywny" Preacher.
fCopyright, 1908, by A. N. Kellogg News
 paper Co)
Chicago, Jan, 25, 1908.

Iext.-"Now then we are ambas sadorS Tor Christ, as though God, did beseech you oy us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye r'conciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sim that we might be made the righte ousness of God in Him. Ill Cor. 5:20-21.
 A love story with the triune God as the wooer, the world as the ob- Ject of His affection, and those who have accepted Christ as Saviour and Lord as the amba ssadors of God to carry the love messages to the world, which He seeks to win back to Him. self. A love story is always readable and fascinating. A true love story more than any other appeals to the human heart. Fiction is all well enough in it's place, but there is noth~ ing that stirs as chapter from real life. There is always added interest and power in a story which we know to be based on facts. Our text is suggestive of love and loves great nrning. Separation has come. The 'oi "0 I has been lured and enticcd sA. Afrom the True Lovers side. Recs-aciliation is sought. The True Lover isvrNilling to sacrifice His great est treasure. to win back the wan dering one. Nira is there who truly loves who would net be willing to give all in order that tiae heart hun ger might be satisfied? Why. that is the test of love.
 Because the mother loves, the hours and days and perhaps months and years which mark the separation of the son or daughter from the shel- ter of the home, wandering, she knows not whither, are periods of unbroken heart-yearning and an- guish. An, if the boy would only re- turn home and cease his wanderings! There is nothing she would not give if only she could win him back again.
 Because Jacob loved he could serve seven long years to win Rachel to wife, and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her" And when Laban, his father in-law, dealt deceitfully with him and gave him Leah to wife, instead, love made him patient to serve seven more years for Rachel.
 Because the father of the prodiga] son loved, not day went by after the wayward boy left home but that he watched eagerly the roadway for the return of the prodigal from the far country. Love kept him at his post, and when at last one day the straining eyes of the father caught a glimpse of the ragged, wretched boy in the distance, love gave his feet wings as he rushed out to meet him. Love shut his eyes to the rags and disgrace of the young man, and made him keen to see within the penitent heart that beat prayer for forgiveness. Because of love the ia ther received him back into his old place in the home, because of love he brought out the best robe, and the gold ring, and killed the choicest calf in the herd and made a feast of rejoicing, for the son who was dead wes alive again, the son who was lost was fodnd. The days of separation had been days of sorrow and bitter ness, but now that the boy was home again, the fathers heart sang for joy. There was nothing else on 
 all the world that could satisfy the longing of that fathers heart. The obedient, faithful son who remained home and proved so dutiful could not fill the place left vacant by the de- parture of the younger boy. Love for the wayward boy could only be satisfied by the return of the prol- igal.
 God is love-" The eternal Spirit of Truth has recorded these words, and Gods record of Himself and His dealings with man, from Genesis to Revelation, reveal Him as a God of love. God the worlds Lover, and as such mourning the separation of the world from Himself by reason of sin, and planning in His eternal purposes to win the world back to Himself. The life experiences of Hosea, the prophet, give us wonderful illustra tion of Gods relation to the world as a lover. Hosea has fallen in love and wooed and married woman who, after years of happy married fife and when children have come to bless the union, proves untrue to him. Despite his pleadings and his utmost efforts to save her, she deserts her home, her children and her husband and runs after her false lovers. One by one they desert her as she sinks lower and lower in her life of in iquitous pleasure, until at last she reaches the very depths of iniquity and is found slave offered for sale upon the market. Then it is that the constancy and true love of Hosea is revealed, as with breaking and yearning heart he seeks her out and buys her from her masters at the price which they have set upon her.
 When God created man in His own image and placed him in the garden spot prepared for him, all was joy and peace as long as Adam and Eve continued to dwell in the realm of Gods will. God, as the True Lover. delighted to come down in the cool of the day and commune with this