Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1878-05-19
MORNING APPEAL.
SUNDAY READING.

J
c., should feel like lending an car to listen
t. such an account Of himself as he may make;
ri he, upon his part, not unembarrassed by
th@ personal relations by which he again finds
h;hself surrounded, seeks about him for some
sch likening III shall happily. illustrate his
condition and the relationship thereof to all
whose sympathy aud interest, regard and
ncighborship he has awakened and stimulated
IN the present instance, my children, your
SEcpherd experiences that pleasant and COM
parativey harmless decentralization which
SENS to be an inevitable incident of ones
return home after many days of compulsory
absence, as of captivity, Imprisonment, sick
ness or shipwreck upon far-distant shores.
Naturally, one bethinks himself of some such
assistance toward adequate expression as may
b. embodied in line of the Master or a verse
of the New Testament; and candor compels
tie confession that your Preacher, hating
and stumbling between the mixed incentives
Of 4 sentimentality which is serious. and q
p.casantry, which ought to express itself i'll
~ amusing way, thought TO apply to himself
the parable of "The Prodigal Son" And
tLis illustrates the tendency of the human
mind to let itself be spoken for rather than
make tho exertion of speaking fer itself. For,
whom this parable had been found (not in the
gospel according to st. Matthew, nor yet in
Mark, neither of whom record it. but in
Luke XIV, 1872 and had been read and re
road, the search revealed the fact that there
aas little applicability in either the purport
- the incidents of that famous illustration Of
c,:Y Lords; although the fresh reading of
TO neglected piece of scripture was by no
means uninteresting or Improbable. GOur
Shepherd may have been Il prodigal; he GER
t&iE.y is tho younger of two sons; Of a verify |
u las got back to his home and friends. But |
dorc the similarity of conditions is ruuoly |
broken. The present prodigal has n6d no
-cceut conversation with paternaI nor yet
d: ayuncular relative with "a portion of
60 l." to be divided out; nor has he journeyed
into far country; nor hath any mighty
famine arisen in the land; nor has he been
sent ny any citizen into a field to feed swine;
nor has there been any exhibition Of emotional
affection by any one who can. be construed
into being father of his; nor yet hath the
>,,,t yobe boon brought Iorth ring pu,
uInl his hand; and the fattei c.slf still liveth
and is not veal, and the elder son is not en-
yiogs, nor doth he find occasion to demur to
the action of his sire with the words, "Lo.
these many years do | serve thee; neither
tcauaE ressed | at any time thy command
Iuonts; and yet thou never gavest me kid
that I might make merry with my friends.
Aud so the application of the parable is
,:oush5. We must look elsewhere, or drop
che subject. Let's take things for granted,
and lex no further.
Til re might well be here given a preach
yacGt in illustration of the injunction,
"Syuch the scriptures" Nor that there
abiG>th belief in the infallibility of any
book not even The Book; but that the virtue
oil much and constant searching discovers it
self in the larger accuracy of information and
d closer and better acquaintance with what is
and what is not i'll and of the most important
bool, ever put before the eyes of man. We t
all have the habit of speaking Of the Bible as {
If We knew it by heart. The honest fact is
that We are lamentably ignorant of what it
contains, of its arrangements and of the form
and rurport of what it relates and enjoins
I he fact is, the greater part of us, bretheren,
got our small intellectual and religious
stomachs too full of things biblical and theol-
ogic when our digestive apparatus was all too /
y cak and ndiscriminate. The further fact '
whose statement is strictly consonant with
candor IS, that the Bible, while it seems to
afford much satisfaction to many devout e
minds is not as attractive to the minds of the {
young as less serious reading Also, be it !
said, that the phraseology, being very quaint -
and ancient in structure is almost as difficult n
Of comprehension i'll some parts and particu- I
lars as The Faery Queen is to the ordinary a
modern reader. We beg to suggest, in all the u
becoming modesty of ignorance, that it might q
be profitable if the Old and New Testaments
were submitted to newer and more compre ST
hensIble If not, indeed a more comprehensive "
style Of translation and rendering. The Bible ~
contains some very interesting short nara al
ives and many beautiful sayings; but it is cl
quite without playfulness or humor. There II
IRE no Jokes between its solemn lids. The a.
,ncients afforded a good many Benjamin c