The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-03-25

lCNlNuAts AhOy soy ho AANh5 SNSN
drinker, but say he has reformed. And
they shake their heads and look lugubrl-
GUS aud say: II hope you are not mista'
KEN" They say: do not make too big
party at the Prodigal's return. Do not
strike the timbrel too hard, and call in
the calf that has been half starved on
the common, rather than the one that
has been rumiDating in the paddock"
The one reason why more prodigais do
not come back. is because the church is
full of rank infdelity on q possibility Of
their standing firm. Do you not know
there is not house on all the streets OF
heaven, that does not hold prodigal
who got back and forever stayed homeP
A list of hundred! Of thousands Of prod
igals permanently and forever reformed
could be made up Who was John Bun
van, and Richard Baxter, and George
White feIo? All prodigsltl can 60 up
any of these aisles and find on either
side, those who far ,stray once, have for
many years been faithful, and their eter-
nal salvation is as sure as if they had
beer ten years in heaven. Yet some OF
YOU are entirely faithless about the ref.
ormation of the lost. You know not how
to shake hands with them you know
not how to pray for them. They ere all
trying to sail ont into the warm gulf
stream of Christian sympathy, and you
are the iceberg against which they strike
and shiver, They are prodigals, l admit
but you are the sour, unsympathetic,cen-
soriouselder brother, and if you are so
ing to heaven, l should think some peo
pie would be tempted to go to perdition
to avoid you. Hunters say when deer
is not shot, the others push it out of
their company. The common feeling is
out with man when sin las wounded
him. But say the more homes man
has broken, the more need he has OF q
hospital; and the more bruised by sin q
man is the more need Of human and oi
vine sympathy; for elegant sinners there
is plenty Of help; for sinners in velvet
and satin and laCes, for high ,salsried sim
ners we have good seats. We usher
them into the church with Chesterfield
ian gallantries, and put soft ottoman
under their feet and a gilt hymn book
into their hands, and pass the coutribu-
| ton box before them with an air of spol'
ogy; whilatthey, the generous souls, open
their pOrt.monnaie, and with jeweled
fingers, push down the gold pieces, and
delicately pick out deposit as expires
sion of gratitude to the Lord-of one
cent. Plenty of room for snch sinners.
But when man has been drinking his
coat threadbare; his face into erysipelas;
his wife's wedding. dress is in the pawn.
brokers' shop, and his children, who
ought to be at school, are begging cold
viCtuals at the basement doors of the
city, and the man is on fire, body, mind
and soul, with the flames that leap from
the scathing, blasting, blisteriDg cup
which the drunkafd picks up, trembling
and affrighted, to press to his parGhed
lips and his cracked tongue, aud shrek
ing, immortal nature. Not 80 much
room for him. If the junior brother of
the parable had not gone so long, and
spent less money and had not gone into
such low wassail, the protest would not
have been so sharp. But, baving pitch
ed headiong off the precipice, the hero
of my text was angered and would not
20 in. Oh, be not to hard with the fall.
en-, lest thou thyself be also tempted.
Do you know who that man was that
Sabbath before last disturbed our service
staggered up and down the aisles until
the service had to stop till he was re.
moved from the buildingp A fallen
minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
belonging to a sister denomination. He
had administered at the altar; ne had
baptized candidates and broken the
bread Of the Holy Sacrament From
what height to what depthl A man
sat on the beach, an invalid, in South
America, one summer day, and he aaw
something crawling and Wriggling up the
beach, and he wondered what wild beast
might be coming toward him, and he
took out his pistol for self defense, when
he found it was not beast, but a man,
an immortal man, man made in Gods
own image, with filthy shock of hair,u
shaven and horrible. He had been re
duced to great poverty, and was living
in boat; and crawling up to the invalid
he asked for some strong drink. He was
a Scotchmsn who had once been mer-
chant in Edinburg. The invalid said be
once knew a merchant in Edinburgh,
giving the name. The poor wretch an
swered, II am that man."
Again, the senior brother stands for
the spirit of envy and jealousy. He
took the reception Of the junior brother
as wrong to himself He had done so
we'll he lhought, the banquet ought to
have been spread for him; the music for
him; the dancing for him, the congratu-
lations for him. Obi mean and dastardly
spirits of envy and jealousy, how they
have come down through all agetl Cain
and Abel, Saul and David, Esau and Ja-
cob, Haman and Mordecai, 0thello and
Iago, Jealousy among painters; Kloster,
mann and G@fry, Reynolds and Hud.
son. When LIE Sour died. his contem-
porsry, LIE Brun, said: II feel | have
had thorn from my foot" Jealousy
among authors-Zsnophen and Plato
lived at the same time, but from their
writings you might think they never
heard of each other. Religious jealou
sies-the Mahommedans prayed for rain
during time of great drought, and the
rain came not. The Christians prayed,
and the RAIN descended Immediately.
The Mohammedan9 said the reason the
rain did not descend while they prayed
was because God loved to hear their sup.
pliCstions 80 much, he kept the drought
on in order to continue their deyo tions,
but when the Christians began praying,
the rain came Immediately, because God
did not want to hear them cry any more.
Among tie basest passions Of the soul
at first appearance Of envy, let us
stamp it out. In all departments it ap-
pears, An ancient wrestler was so jeal-
GUS Of Theogenes, the prince Of wrest-
lers, that after his death, when a statue
had been set up to his honor, his antago.
mist went out nightly and wrestled with
his statue till he flung it, but flung it on
himself, crushing him to death. So
envy is not only absurd, but killing to
the soul and body. How seldom do you
hear a merchant speak we'll Of another