The Forrest City times., 1888-08-18


 prodigal. You do not know how to pray for him. You do not know how 10 greet him. He wants to sail in the warm gulf-etreafn of Christien sympathy. You are the iceberg against which he strikes aud shivers. You say he has been prodigal. l know IL Bot you are ihe sour, unresponsive, censorious, eaturnlne, cranky, cider brother. and II you are going 10 beaven one would thiak somo people would be tempted Co go to perdtton to get away from YOU. The hunters say tbst him out of their company, and tue general rule Is, away with the man who has beeu wounded with sin. Nov, say, the more boaes a man has broken the more noed he has of Q hospital, and that the more man has been bru sed and cut with sin the more need he has to be carred into human and divine sympathy But fOr such men there Is not much room In this world--the men who want to come back after wandering. Plenty Of room for elegant sinners, snners in velvet and Batn and lace, for sinners gh-saiaried, for kid gloved and patent leather sinners for sinners fixed up by hair dresser, pomatum. cd and lavendercd and colognod and frixsied and crimped and "banged' sinners-pleug of roonl Such we meet elegantly at tEe door of our churches, and we invite them Into tue best seats with Chcsterneiian gallaatries; we usher them into the house or God, and put soft ottomans under thelr feet, and put gllt-edgsd prayer book in their hand, and pass the contribution box before them with an afr bh NUOiO-1, Wultt tutTs lut EtuttOus cOule take out the exquisite portemonpale, and opsn it, and with diamond finger push down beyond tho ten dollar gold pieces and dell cately pick out ss an exp ession of gratitude ther offering to the Lord, Of one cent For such sinuers, plenty of room plenty Of room. But for the man who has been drinking until his coat Is threadbare and hts fsce Is erysipelased, and his wife's wedding-dress Is Is in the pawnbroksrs shop, and hls children. instead of being in school, are out begging broken bresd at the basemont-doors ef the city-the man, body, mind and soul oa fire with the flames that have leaped from the seathing, scorchinv, blasting consuming cup which the drunkard takes, trembling, and agonized, and affrighted, and presses 10 his parched lip, and bis cracked tongue, and his shrieking yet immortal splrlt-no room
 Oh, If this younger son or tine parable had not gone so far oil. If be had not dropped so low iu wassail, the protest would not have been so severe. bat going clear over tue preeipice as the younger son dd, the elder sou Is angry and will not 20 in.
 Ui, be not SO hard in your criticism Of the fallen, least thou thy ysef also be tempted. A stranger one Sunday staggered up and down the aisles of my church, disturbing the ser. vice until the service had to stop uattl be was taken from the room. He was a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of a sister denou- inationl That man had preached the Gospel. that man bad broken the bread of the Holy Communion for the people. From what he ght to what depthl Oh, l was glad there was no smiling In the room when that man was taken out, bis poor wife following him with hIs hat in her haud, and bis coat on her arm. It vas as solemn to me as two funerals the funeral of the body aud the funeral of the soul. Beware lest thou also be tempted
 An invalid went to South America for his health, and one day sat summing bunseif on the beach, when he saw soneihing crawling up the beach, wriggllng toward him, and he was affrighted He thought 1t was wud beast, or q reptile, and be took hts pistoi from his pocket Then he saw it ras not \ wild beast. It was man, m immortal man, man made in Gods own image; aud the poor wretch crawled up 10 the feet of the invalid and asked for strong drinI, and the invalid took his wine flask from his pocket, and gave the poor wretch something to drink, and then under the stimulus he rose up aud gave hts history. He had been merchant in Glas- gow, Scotland. He had gone down under the power Of strong drink until he was so reduced in poverty that he was lying in a boat just of the beach. Why" said the invalid, "I knew merchant in Gascow once merchant by such and such name, and the poor wretch slraighiened himself aud said. II am that mau." Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest Dc fall"
 Again, l remsrk that the senior brother of my text stands for the spirit Of envy and leal. ousY. The senior brother thought that All the honor tbey did to the returned brother was q wrong to him. He said "I have stay ed at houie, ana ought to have had the ring. and l ought to have had the banquet, and ought 10 have had the garlauds.n Alas for thls spirit of envy and jealousy coming down through tue agesl Cain and Abel Esan and Jacob Sanl apd David, iiansn and Mordsc al, Othello and Iago. Orlando sud Angelica Cal !gula and Torquaius, Ceasar and PompeY, Columbus and the Spaplsh conrtiers, CAmbT ses and the brother he slew because he WAS better marksman. Dionyslus and Philoxen- ius. whom he slew because hs was better singer Jealousy among psinters, C3ostcr- man and Geotfrov knelier, Hudson ana Reyn.. olds. Francis, anxious 10 see q picture of Raphael, Raphael sends him picture Fran eia seeing it. falls in fit of jealousy from which he dies. Jealousy among authors How seldom contemporaries speak or each other. Xenophou and Plato living at the same time but from their writings you never would suppose they heard Of each other. Re- ligous jeaouses. The Mahommedans pray ing for rain during the drouth, no raa com ing. Then the Christians began to pray for rain, and the rain comes. Then the Noaotn- medsns met together tO account Tor this, and they resolved that God was sn well pleased with their prayers He kept the drouth on so as to keep them praying; bat tbat the Christians began to Iraf, and the Lord was so sgusted with their prayers that He sent raia right away so He woull not hear any more of their applications. On, this accurs- ed spirit of envy aud jealousy Let us stamp it out from our hearts.
 A wrestler was so envious of Theogenes, the prince of wrestlers, that he coull not be consoled in any way: and after Theogenes died, and a statue was lifted 10 hiaa in public place, his cnvous antagonist went out every night an wrestled with the statue m Ill one night he threw II, and it fell on him and crushed him .o death. Sa jealousy Is not only absurd, but 1t is killing to the body and it is killing to the soul How seldom it Is you fiud one merchant speaking well of mer- chant In tho same line of business. How seldom lt Is you hear of physic an speaking we'll of a physician on the same block. On, my friends, the world Is large enough for all of us. Let us rejoice at the success of others Tue next best thlug to owning garIen our selves is to look over the fence and admire the flowers. The next best thing is riding in fine equipage is 10 stand on The ssreet ssd ad' mlre the Yrancing span. Tue next best thing to having banquet given to ourselyes is hay ing banquet given to our prodigai brother that has come home 10 bis fathers house.
 Besides that, If we do not get as much honor and as much attention as eibers, we ought to congratulate ourselves on what we escape in the way of assault The French general, riding on horseback at the head or his troops heard | soldier complain and say, ''It Is very easy for the general 10 csainand us forward while he Tides aud vs yak {" Then the general dismounted snd esmpeiled
 
 Coming through a ravlue, bullet frop a shsrpsbooter struck the rider. and he fell dead. Then tho general said, "Hss much safer tt Is to walk than 10 rldsr'
 Once more have to tell you that this sen Tor brother of my text siands for ths poutiug Christian While there Is so much eougratu- latlou within doors, the hero Of mr text stands outside, the corners oi bis mouth drawn dosn, looking ss he fslt-nissrabLA I sm glad hIs lugu6rious pbyslog noHT dld got spoil tue festivity within. Hos nans poutlng Christians there are fin our dsy-Cbristisns who do not like the music of our churches. Christians who do not like the hllarliles Of the ,oung--poutiug. poutlng pouting al so. eiety. pouting al th- ias'iious, pouting at ths poutlng at tue government, pout- ing at the high heaven. Their spleen is too large their iiyer does not wors, their diges- ton is broken down. There are two eruets in their castor alwafs sure to be well supplied vIsegsr and red pepper Oh, corse away from that mood. Stir little sacchsrins into your disposition. While you avoli the disss- iuieness of the younger son, avoid also ths irascbilitY aud the petuiance and tue pouting spirit of the elder son, and Initiate the father, who hai embraces for tbe return ing prodlgal and eoaxlng words for tas splenetie maleOntent.
 Ahl the face of this pouling elder sou is put before us n order that we might better