The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-29
~ God on this subject There is not house


A returned prodgal. Who was George
WhitefelG, the thunderera A returned
prodigal And 1 could go out in all direc-
tions in this audience and find on either side
those who, once far astray for many years,
have been faithful, and their eternal saliva
ton is as sure as though they had been ten
years in heaven. And yet some of you have
not enough faith in their return.
You do not know how to shake hands with
prodigal. You do not know how to pray
for him. You do not know how to greet
him. He wants to sail in the gulf-stream of
Christian sympathy. You are the iceberg
against which he strikes and Shivers. You
say he has been Lrodigal. | know it. But
you are the sour. unreSponsire censorlous,
saturnine, cranky, elder brother, and if
you are going to heaven one would think
some people would be tempted to go to per-
dition to g,t away from you. The hunters
say that if deer be shot the other deer
shove him out OF their company, and the
general rule is, away with the man that has
been wounded with sin. Now, l say,
the more bones man has broken,
the more need he has o. hos
pital and that the more man has been
bruised and cut with sin the more need he
has to be carried 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. sinners IN velvet
and satin and lace, for sinners high-salaried,
for kid-gloved and patent leather sinners,
for sinners fixed up by hair-dresser, poma-
TUNED and lavende-ed and cologned and
frizzled and crlnped and banged" sinners
plenty of room! Such We meet elegantly at
the door of our churches, and we invite them
into the best seats with Chesterheld:an gal
lantries; we usher them into the house OF God,
and put soft ottomans under their feet,
and put a gilt-edged prayer-book in their
hand, and pass the contribution before them
generous souls take out the exquisite
diamonded-fnger push down beyond
the ten-dollar gold pieces and deli.
cately pick out as an expression Of
gratitude their offering to the Lord, Of
one cent. For such sinners, plenty of room,
plenty of room. But for the man who has
been drinking until his coat is threadbare
and his ia, e is erysipelased, ard his wifes
wedding dress is in the pawnbrokers shop,
and his children, instead of being in school,
are out begging broken bread at the base.
ment doors of the city-the man, body, mind
and soul on fire with the flames that have
leaped from the scathing scorching, blasting,
consuming cup which the drunkard takes,
trembling and agonized, and afrighted, and
presses to his parched lip, and his cracked
tongue, and his shrieking yet immortal spirit
no room.
Oh, if this younger son of the parable had
low in wassail. the protest would not have
been so severe; but going clear over the
precipice as the younger son did, the elder
SON is angry and will not go in.
On, be not so hard in your criticism OF the
fallen, lest thou thyself also be tempted. A
stranger ona Sunday staggered up and
down the aiSles Of my church, disturbing
the service until the service had to stop until
he was taken from the room. He
Jesus Christ of a sister denomination!
That man had preached the Gospel,
that man had broken the bread Of the Holy
Communion for the people, From what
height to what depth Oh, I was glad there
was no smiling in the room when that man
was taken out, his poor wife following him
with his hat In her hand, and his coat on her
arm. 1t was as solemn to me as two funerals
the funeral of the body and 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 himself on
the beach, when he saw something crawling
up the beach, wriggling toward him, and he
was affrIghted. He thought it was wild
beast, or reptile, and he took his pistol
from his pocket Then he saw it was
not wild beast. 1t was man, an immortal
man, a man made in Gods own image; and
the poor wretch crawed up to the feet of the
invalid and asked for strong drink, 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 and gave his history He had been
merchant in Glasgow, Scotland He had gone
down under the power Of strong drink until
he was so reduced in poverty that he was y-
ing in boat Just off the beach. why" said
the invalid, 81 knew merchant i'll Glasgow
once" merchant by such and such name,
and said: "I am that man." "Let him that
thinketh he st1ndeth take heed lest he fail"
Again, remark that the senior brother OF
my text stands for the spirit Of envy and
jealousy. The senior brother thought that
all the honor they did to the returned brother
was wrong to him. He said: II have
stayed at home, and ought to have had the
ring, and ought to have had the banquet, and
l ought to have had the garlands." Alas for
tes doSn Plt Proush th hs Sa caD and % aue
Esau and jacob, Saul and David, Haman
and Mordecai Othello and Iago, Orlando
and Angelica, Caligula and Torquatus,
Caesar and Pompey, Columbus and the
Spanish courtiers, CambySes and the
brother he slew because he was better
marksman. Dionysius and Philoxenius,
whom he slew because he was better singer,
Jealousy among painters. Ciosterman and
Godfrey, Kneller, Hudson and Reynolds
Francis, anxious to see picture Of Raphael,
NJ it, falls in fit of jealousy from which
he dies. Jealousy among authors. How
seldom contemporaries speak of each other.
Xenophon and Plato living at the same time,
but from their writings you never would
suppose they heard Of each other. Religious
jealousies. The Mahommedans praying for
rain during a drought, no rain coming.
Then the Christians begin to pray
for rain, and the rain comes Then
count for this, and they resolved that God
was so we'll pleased with their prayers
He kept the drought on so as to keep them
praying; but that the Christians began to
pray, and the Lord was so disgusted with
their prayers that He sent rain right away so
He would not hear any more Of their suppli-
cations. Oh, this accursed spirit Of envy and
jealousyl Let us stamp it out from all our
hearts.
= A wrestler was so env1ous or Theogenes,
the prince Of wrestlers, that he could not be
consoled in any way, and after Theogenes
died, and statue was lifted to him in pub.
lie place, his envious antagonist went out
every night and wrestled with the statue
until one night he threw it, and it fell on him
and crushed him to death. So jealousy is n t
only absurd, but it is killing to the body
and it is killing to the soul. How seldom it
is you find one merchant speaking well Of a
merchant in the same line of business. How
seldom it is you hear Of physician speaking
we'll of physician on the same block. Oh.
my fri ends, the world is large enough for all
of us. Let us rejoice at the success Of
others. The next best thing to owning O
garden ourselves is to look over the fence