The Russellville Democrat., 1888-08-23


 mouey. He got third of the property; now he has come back for another third. lie will never be contented to stay on the Farm. He will fall away. 1 would go in too and rejoice with the others if thought this thing was genuine; but it Is sham. That boy is q confirmed innebriate and debauchee.v
 Alas my friends. for the incredulity in the Church of Christ in regard to the re- clamation of the recreant. You say man has been a strong drinker. say:
 "Yes. but he has reformed.n
 sOh." you say, with lugubrious face, q hope you are not mistaken" You say:
 Don't rejoice too much over his con- version, for soon he will be unconyerted, I fear. Don't make too big party for that returned prodigal, or strike the tim brel too loud; and if you kill a calf, kill the one that is on the commons, and not the one that has been luxuriating in the paddock"
 That is the reason why more prodigals do not come home to their Fathers house. It is the rank infidelity in the Church of God on this subject. There is not house on the streets of Heaven that has not in it a prodigal that has returned and stayed HOult. l0eTe cDuiu De enTOleu DcipfO gOu scroll of hundred thousand names the names of prodigals who came back forever reformed Who was John Bum van? A returned prodigal. Who was Richrad Baxter? returned prodigal. Who was George Whitefeld, the thunder CT? A returned prodigal And I could go out in all directions in this audience and fud on either side those who, once far astray for many years, have been faithful, and their eternal salvation 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 warm gulf stre am of Chris tian sympathy. You are the iceberg against which he strikes and quivers. You say he has been prodigal. know it. But you are the sour, unresponsive, ,scensorious, saturnine, cranky elder brother, aud if you are go- ing to Heaven one woul think some peo- pie would be tempted to go to perdition to get away from you. The hunters say that if a deer be shot the other deer shove him out of their company, and the gener- al rule is, away with the man who has been wounded with sin. Now, I say, the more bones man has broken the more need he has of a hospital, and that the more a man has been bruised and cut | with sin the more need he has to be car- ried 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.
 l Plenty of room for elegant sinners, sim sx. For sinners high -salaried; for kid gloved and patent leather sinners; for sinners fixed | by hair- -dresser-pomatumed and laven- dered, and cologned, and frizzled, and | crimped, and ''bangedD sinners-plenty | of rooml Such we meet elegantly at the door of our chur ches. and we invite them | into the best seats with Chesterfe ldlan | gallantr1es; we usher them into the house | of God, and put soft ottomans under their l feet, and put a gilt edged prayer-b book in | their hand, and pass the contribution box | before them with an air of apology, while l they the generous souls take out the ex- I quisite portemonnaie, and open it. and with dlamonded finger push down beyond the ten-dollar gold pieces, and deli | ly 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 face is erysipelased, and his wife's wedding dress is in the pawnbroker's shop, and his children, instead of being l in school, are out begging broken bread at the basement doors of the city-the man, body mind and soul on fire with the | flames that have leaped from the scath | ing. scorching, blasting, consuming cup | which the drunkard takes, trembling and | agonized, and affrighted, and presses to his parched lip and his cracked ton que, and his shrieking yet immortal spirit-no | room.
 | Oh, if this younger son of the parable had not gone so far off, if he had not dropped so low in wassail the protest would not have been so severe; but go- ing clear over the precipice as the young CT son did, the elder son is angry and | will not go in.
 1 Oh, pc not so hard in your cri ticism of the fallen, lest thou myself also be tempt | ed. stranger one Sunday staggered up | and down the aisles of my church, dis turbing the service until the service had | to stop until he was taken from the TO om. He was minister of the Gospel of Jesus | Christ of a sister denomination. That man had preached the Gospel, that man had broken the bread of the holy com- munion for the people, From what a 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. It 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 him. self on the beach, when nc saw some thing crawling up the beach, wriggling toward him, and he was affrighted. He thought 1t was a wild beast or reptile, and he took bis pistol from his pocket. Then he saw it was not wild beast It was man, an immortal man, man made in Gods own image; and the poor wretch crawled 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 a merchant iu Glasgow, Scotland. He had gone down under the power of strong drink until he was so reduced in poverty that he was lying in boat just of the beach.
 "why." said the invalid, "I knew a merchant in Glasgow once--a merchant by such and such name," aud the poor wretch straightenedihimself and said q am that man." "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall"
 Again I 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:
 'I have stayed at home, and ought to have had the ring, and I ought to have had the banquet. and ought to have had the garlands."
 Alas [ or this spirit of envy and ieal- ousy coming down through the ages Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, Saul and David, Haman and Mordecai, Othello and Iago, Orlando and A ngelica, Caligula