The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-08-17

would 60 In, too, and rejoice with the others
II l thought this thing was genuine; but IL Il
q sham. That boy Is confirmed inebriate
and debauchee." Alasi my friends, for
the incredulity In the church of
Christ in regard to tho reclamation
Of the recreanti You say q man has
been strong drinker. say: "Yes; but he
has reformed" "Ohr" you say, with lugu-
brious face, II hope you are not mistaken; I
hope you are not mistaken" You say:
''Don't rejoice too much over his conversion,
| for soon he will be uncovered, fear
Don't make too big party for that returned
prodigal, or strike the timbrel too loud; and
II you kill calf, kill the one that is on the
commons, and not the one that has been lux.
uriating In the paddock" That IL the reason
why more prodigals do not come home to
their fathers house Il Is the rank infidelity In
the church Of God on this subject There 10
not q house ON the streets Of heaven that
has not In it q prodigal that has
returned and strayed home There could be
unIplled before You scroll Of a hun
dred thousand nameS-the names of prod
igals who came back forever reformed
Who was John Bunyani A returned
prodigal Who was Richard Baxterl A re-
turned prodigal Who was George White
field, the thundereri A returned prodigal
And could 60 out in all directions In this
audience and find on either side those who,
once far asrray for many years, have been
faithful, and their eternal salvation Ia 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 stream Of
Christian sympathy. You are the iceberg
against which he strikes and shivers. You
say he has been prodigal ! know it But
you are the sour, unresponsive, censorious,
saturnine, cranky, elder brother, and II you
are going to heaven one would think some
people would be tempted to 60 to perdition to
get away from you. The hunters say that IL
deer be shot the other deer shove him out of
their company, and the general rule Is, away
with the man who has been wounded with
sin Now, I say. the more bones
man has broken the moro need he has
of hospital, and that the more q 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 DIRE ser, po-
matumed, and lavendered, and cologned,
and frizzled, and crimped, and banged"
sinners-plenty Of room. Such we meet
elegantly at the door of our churches,
and we invite them into our best seats
with Chesterfeldian gallantries; We usher
them into the house of God and put
soft ottomans under their feet and
put gilt edged prayer book in their
hand, and pass the contribution box before
them with an air Of apology, while they, the
generous souls, take out the exquisite porte
monnaie, and open 1t, and with diamond
finger push down beyond the ten dollar gold
pieces and delicately pick out as an express
sion 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 erySpelased, and his wife's
wedding dress Is in the pawnbroker's shop,
and his children, instead Of being in school,
are out begging broken bread at endorsement
doors of the city-ths man, body, mind and
soul on fire with the flames that have leaped
Stunning cup which the drunkard takes, trem-
bling, and agonized, and affrighted, 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
not gone so far of, IL he had not dropped so
low In wassail, the protest would not have
been SO severe; but going clear over the precl.
pice as the younger son did, the elder son is
angry and will not 60 in.
Oh, be not SO hard In your criticism Of the
fallen, lest thou thyself also be tempted. A
stranger one 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 was
minister Of the Gospel Of Jesus Christ Of q
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 depthl Oh, was
glad there was no smiling in the room when
that man was taken out, his poor wife follow
ing him with his hat in her hand and his coat
on her arm. Il 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 a wild
beast It was q man, an immortal man, a
man made In Gods own image; and the poor
wretch crawled up to the feet Of the invalid
and asked for strong drink. The invalid took
his wine flask from his pocket and gave the
poor wretch something to drink, and under the
stimulus he rose up and gave his history. He
had been o merchant In Glasgow, 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.
way" said the invalid, 81 knew a mer-
chant In Glasgow once" o merchant by such
and such a name, and the poor wretch
Strengthened himself and said, 81 arm that
man. "Let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest lie fall"
Again, remark that the senior brother Of
my text stands for the spirit Of envy and
jealousy. The senior brother thought that
ell the honor they did to the returned brother
was wrong to him. He said: ~ have stayed
at home, and ought to have had the ring.
and ought to havo had the banquet, and
ought to have had the garlands." Alas for
this spirit of envy and jealousy coming down
through the agesl Cain and Abel, Esau and
Jacob, Saul and David, Hannah and Morde-
cal, Othello and Iago, Orlando and Angelica,
Caigula and Torquatus, Cesar 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
Closterman and Godfrey Kneller, Hudson
and Reynolds Francia, anxious to see
picture of Raphael, Raphael sends him
picture. Francia, seeing 1t, falls in fit Of
jealousy from which he dies Jealousy
among authors. How seldom contempora-
ries 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
drought, no rain coming. Then the Chris
tians begin to pray for rain, and the
rain comes Then the Mahommedans
met together to account for this, and they
resolved that God was 50 well pleased with
their prayers he kept the drought on 30 as to
keep them praying; but that the Christians
began to pray, and the Lord was so disguised
with their prayers that he sent rain right
away so he would not hear any more Of their
applications. Oh, this accused spirit Of
envy and jealousyI Let US stamp it out from
all our hearts
A wrestler was so envious Of 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 public
place his envious antagonist went out and
wrestled with the statue until one night he
threw It, and it fell on him and crushed him
to death. So jealousy is not only absurd, 1t
Is killing to the body and it is killing to the