The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-08-24

you plainly that a roaring, registering,
bouncing sinner is not so repuIsive to me
as that higher-life malformation. The
former may repent; the latter never gets
over his pharisaism. The younger broth
er of the parable came back, but the
senior brother stands outside, entirely
oblivious Of his own delinquencies and
deficits, prOnouncing his own eulogium.
Oh, how much easier it is to blame others
| than to blame ourselvesi Adam blamed
Eve, Eve blamed the serpent the serpent
blamed the devil, the senior brother
blamed the younger brother, and none Of
them blamed themselves.
Again, the senior brother of my text
stands for all those who are faithless
about the reformation of the dissipated
| and the dissolute In the very tones of
his voice you can hear the fact that he
has no faith that the reformation of the
younger son is genuine. His entire man.
ner seems to say:
'That boy has come back for more
money He got third Of the property;
now he has come back for another third.
He will never be contented to stay the
farm. He will fall away. 1 would go in
too and rejoice with the oihers if 1 thought
this thing was genuine; but it is a sham.
That boy is a confirmed innebriate and
debauchee."
Alas! my friends. for the increduuty in
the Church of Christ in regard to the re-
clamation of the recreaut. You say q
man has been a strong drinker. I says:
eyes, but he has reformed"
'Oh," you say, with lugubrious face,
81 hope you are not mistaken" You
| say:
''Don't rejoice too much over his con-
| version, for soon he will be uncOnverted,
I fear. Don't make too big a party for
A.. ! Al.
/ 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.
/ 1t is the rank infidelity in the Church of
! God on this subject. There is not a house
/ on the streets of Heaven that has not in it
| a prodigal that has returned and stayed
/ home. There could be enrolled before you
a scroll of a hundred thousand names
/ the names of prodigals who came back
| forever reformed. Who was John Bum
yan? A returned prodigal. Who was
| Richrad Baxter2 A returned prOdigal.
| Who was George Whiteield, the thunder
er? A returned prodigal. And could
! go out in all directions in this audience
and find on either side those who, once
! far astray for many years, have been
faithful, and their eternal salvation is as
sRre 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 a 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 sire am of Chris tian sympathy.
You are the iceberg against which he
| strikes and quivers. You say he has been
| I TlT1f fna
sour, unresponsive, consorious, saturnine,
cranky elder brother, and 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, tho
more bones man has broken the more
need he has of a hospital, and that the
more 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 como
back after wandering.
Plenty of room for elegant sinners, sin
ners in velvet and satin and lace; for
sinners high -salaried; for kid gIoved and
patent leather sinners; for sinners fixed
by hair -dresser-pomatumed and laven-
dered, and cologned, and frizzled, and
crimped and Changed" sinners-pIenty
of room Such we meet elegantly at the
door of our churches and we invite them
into the best seats with Chesterfie ldlan
| gaIIantrles; 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 mir of apology, while
they, the generous souls take out the ex-
quisite portemonnaie, and open it. and
with d1amonded finger push down beyond
the ten-dollar gold pieces, and deli cate
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
wedding dress is in the pawnbr oker's
shop, and his children, instead of being
in school, are out begging broken bread
at the basement doors of the city-tbe
man, body, mind and soul on fire with thf
flames that have leaped from the scath-
ing. scorching, blasting, consuming cur
which the drunkard takes, trembling and
agonized, and affrighted, and presses Il
his parched lip and his cracked ton que,
and his shrieking yet immortal spirit-nC
room
Oh, If this younger son Of tho pnrabI,
had not gone 50 far off, II be 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
er son did, the elder on IS angry anC
will not go in.
Oh, De not so hard I'm your cri tfcism Oi
the fallen, lest thou thyself also be tempt.
ed. A stranger one Sunday staggered III
and down the aisles Of my church. dis
turbiug the service until the service had
to stop until he was taken from the room
He was a minister Of the Gospel Of Jesus
Christ Of a sister denomination. Tha
man had preached the Gospel, that mar
had broken the bread Of the holy com.
munion for the people. From what
height to what depthl Oh, 1 was glad
there was no smiling in the room Wher
that man was taken out his poor wife
following him with his hat in her hanC
and his coat on her arm. 1t was a.
solemn to me as two funeral
the funeral Of the body and the funera
Of the soul. Beware lest thou also b.
tempted.
An invalid went to South America 70
, his health, and one day sat summing him
self on the beach when ne saw sOmethinl
crawling up the beach, wriggling towari
him, and he was afrighted. lie though
il was a wild beast, or a reptile, aud h.
took his pistol from his pocket. Then h
saw it was not a wild beast II was
man, an immortal man, a man made II
Gods own image; and tho poor wretcl
crawled up to the feet Of the invalid ant
asked for strong drink, and the invalil
took his wine flask from his pocket an,
, gave the poor wretch something to drink
and then under the stimulus he rose "a
, and gave his history. He had been
merchant in Glasgow Scotland. He ha'
) gone down uuder tho power of stronl
drink until h3 was reduced ia povert.
, that he was lying in a boat just off thi
/ beach.
"why," said the invalid, II knew
! merchant ia Glasgow once--a nnerchan
by such and such a nme," and tho poo