The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-08-24

saism. Tbs younger brother Of the para
BILE came back, but the senior brother
stands outside entirely oblivious Of his
own delinquencies and deficits, prouounc.
ing his own eul0gium. O, how much easier
It 10 to blame others than to blame our
selves! Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed
the serpent, the serpent blamed the devil,
the senior brother blamed the younger
brother, and none Of them blamed them.
selves.
Again, the senior brother Of my text
stands for all those who are faithless about
the reformation of tho 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 manner 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 on the farm.
He will fall away. would go in too and
rejoice with the others, il I thought this
thing was genuine, but it is sham. That
boy is . confirmed inebriate and de-
bauchee." Alas! my friend, for the IN
credulity in the Church of Christ in regard
to the reclamation Of the recreant You
say . man has been . strong drinker.
say, eyes, but he has reformed" ''Oh, "
you say, with . luSubrious face, II
hope you are not mistaken" You
say, "Don't rejoice too much over
his conversion, for soon he will be
uncovered I fear. Don't make too
big party for this returned prodigal or
strike the timbrel too loud, and if you kill
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 a house on the streets of Heaven that
has not in it a prodigal that has returned
and strayed home. There could be I'M
rolled before you a scroll of 100000 names
the names Of prodigals who came back
forever reformed. Who was John Bum
yam? A returned prodigal. Who was
Richard Baxter? A returned prodigal.
Who was George Whitefield, 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 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 q
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.
I know it. But you are the sour, unre-
sponsive, censOrious, saturnine, cranky
elder brother, and if you are going to
Heaven one would think sor:.e people
would be tempted to go to .>rdition to get
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 who has been
wounded with sin. Now, I say the more
bones q man has broken the more
need he has of hospital,
and that the more a 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 worid-the
men who want to come back after wander
ing. 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, pomatumed and lavan-
dered and cologned and frizzled and
crimped and Changed" sinners-plenty of
room! Such we meet elegantly at the door
of our churches, and we invite them into
the best seats with Chesterfieldian 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 box before
them with an air of apology while they,
the generous souls, take out the exquisite
portemonnaie and open it and with dia-
mond finger push down beyond the ten
dollar gold pieces and delicately 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 erysipelased, and his wife's we'd
ding dress is in the pawnhroker's 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,
ard takes, trembling, and agonizsd, and
affrighted, and presses to his parched lips,
and his cracked tongue, and his shrieking
yet immortal spirit-no room.
o, if this younger son of the parable had
not gone so far of, if he had not dropped
so 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.
o, be not so hard in your criticism of the
fallen lest thou myself 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 q 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 commu-
Mon for the people. From what height
to what a depth! o, l was glad there was
no smiling in the room when that man " as
taken out, his poor wife following him, 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 him.
self ON the beach, when he saw something
crawling up the beach wriggling toward
him, and he was affrighted. He thought
it was q wild beast or a reptile, and he
took h pistol from his pocket. Then he
saw it was not a wild beast. 1t was .
man, an immortal man, a man in Gods
own image; and the poor wretch crawled
up to the feet of the individual and asked
for strong drink, and the invalid took his
flask from his pocket and gave the poor
wretch something to drink, and then I'M
der the stimulus he rose up and gave his