St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-08-25

lTOm HOmeS runs up TO some man WHO IL
counting out a roll of bank bills or
| running up difficult line of fig
ures, and asks him how his soul
Is; makes religion q dose Of ipe-
| cacuanha; standing in a religious
| meeting making an address, he has a
patronizing way, as though ordinary
Christians were clear away down below
him, SO he had to talk at the top Of his
| voice in order to make them hear. but at
| the same time encouraging them to hope
on; that by climbing many years they
may after awhile come up within sight Of
the place where he now standsl I tell
you plainly that roaring, registering,
bouncing sinner is not so repulsive 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 ourselves! 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 on the
farm. He will fall away. l would go in
too and rejoice with the others if thought
this thing was genuine; but it is sham.
That boy is confirmed innebriate and
debauchee."
Alas! my friends. for tho incredulity in
the Church of Christ in regard to the re-
clamation Of the recreant. You say
man has been strong drinker. Isay:
eyes. but he has reformed"
'Oh." you say, with lugubrious face,
~ hope you are not mistaken" You
say:
''Don't rejoice too much over his cor-
version, for soon he will be unconverted,
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.
1t 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
home. There could be enrolled before you
scroll Of a hundred thousand names
the names of prodigals who came back
forever reformed. Who was John Bun
yam? A returned prodigal. Who was
Richrad Baxter? A returned prodigal.
Who was George Whiteisld, the thunder
er? A returned prodigal. And l could
60 out in all directions in this audience
and ind 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 stream Of Chris tian sympathy.
You are the iceberg against which he
strikes and quivers. You say he has been
prodigal I know it. But you are the
sour unresponsive, censorious, saturnine,
cranky elder brother, and if you are GO
ing to Heaven one woul d think some peo-
pie would be tempted to go to perdition
to get away from you. Ths hunters say
that If 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, say, the
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 bs 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.
Plenty of room for elegant sinners, sin
ners in velvet and satin aud lace; for
sinners high -salaried: for kid gloved and
patent leather sinners; for sinners fixed
by hair dresser-pomatumed and lavsn-
dered, and cologned, AMI frizzled, and
crimped, and Changed" inners-plenty
of rooml Such we meet elegantly at the
door of our churches. and we invite them
into the best seats with Chesterfeld1an
gallantr1es; we usher them into the house
OF God, and put soft ottoman 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 ex-
quisite portemonnaie, and open it, and |
with dlamonded 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 |
MS face is erysipelased, and his wife's |
Wedding dress is in the pawnbroker's /
shop, and his children, instead Of being
n school, are out begging broken bread
1t the basement doors of the city-tbe
nan, body. mind and soul on fire with the
lanes that have leaped from the scath-
ng. scorching, blasting, consuming cup
which the drunkard takes. trembling and
agonized, and affrighted and presses to
lis parched lip and his cracked ton que,
md his shrieking yet immortal spirit-no
Dom.
Oh, II this younger son Of the parable
lad not gone SO far off, if he had not
lropped SO low in wassail, the protest
you'd not have been SO severe; but GO
ng clear over the precipice as the young
II son did. the elder son is angry and
will not go in.
Oh, De not so hard in your riticism Of
he fallen, lest thou thyself also be tempt
n atranCar ono Sunday staooarad nm