Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-08-24

Srpco rn
,h, aH meeting making an address 90 q re- e.
n nas Ratlronizing way, as thouuh s ord Ie
ha "ls christians were clear awsv dow
20 t; nlm' SO he has to talk at The ton
NJ n ns voice In order to make them hear
:" eI h .. the same time encouraging them
-. 20 nope on; that by clingino MANI vaers
tney may after while come nm w;;th 49,
sig11 OF the place where he now standsi
'eii you plainly that aroarinp. royster.
.ne' bouncing sinner is not SO ren,is;vo
70 ~, me as that higher-life malformat;on
~ lormer may repent; the latter never
Se.s over ms pharisaism. The Younger
~ to'ner OF the parable came back, but
tne senior brother stands outside en-
1 ICY oolivlous of his own delinauencies
a a;n,, uen Gus Pronouncing his own eulo-
SSi uan IN, how much easier it is to
1a a,ae oshers than to blame ourselves!
Aoam planned Eve, Eve blamed the SER
pent, the serpent blamed the davi, Tho
senior brother blamed the younoer
brother, and none of them blamed them.
selves. ~ s"en'-
AGAIN, the senior brother of nv text
stands for all those who are faithless
ABOUT the reformation of the dissipated
ana the absolute. In the very tones of
ms voice You can hear the fact that he
mas no faith that the reformation of the
younger son is genuine. His entire
manner seems to say: That bow has
come back for more money. He got
third of the property; now he has come
back for another third. He will never
be centented to stay on the farm. He
Will fall away. would go in, too, and
rejoice with the others if I thought this
thing. was genuine; but it is sham.
That boy is confirmed inebriate and
debauche." Alas! my friends, for the
lncredulity in the church of Christ in re-
You say o man has been a strong
drinker. I say: "Yes, but he has re-
formed" oh" YOU say, with lugu-
brious face, Il hope you are not mis-
taken; 1 hope you are not mistaken"
You say: DO not rejoice too much
over his conversion, for soon he will be
unconverted. fear. Don't make too
big party for that 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 Illustrating in the
paddock. That is the reason why more
prodigals do not come nome
to their fathers house. 1t is the
rank intidelity in the church of God on
this subject. There is not house on
the streets of Heaven that has not in it
prodigal that has returned and stayed
home. There could be unrolled before
you scroll of hundred thousand
names-the names of prodigals who
came back forever reformed. Who was
John Bunyan? A returned prodigal.
Who was Richard Baxter? A returned
prodigal. Who was George Whitehead,
the thunderer? 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 eter-
nal 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 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, censorieus,
saturnine, cranky, elder brother, and if
you are going to Heaven one would
think some people would be tempted to
go to perdition to get away from you.
The hunters say that if deer be shot
the other deer shove him out of their
with the man who has been wounded
with sin. Now, say the more bones q
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 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 land patent leather sinners, for
sinners fixed up by hair dresser, poma
tuned and lavendered and cologned and
frizzled and crimped and banged, sim
ners-plenty of room! Such we meet
elegantly at the door of our churches,
and we invite them into the best seats
with Chesterfeldian gallantries; we
usher them into the house of God, and
put soft ottomans under their feet, and
put a gilt-edged prayer book i'll their
hand and pass the contribution box be-
fore them with an air of apology, while
they. the generous souls! take out the
exquisite portemonnaie, and open it,
and with diamond finger push down be-
yond the $40 gold pieces and del
icately 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
threndbare, and his face is erysipelased,
and his wife's wedding dress is in the
pawnbrokers shop, and his children, in
stead of being in school, are out beg
ging 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 scathing, scorching,
blasting, consuming cup which the
drunkard takes, trembling and agonized
and atfrighted, and presses to his
parched lips and cracked tongue 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 wasseil, 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.
Oh, be not SO hard in your criticism of
the fallen, lest thou myself also be
tempted. A stranger one Sunday stag
gered up and down the aisles
of my church, disturbing the
service until the service had