The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1888-08-23

| oDllvlous or his own delinQueucieS and
/ deficits, pronouucing his own eulogium.
Oh, how much easier it is to blame others
than to blame ourselves! Adam blamed
| Eve, Eve blamed tho 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 o. the diSsipatel
| and the diSSolute. II the very tones of
his voice You can hear the tact that he
has no faFh that the reformation of the
younger son is genuine. Ills entire man
ner seems to say:
That boy has come back for more
money. lie got a third of the property;
now he has come back for another third.
He will never be Contcntcd To stay on the
farm. He will fall away. | would go In
too and rejoice with the others If | thought
this thing was genuine; but it is a sham.
That boy is q confirmed innebriats and
debauohec.n
Alas my friends, for the incredulity in
the Church OF Christ in regard to the re-
clamation OF the reoreant. You say q
man has been a strong drinker. say:
"Yes, 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,
fear. Don't make too big q party for
that returned prodigal, or strike the TIM
brcl too loud; and if you kill calf, kill
the one that is on the commons, and not
the one that has been luxuriatiug in the
paddock"
That Is the reason why more prodigals
do not come home to their Fathers house.
1t is the rank infdellty in the Church OF
God on this subject. There is not house
on the streets OF Heaven that has not in 1t
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 Bun
yam? returned prodigal. Who was
Richrad 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 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 quivers. You say he has been
prodigal. know it But you are the
sour, unresp onsive, .censoriOus, saturnine,
cranky elder brother, and If you are 60
ing to Heaven one would think some PEG
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, | say, the
more bones a man has broken the more
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 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, sim
ners in velvet and satin aud lace; for
| sinners high -salaried; for kid. gloved and
! patent leather sinners; for sinners fixed
/ by hair dres Ser-pomatumed and layen-
dered, and cologned, and frizzled, and
crimped, and banged" sinners-plenty
of room! Such we meet elegantly at the
door Of our chur ches, and we invite them
| into the best seats with Chesterfield dlan
| gallantrles; 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 delicate
| 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's
wedding dress is in the pawnbrOker'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 the
flames that have leaped from the scath-
ing, scorching blasting, consuming cup
which the drunkard takes, trembling and
agonized, and affrighted, and presses to
his parched lip and his cracked ton que,
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 wassail, the protest
would not have been so severe; but 60
ing clear over the precipice as the young
er son did, the elder son is angry and
will not go in.
Oh, be not 50 hard in your cri ticism Of
the fallen, lest thou thyself also be tempt
ed. A stranger one Sunday staggered up
and down the aisles of my church, dis
turbing 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. That
man had preached the Gospel, that man
had broken the bread of the holy COM
munion for the people. From what a
height to what depth! Oh, l was glad
there was no smiling in the roo m when
that man was taken out, his poor wife
following him with 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 ne saw some thing
crawling up the beach, wriggling toward
him, and he was affrighted. He thought
it was wild beast, reptile, and he
took his pistol from his pocket Then he
saw it was not wild beast. 1t was a
man, an immortal man, a man made in
| Gods own image; and the poor wretch