Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-11-12
"ouR POPULAR YOUNG MAN.
He Is Made the Subject of an Interesting
Sunday Evening Discourse.

He Is Made the Subject of an Interesting
Sunday Evening Discourse.
The Seventh-street Methodist Church
South was crowded to its utmost capacity
on Sunday night, more than 100 chairs, be-
sides the seating capacity of the church,
being required to seat the audience. The
pastor, Rev. A. c. Bane, preached on: "The
Fate of Our Popular Young Man." taking
his text froml the story of the prodigal son.
He said:
"0ur young men are, as q rule, alienated
from God, from morbid desire for popu-
lsrity and pleasure. Many parents and
young men think the boy must SOW his
wild oats, hence it is natural for him to be
wild and irreligious; but when the boy
sows wild oats till he is twenty five, he will
reap harvest of wild oats till he is fifty u
The speaker then rehearsed the story of the
prodigal and said: IF we will follow this
young man to the end of his career of wild
oat sowing we will learn lesson.
whence springs the sin that starts the
young man on career that ends in waste
and shame? from concelt; from a desire for
independence; this boy chafed under the
the restraints of home and desired to be a
LndA AbOAACIt bCbNO ASoOANCo W
go on his own hook 1t is this desire for
bad freedom that is the source of every sin;
this was the initial sin in the garden; this
desire wrecked Eden, and mas wrecked
every lost soul.
The young man asked his portion OF
the estate. The father said, You had better
stay home No, want 10 see the world
and make money The father under the law
could not compel him to stay could only
beg and entreat him. Where does this sin
place the soul Listen! Hetook his journey
into far country; that is the history of all
worldliness. This distance and alienation
from God is atheism of the heart. When
boy leaves home with this evil ambi-
ton for liberty he usually commences to
live Unexpectedly, imprudently and fool
ishly; he swings in the circle of worldly
pleasure, spends money freely, drinks fine
wines and smokes fine cigars; now he is
one of the boys This constitutes a popu-
lar young man in Sacramento. But how
long will you remain popular with friends
bought at such price? Only so long as
you spend money with them.
But following this wild, reckless, pop
ular life will result in waste and loss of
your reason, conscience, purity and intiu-
ence. See the unsatisfying nature OF
worldly happiness. This boy tried 10 sat-
isfy his appetite on husks, and so is every
wording. A husk is an empty thing, 1t
looks like food but is not Worldly pleas
ure is unsatisfying. Why is this world I'M
satisfying? The grandeur of the soul
makes it so. How can the world fill and
satisfy a soul that was meant to be filled
with God?
Not only are worldly pleasure unsatis-
flying, but degrading. The prodigal not
only ate husks, but the husks that the
swine eat. He lived for lower purpose
than God intended him. You need not
give your self up to low and mean prac-
tees to be degraded, but just live for a
lower purpose than God intended you. If
you follow your present worldly life long
you will find yourself in want, and the
world won't help you, for it disowns and
dishonors these it has degraded. When
want came this boy came to himself and
said, What am l? What have doneT For
The first time he saw that his companions
were hogs, and that he was eating the
same food with them. He thought OF
home, what he had lost and left, and re-
solved to return.
"But observe; men seldom forsake the
world till it forsskes them. This renegade
came to himself only when there were no
more husks TO eat-this is the record of
your shame. The world sneers at this
thought, and says, When men get disap-
pointed with the world then they become
religious What of it? 1t only sheds a
greater luster around the love of Christ,
who rejoices to receive these wanderers,
worthless though they are, back to his
bosom.
This boy returned poor, hungry and
humble how different he looked from the
boy who few years ago started out to see
the world. So every man who goes after sin
returns, with his character stained, marred
and corrupted.
But royal welcome awaits the return
ing sinner. He is forgiven; the blessing is
not delayed till he deserves it, but if be
trusts that Christ has wiped away his sin
the ring, the robe and the banquet are his,
When all the world has forsaken the sim
ner, Christ will receive him" The speaker
closed with an earnest and pathetic appeal
to the unsaved to forsake sin and seek
Christ in the pardon of their sins.