The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-05-24
RELIGIOUS EDITORIALS FOR
SUNDAY

We heard not many weeks since a
serT1on by Rev. MIR. Glenn, Of Raleigh,
or, the "Prodigal Boy" 1T was very
sfuoDle. very clear and equally practi-
chi 1t is a theme often
upasn the preachers anvil, and yet there
Is a. new way sometimes to strike 1t
grgzn a new point of observation and
IN make a different impression from
that Of the common The sermon we
refer to did not attempt to cover the
uhole field or to exhaust all of the
possible applications. In fact 1t was
confined to a few lessons but all we'll
connected. 1t is so rich a theme that 1t
cannot be fully presented in one dis
Sssurse unless occupying more time than
Che restless listeners of this last quar-
,1er Of the century will be content with.
gyoe time was when church goers
would listen gladly to from an hour to
two hours to a genuine gospel sermon,
but now when they cushion their car
nal man. in drowsy pews, they cannot
ueI{ stand more than from a nalt TO
three quarters of an hour. General
told us that the great Bap-
list preacher, the elder Jonn herr'
father of the fine orator Judge JOnn
Kerr, once preached over three hours
tin ms hearing, Inc he would have been
r4~ased if he had continued longer. OF
course he was an exceptional preacher
and to have heard him In one OF his
Ersat pulpit discourses was an event
IN a mans life. But to return to the
parable of the "Prodigal Son by which
lit is generally known. 1t
IL old but ever new. In it the greatest
IT lessons-the lost found-the SINNER
xaved-the %prodigal's wandering from
God and his return. 1t is in eastern
form the Saviour presenting to the
sssr7d the love Of God for the sinner,
Esaiowing him in His providences, and
pssta the Holy Spirit, through all his
ways of .-ansgression and folly and
snfulness, with plying eye with out
stretched arm, with unwearying sollc-
farude and patience, hour by hour, day
try day, week 10y week, year by year,
xantil at last He has found him, stained,
soNed, sick, ruined, poor, helpless. IL
ss a wonaerful lesson Of Gods almighty
dove and p~ardoning, saving power. II
,yan move the angels to ~unrepressed
10y to behold this stirring impressive
manifestation OF Gods love, evokfns
their r]aptuous alleluias, n making
the arches of heaven ring with their
acciamations OF praise and wonder. 1t
ss plain from his great lesson as taught
by the Teacher, who is the Saviour.
chat the angelic intelligences are indeed
cognizant of the affairs of man in this
mundane sphere, that they are intense
Iy interested in what occurs, and That |
they are filled with holy rapture when
IL sinner lost is found, and the redemp- |
tive scheme brings back to the loving
Gold Of God IN outcast from the snares |
ssf the devil and the evils Of a Sin-curst \
.RpCld. If the angels are thus interest
I'D who are not of our race. and have
never sinned and fallen away from God,
ma we not believe that without any
demand upon ~unsanctified or
unreasonable theory, that the umanlty
I'm heaven shares also, and to a far
greater degree, in the sacred mpfoy-
uzent Of the angels, and rejoice in a
lsrofounder joy when the lost soul-tne
wandering prodigal is found n saved?
EEhen the news Of a soul saved reaches
eEe courts Of glory, VIZ may we'll think
Gfxzt the mighty songs Of victory take
Oh a higher strain when the antistrophe l
III the saints follows the strophe OF the |
angelic choir, and a. grand, swelling |
a0fiphony is heard amid the blood
washed throng of the eternal hills. 1t
fl NOT too much to believe that the
SAINTS Of God above are permitted to
KNOW OF the spiritual history of their
dear ones left behind OIL earth, and to
ae made gloriously happy when their
salvation is proclaimed unto them.
Ehe blessed and adorable Saviour came |
krom the shining courts on the special
sEat1 marvellous mission to seek and to "