The Chilhowee echo. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1899-19??, 1900-05-12

er. The only perfect people that l
have ever known were utterly obnox-
ious was never so badly cheated in
my life as by perfect man. He got
so far up in his devotions thai he was
clear up above all the rules of COM
mon honesty. These men that go
about prowling among prayer meet
ings and in places of business, telling
how good they are-lool1 out for
them; keep your hand on your pock-
etbook! 1 have noticed that just in
proportion as a man gets good he gets
humble. The deep Mississippi does
not make as much noise as the brawl-
ing mountain rivulet. There has
been many store that has had more
goods in the show window than in
side on the shelves.
This self-righteous man of the text
stood at the corner of the house hug
| ging himself in admiration. We hear
a great deal in our day about the
higher life. Now, there are two kinds
of higher life men. The one is adj
mirable, and the other is most re-
pulsive. The one kind of higher life
man is very lenient in his criticism of
others, does not bore prayer meetings
to death with long harangues, does
not talk great deal about himself,
but much about Christ and Heaven
| gets kindlier and more gentle and
| more useful until one day his soul
spreads awning, and he flies away to
eternal rest, and everybody mourns
his departure. The other higher life
man goes around with Bible conspic-
uously under his arm, goes from
church to church, a sort of general
evangelist. is sort of nuisance to his
own pastor when he is at home and
a nuisance to other pastors when he
Is away from home, runs up to some
man who is counting out a roll of
bank bills or running up difficult line
of figures and asks him how his soul
is, makes religion a dose of ipec acu-
anha. Standing in religious meet
ing making an address, he has pat
ronizing way, as though ordinary
Christians were clear away down be-
low him, so he had to talk at the top
OF his voice in order to make them
hear, but at the same time encourage
ing them to hope on that by climbing
many years they may after awhile
come up within sight of the place
where he now stands. l tell you plain
ly that roaring. roistering, 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 young
er brother of the parable came back.
but the senior brother stands outside
entirely oblivious to his own delin-
qucncies and deficits, pronouncing his
own eulcgium. Oh, how much easier
it is to blame others than to blame
| ourselves! Adam blamed Eve, Eve
blamed the serpent, the senior brother
blamed the younger brother, and none
| of them blamed themselves.
Again, the senior brother of my text
lestapds.for al 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. would go in too and rejoice
with the others if l thought this thing
were genuine; but it is a sham. That
boy is confirmed inebriate and debau-
Chez" Alas, my friends, for the
incredulity in the church of Christ in
regard to the reclamation of the rec
reant! You say a man has been strong
drinker. say, "Yes, but he has re-
formed" "Oh," you say, with lugu'
brious face, II hope you are not mis-
taken; l. hope you are not mistaken
You say: Don't rejoice too much over
his conversion, for soon he will be un-
converted, / fear. Don't make too big
a party for that returned prodigal OIL
|
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 home to their fathers house. 1t
is the rank intdelity in the church OF
God on this subject. There is not a
house on the streets of Heaven that
has not in it prodigal that returned
and gtaid home. There could be I'm.
rolled before you scroll of a hundred
thousand names-the names of prodi'
gals who came back forever reformed
Who was John Bunyan? A returned
prodigal. Who was Richard Baxter
A returned prodigal. Who was George
Whitefeld, the thunderer? Areturned
prodigal. And could go out in all the
aisles of this church to-day and find or
either side those who, once far astray
for many years, have been faithful
f, 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.
An invalid went to South America
for his health and one day sat sun
ming himself on the beach when he
saw something crawling up the beach
wriggling toward him, and he was af
frighted. He thought it was a wilc
beast or reptile, and he took his pts
toll from his pocket. Then he saw il
was not a wild beast. 1t was a man