The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1900-03-02


He feared a meddlesome neighbor
might report him. He was too old to
be punished and yet not old enough to
take care OF himself. He decided to
leave his old-fashioned father and
mother and the strict rules OF the
homestead. TheEe are the reasons OF
the departure.
Christ does not enter into a dis
gushing description of what the young
man did. He does not picture him
among the gay aristocrats of the new
town, opening the best bottles of wine,
driving the fastest horses. and living
with evil companions whom he dare
not introduce to his sisters. He does
not describe him in some lewd dance
hall, intoxicated with fiattery as much
as with wine. He does not have a
palace of Gree filled with princes and
princesses, the walls pictured, the
floors OF mosaic the banquet table
grooming under the weight Of gold and
silve" as well as fruits and viands.
Parable OmIts Details
"He does not trace him on and on,
running into debt, having his friends
leaving him one by one, as humming
birds with their pretty wings will hut-
ter away from a flower as soon as the
honey is gone. He does not describe
him at last so poor that he is begging
alongside of the beggars whom he once
cursed in the street. No. Jesus covers
up the months OF wassail, libertinism,
and convivlality with the simple SEN
tence of my text The younger son
gathered all together and took his
journey into far country In
Christ's parable it is only one step
from the fathers house to a swine's
trough.
THE trouble with many so-callej
Christian teachers is that we put
halo over sin and talk too much about
water nymphs, fairies, seamaids. deni-
zens OF tie air, sylphs, spirits and
flaxen-haired goddesses. We picture
Temptation as dream OF beauty seat
ed upon the rim Of 4 cloud She holds
in one hand pack OF cards and in the
other a chalice of wine. The coloTs OF
her cheek. the flowers caught in the
folds OF the garment clinging about her
1.-THE form make her lool; so innocent
one can't help loving her, even though
she may be bad
The great criticism against John
Milton is that he introduces his Satan
rs a very respectable sort Of a gentle
man. Surprising tonight l should at
tack a certain inidel book or a vile
French novel and mention the book by
name and the author. and tell you un-
der no condition to read 1t; that II you
did you would blast your soul for time
and eternity What would be the re-
suit? Tomorrow morning fifty or one
hundred OF the young people sitting be-
fore me would arise early and take the
publishers and buy that very book.
merely because the preacher told you
not to read it. That is human nature.
What is the greatest damage
newspaper can do a man? Attack
him? No! That always does an in
nocent public man good. The harder
the newspaper denounces, the more
prominent the man becomes. The
worst insult the newspapers can give
is 10 simply ignore man. Never men
ton his name Treat him as If he was
not worth noticing. The most awful
contempt you can hurl at an enemy is
silence, complete silence, never-ending
silence
Not Saian's Eulietin BOARD.
Refuse TO allow your back to be
Satans bulletin board. Pose not be-
fore a community as a reformed drunk
ard. or an evangelical thief. II you
once had diseased tongue. please do
not tell it, II you were once bedaubed
with social filth. we do not want to
know it. Talk not about the gilded
saloon and bacchanalian feasts and the
good times you used to have before you
Joined the church and married and
gave up all fun. Throw not the coat OF
many colors over RIGHTEOUSNESS ana
somber black over virtue. Leave evil
alone. With one
plunge jump from the highest noun
tain of inspiration into the lowest
depths of despair with the simple SEN
tence, And he went into a far coun-
try
"In the next place. learn that the
prodigal Of my text went into the far
country because the father was too
lenient, and divided unto him his liv-
ing. OF course we all know the great
teaching of this parable was to show
Gods mercy; how. as a broken hearted
parent he is longing for the hayward
child to come home. But there are
many minor truths as well as the
major one. All the gold taken from
the mines is not poured into the same
mold. The chisel OF Michael Angelo
can cut curly-headed shepherd boy as
well as the long, flowing beard and
swarthy muscles OF the Jewish law
giver. The wheels in a factory should
not be despised because they do not re-
volve the one wav.
mr. Moody said: This father ought
to be censured. He could not have