The Penn's Grove record., 1903-07-10

gers nave tolied lovingly upon them. God
values our doings because we are His chill
dren. Ii we come, however, claiming to be
servants and pointing to the great things
that we have done, the only response -
that we are Improbable servants.
The s~tay-at-home was lost so long as he
looked upon himself as a servant. The first
step towards recovery was for him to take
himself as a son. The first step out Of the
lostness of the servant life is to take SON.
ship Tor granted and to act upon the as
sumption.
Again. the ~lostness Of the stay-at-home
appears from his thought of service. And
L never transgressed a commandant of
thine" These words are no more accidental
than the others. The Master is cutting
close to the essential weaknesses in the
creed and practice of Pharisaisrl. The two
weak words here are never" and com
mandment." The elders sons thought Of
service was partly negative, and for tie
rest consisted in keeping commandments.
The Pharisee habitually thanked God that
he was not as other men, e~xtortioners,
UNJUST, aduiterers, or even as the publican,
but tasted twice in the week and gave
tlthes of all that he possessed"
First, the negative aspect Of the Phari-
sale creed. According to Pharisaism re-
lglon consists largely in not doing.
Never" is the blessed word. Adherence
to the never" creed causes the inert md
passionless worshlper to mistake the list
lessness of death for the peace that passeth
understanding. Negative piety is often
sheer lifelessness; there is not vitality
enough to break forth in sin; there is not
strength or spirit enough to make temp
tatlon possible. How exasperating it is to
hear a dry, withered soul declaim on the
follies of youth, or a mind sluggish with
stupidity boast it's freedom from Doubt
There is a long-lived heresy to the effect
that the heart of religion is repression.
No longer do this, or that, or the other,
Drive out the devils, sweep the house, set
the furniture in order, board up the win
dows, lock up the doors and hide the
KEYS! This, as of old, oyerlooks some
thing-the skill of devils as key-6nders.
Back they come with others worse than
themselves; or, If they do not come back,
the house stands empty, which is about
as bad. Redemption really means abrn-
dant life. The lifeiess and inert seriously
starting toward redemption may possibly
make more mistakes in the first six months
OF activity than In all the previous years
of listlessness, but they are better never
theless. One of the most disagreeable
features of this elder brother is limited at
in this word never" 1t suggests a staid,
hfeless, ploddingness beside which the roll
licking prodigality of the younger brother
seems almost a relief. 1t is almost a re-
lief, too, to find that the elder brother
becomes angry, for anger is sometimes
a sign OF awakening life.
The more of the merely never" there
is in a mans religion, the more completely
lost the man Is.
And then the other part of the creed
the word commandment" What the
Master had in mind was the Pharisee's
living by rule. He is exposing the wood
enness and mechanicalness Of Pharisaic
piety; He is showing US the l~ostness OF
living by rule. With the lharisee life
had become a round Of ceremonial obser-
vanees and Pharisaism was lost in the
abundance of its rules. Any man is lost
who tries to be good merely by rule. Of
course, many OF the great principles of
the Christian religion can be brought
down to the cempendious statement of
rules, but in these the principle is kept
IN mind. l am speaking OF Pharisaism
as the system which slavishly learns the
rules and follows them. Such a course
leads inevitably to the wilderness. If we
lose sight of the spirit and principle, we
must have a rule for everything. This
Pharisaism strove for and was lost in its
own cumbersomeness. II the system Is
not complete, if there are spheres of CON-
duct for which the Pharisee has no rule,
then in those spheres he is apt to feel
free to do his worst. s
Living the good life is the finest of tina
fine arts. Fine art is not a mechanical OBJ
servance of rules-it is an absorption OF
spirit. In the religious life it is being
filled with the spirit; and he who has no5
the spirit of life is lost.
The ~lostness of the stay-at-home still
further appears from MS unnatural heart
doubly heartless, they repudiate brother
hood with the returning prodigal and they
reproach the father for not looking upon
such a son as his own. Heartlessness al
most inevitably follows mechanicalism.
1t is natural that it should be so. There
is no heart in a cumbersome set OF COM
mandments. Commandments having to deal
simply with doings and not with feelings
are in the nature of the case wooden and
~lifeless. IF life be looked upon as. some
thing to be fitted into a scheme of COM
mandments, all the fragrance of fine feel
ing evaporates. This picture of the elder
| brother is the perfect setting forth Of the
| heartlessness Of developed Pharisaism.
The heartlessness came not out of DELHI
crate diabolism, but out of mechanical.
legalism. In the end, however, these two
are not far apart.
In this world of ours we are compelled
to make assumptions, to choose between
views either of which may be correct.
So far as the great mass Of things Is con-
cerned. there is no way Of getting absolute
| proof beforehand. We must assume and
see. Now, concerning men and things,
good assumptions and bad assumptions are
possible; but as a matter of general atti-
tude of mind and heart toward things only
one way is safe. That Is, TO put the very
best possible construction on the lives of
men and the working of things. This. IN
a word, is Christian faith. Christian
faith does not start by proving things.
1t assumes the best. If a man is actually
bad it looks hopefully toward the better
manhood which is, In almost every. Gaze.
a possibility. Jesus called Judas friend, =
and accepted his kiss even on the night
Of his betrayal. Christian faith looks oct
Upon the working of the entire universe
and assumes that they are righteous. IN
that trust is found peace.
Suppose one were to assume IN dealing
with men that all men are liars. 1t can
not be proved beforehand that all men are
! not liars or even that any one man Is
absolutely truthful; but how hopelessly
lost in his dealings with men would be
the one who should start with the assump-
ton that all men are liarsl The safe
path in the long run is the assumption
that there is good in all men and that the
good can be reached and made better.
In particular cases this may fail, but it is
in general the only Christian view. He
who, like the elder brother, holds to the
/ futd lQdb the IetuIaihS RltA&5ol Il AitPC-
lessly and irretrievably lost, is himself
wandering in the wilderness far from
safety.
Lastly, the ~lostness of the stay-at-home
appears from his thought of reward.
.sThou never gavest me a kid" The elder
brother seems to have been serving with
the thought of material pay. He. was
doing the work for what he could get ont
of it. His thought of reward moves alon
"a low plane. Jesus condemned Pharisaism
because of its low view of reward. The
taslamaster was to pay at the close OF the
day. Similarly some of US seem at times
to think of heaven as a place of material
and rather earthly prizes. And again, the
elder brother was lost in placing emphasis
upon an extraordinary forgiveness and
welcome as of more than the favor of the
fathers continued and ever present affec-
ton. 1t is sometimes suggested that one
of the important lessons of this parable
is its rebuke of the Christian who COM
plains because the contrition of the return.
ing penitent sometimes is rewarded by
more of ecstatic blessing than is his own
long continued service Of God. However
this may be as a matter OF strict exegesis. il
is perfectly clear that the thought which
| rates the exceptional manifestation Of in.