The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-02-05

In which he lived Shylock was a fiend
and murderer at heart. Like pam
| Their crouchiRg among the long grasses
Of the African prairie. waiting for the
! time he could spring upon helpless
antelope. Shylock was longing for the
time when he could lay Antonio a
corpse at his feet.
a Defect In Character
Elder brothers, you have no ground
for pride if the restraint that has kept
you from prodigality is itself defect
of character. 1t is true that you have
not gone off as prodigal into far
country Of sin. You have not given
midnight banquet and started your
young friends on the path to a drunk
ards grave by teaching them how to
bury their lips in the red poison of the
wine cup. You may have been too
stingy for that; you may have been so
mean and stingy that there Is no fear
that you would drink glass of wine
or smoke a cigar unless some one else
paid for it. 1t is not principle that
saves some men from going to destruc-
ton by the broad highway of disso-
luteness, but penuriousness. They hold
on to every dollar they have and are
too stingy to spend cent. They keep
their money as long as they can and
never give a cent to q friend unless
they make that friend give them first
class security and pay full interest.
But. my so called respectable and up
right pharisaical friend. though you
are not prodigal, you may be usur-
err, an eXt0rtioner and a slanderer. You
may be a robber Of tie poor widows
mite and a contemplate tyrant in your
dealings with your debtors and your
employees. You may be peddler OF
evil reports and murderer of your
neighbors reputation. You may be
one of those keen, cold automatons
without one drop of human kindness
in your heart. You may be SO merci-
less in your dealings with mankind
that you will not stop for one moment
to consider the sad causes which led
your friends into sin or into financial
faults are meanness and avarice, though
you may have never violated the Grim
inal code of your state, you are at heart
sinful monster, a financial tyrant;
you are at heart merciless calumnia-
tor. God despises your unrepented sins
Just as much as he despises the sins of
the prodigal in the far country.
Satan is no nearer being a Christian
gentleman for dressing himself in
broadcloth. The hangman's moose is no
less fatal for being deftly placed about
the doomed throat by white fingers
a-glitter with diamond rings. Because
you. oh. elder brother, stay at home
and live under your fathers roof, that
is no reason why you may not be living
10000 miles away from your fathers
love. do not believe there is more
contemplate character painted In all
the word pictures of the Bible than this
cold blooded. nnforgiving, sneering,
carping elder brother who was ready
to take every advantage he could over
his fellow men If he could only do so
without disobeying the letter of the
law. Instead of being drunk with
wine he was intoxicated with self con.
eeft and selfshness Instead of being
a beggar or earning his bread by tend
ing swine he was ready to unkennel the
of vindictiye rancor, which
would tear repentant brother limb
from limb.
DespicabIe Spirit.
The elder brother thinks that his Di-
vine Fathers house is not big enough
to hold two sons. He feels that II his
brother is allowed to come back the re-
turning prodigal will crowd him out of
some room which rightfully belongs to
him. He says to himself: There is
that drunken loafer of boy He has
taken his one-half Of the property; now
he is coming back to eat up part of my
half. know that father is SO kind
hearted that he will give part of my
rightfuI Inheritance to this lazy spend
thrift, this boon companion of dissolute
characters. IL he has spent his all,
then let him starye. That is just what
he deserves. He has no right coming
back, to be a vampire upon my prop
erty' So the selfish elder brothers in
many of our large churches refuse to
let the prodigals come among them and
will not allow them to be received as
equals in their Fathers house. They
seem to think that the advent of the
poor and outeast means their own So
cial extinction and their spiritual de-
basement.
Where can the despicable. pharisaic-
al spirit of the elder brother be found
more conspicuous than in some of your
modern Sunday school classes2 Oh
say the well dressed young girls of that
class, you are not going to put that
poor girl in orr class. Why. it will
ruin tie whole class! You can't expect
the daughters of millionaif'es to ASSOC
ciate with sewing girls even IN a Sun
day school. Where can you find a
more despieable. pharisaical spirit than
in the missionary life Of some of our
large city churches? There are many