The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-07-10
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT AND HELPFUL DIS.
COURSE ENTITLED "LosTAT HOME"
The Rev. rrsrcis ,. Mcconnell Presshes
Iusiruet,seiy On the Parable In Luke.
which Deals with the Grace at God
Toward the Lost.


;hs subject Ot the sermon preached SLaday
evening by the Rev. Francis J Mcconnell,
pastor OF the New York Avenue NJ. r..
Church. The sermon Was based ou Luke
xv. Mr. Mcconnell said
All the parallels ol TIN, fifteenth chapter
of Luke deal with the grace og God toward
the lost. There Is the story OF sheep lost, f,
another oi 4 coin lost aud another of TWO
sons lost The parable from which the text
OF the evening Is taken Is not the parable
of the los; son. but the parable of the lost
sons. \ great many % us stop At the twen.
ty-htth verse. We rejoice IN the sound OF
music and dancing which welcomes home
the prodigal. and prefer that the story
should end with the happiness OF the ban
quet. The remaining verses. perhaps, seem
to us somewhat out of place. The beautiful
narrative j. marred by reference To the
ugllneSs OF the elder brother. but II We
leave the elder brother out of the parable
We have lost IN large part the Masters
point Remember that Jesus is speaking
OF the lost; Tie ~ mstiyius His dealing
with puhlcans and sinners. These are lost
sheep which have wandered away from the
shepherd, lost COINS which have eluded the
fingers OF the housekeeper and fallen INTO
the cracks; lost sons who have wandered
Tar from home To spend all m rlotous liv-
ing. The parable was spoken IN RESPONSE
10 the murmurs Of Pharisees and Scribes,
With wonderful exquisteness Jesus puts
the pharisees and SCribes into the parable.
The elder brother Is the Scribe, who can.
not understand the love of the Master for
pubhclns and sinners. 1t requires but a
moments glance To see that IN the Masters
thought the Phar,see Is lost-lost not IN
open prodigahty and outbreaking wee. but
lost in false conceptions and false feelings.
Jesus does not say, indeed. that the Phari-
see Is lost. but lie implies as much. When
we look at the parable IN the light of the
whole teaching OF Jesus, We can see clearly
the "lostness' of the elder brother,
Possibly it would he well TO say Just
word about the sense IN which the word
lost is here used. Lost IN the gospel
means not that destruction has already
come upon the soul. but that the soul - IN
the grip of forces which. If left To them
selves, will sooner or later bring disaster.
If the steepe climber loses his hold the
onlookers cry out Lost" not because the
death dealing shock has already come but
because the steeple-cllmber ia IN the grasp
OF force which will inevitably bring HIM
to destruction. III a ship falls into the
clutches of an irresistible current running
/ upon the rocks the watchers upon the
shore cry Lost" At the moment OF the
cry the ship j. as staunch AS ever The
"lostness' consists in her being IN the
grasp of a force that must. ii lett 10 itself,
bring her TO doom. The sheep out IN the
wilderness had not been killed when the
shepherd found IT, IL. however. was lost
because wandering aimlcssy IN the pres
ence of danger that must, sooner or later
bring the end. The coin IN the dust was
as good as ever but m danger of being
swept out upon the rubbish heap, where
IL might never be found The Younger son
had not yet lost his life, but his days were
short IT they were to be left 90 the forces
preying upon them. Now, IN this sense OF
the word. IN the sense of being IN the grasp
of death-bringing forces, the elder brother
was lost as truly "A the younger.
Oi course, there may he degrees IN lost
ness One man may be further from the
right road than another. though any man
OIL the road is lost. A respectable looking
Pharlsce certainly does not seem 80 bad
as dissoute spendthriit reduced tn the
company OF swine. But when lostness is
under consideration, nothing IN so dccep
tive a. outward appearances. Physical
vices that manifest themselves in outward
signs are no more deadly than some subtle
| spiritual vices that work quietly within.
! Not all vices are rough and boisterous.
! Again, IN the parable before us we may
fail TO see the lostncss of the elder brother
/ because he remained at home We are very
! apt To think of lostness IA spatal. The
younger son was IN far country, and
whether we realize IT or not, something of
our thought Of his lostness has TO do with
his geographical position The elder son
was at home and. therefore, safe, but the
lostne,s OF the parable has very little to
do with spatial relations. The father could
not have saved the younger son by fastcn-
ing chains upon him and keeping him at
home. The son was already far away
when he clasped his fathers hand To say
goodby. Nearneas IN spiritual sense j.
not at all A matter Of physical distance.
The son who remained at home was IN a
spiritual sense a. truly lost a. the son who
I va INT h. Ga.
lostness consists IN false ways oi looking
at and feeling about spiritual things
II may be that some will object that the
Pharisees were a particular class of people
living at particular date in the worlds
history; that they have long since passed
on, carrying all their frailties with them
OF what use To speak OF Pharisees today
II must be responded that this view u,
wholly superhcial-that Jesus spoke for all
ages that in Phsrisa.sm were certain fun.
damenta traits that appear over and over
again. Pharisaism - not yet dead: the
name - changed, but the Characteristics
Teappear. Few men are far enough beyond
Pharlsalsm 10 make a protest against the
discussion Of the lostness OF Pbarisaism
especially relevant.
First Of all, the stay.at-home was lost in
his thought Of himself 10. theae many
years do ] serve thee" The word serve"
Is not at all accidental; IL IL very essen.
tial part OF the picture; It strikes at one
deep faults II Pharisasm-thc inability OF
the Phorisee 20 rise above the idea Of ser.
vantshp ~ hs thought Of mans relation
20 God. The elder brother did not take
hImseit ~ son. but ~ servant and
therefore was lost IN his thought of him.
self After the pro1iga among the swine
came TO himself he said, II am no moro
worthy TO be called thy son; make me az
one Of thy hired servants" The prod. yal
thought Of himself A. lost forever 20 son.
ship and hoped only for seryantship. and
yet the great redeeming fact IL the reck.
less sinners casc was that be bad come 90
the point where he could appreciate son.
snip. Upon that fact the father restored
him. The prodlgal had learned something
~ his disgrace. He had learned 10 think
OF himself A. one who had sinned against
sonship. With that lesson there followed
Il will arise and 90 10 my father" 50 far
"a this essential realization Of sonsbip was
concerned the elder brother was a. lost a.
the wanderer who had gone 20 the far
country
Looking at the parable in the light Of ~
eternal spiritual significance, this m,rst be
said, the man who strives 10 serye God
az servant and not a. a son - lost Not
that he ~ a villain or given % Outbreaking
transgressiOn but 20 long a. ne merely
serves God he y lost TO al ioy for himself
and is a dead loss % God. | -ay lost 20
jox. bsausc there IL no 10y IN merely
serving God-thag -. u we take the work
ser,ously ii we look upon God a. = great
taskmastef, a great lord over servants. We
are lost On misery; Tor We make 20 many
mistakes and We Leave ~ much und0ne and
we absolutely fail - many times thai we
get but little satisfaction out % the work
itsef n We really look upon God a. =
taskmaster We mast honestly confess that
We can never please HIM. With our limit.
eJ insight and our bluuderiuy fsculties We