Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-02-02
way injurs their own social and spir-
itual standing.


The Two Sons.
The elder brother never longs to sat
Isfy the divine cravings Of his fathers
love. / have no sympathy with some !
of the excuses that are made for that
prodigal son. have no sympathy with
those who declare that young men are
led astray into the far country of sin
because they have generous impulses
and abnormal affections and therefore !
cannot say no to the tempter. That /
prodigal was an migrate, every way you |
take him. He was a selfish, contempt |
ble dissolute rake. No man is large
hearted who will take a friend to
saloon or open a bottle of wine at
club when in order to do it he makes
his own children go hungry and dress
In rags No generous hearted young
man will go into the far country of sin
md recklessly squander his money
when at the same time he knows that
his old father is weeping at home, with
! his eyes fountain of tears; but, though
that younger son was a selfish, despi-
cable character, the elder was just as
despicable. When the elder brother
heard the music which signaled the
parental Joy over the repentant prod
fgars return; when he saw the eyes of
his father glistening with love and his
cheeks flushing with holy thankful
ness, he would have rejoiced for his
fathers sake if he had not been selfish
and would not have tried to stab the
old man to the heart. Did he not say
| IN, off hon ri no
solute debauchee back to his swine
trough. Then we can have the pleas
ure of seeing father again restlessly
pacing the floor through the long,
weary hours Of the night" Did he not
want to hear that dear, old, gentle, for
giving father again moan over his way
ward boy as David mourned over his
dead son Absalom?
If that elder brother had been the
right kind of q son, he would have seen
what JOY came into the fathers heart
at the return of his repentant son. He
, would have Immediately said: What
difference does money make if / can
; only make father happy? Away with
the question of dollars and cents if my
brothers return is only true return. y
! So every Christian today, if he is the
? right kind of a Christian, does not
think about the social condition of his
, repentant fellow man. He Immediately
, says, when the publican bows at the
q mercy seat: 'Oh, the joy and the rap
= ture of heaven. Oh, the look of tri
9 umphant love which is upon my Divine
- Fathers face. Oh, the celestial music
which in great tidal waves of sound il
= rolling through the golden boulevard
. of the New Jerusalem. Oh, the an
), gelic voices in heaven which are every
- were shouting the glad tidings: 'Th
II prodigal has returned! The prodiga
- has returned to his Fathers house!
o. The Lack of Faith.
" The elder brothers conduct ais
ar shows lack of faith in his father. 81
30 refuses to believe that his Divine F.
10 theirs love is powerful enough
n change a sinner into saint. Intidelit
n. often intrenches itself in the pew an
10 behind the church pulpit. Some churc
a, members, and some ministers of tt
no gospel, are only theorizing when the
nh profess to believe that Jesus Christ ca
N pardon sin. They profess to belie0
that Christ can transform the seve
deviled Marys into the Marys who a
:, willing to sit at his feet and worshi
=, but these skeptical elder brothers ,
81 forth into the great, wide, sinful wor
lis and by their practical behavior scatt
re- their ideal spiritual theories to the TO
VI winds.
" When the reformed drunkard com
" home, they cry out: What is the go
l"' of letting that unprincipled loafer in
=" the house? He is just like other drum
NY ards. He is only repenting for a lit
III while so that he may get some mon
ny out Of us and go forth on anotE
spree. Drive him out at once. L
"re him go to the poorhouse, where he
an, longs" When the young girl who
n"' led a dissUute life wants to lead
Ing pure life, instead of finding the will
ny arms of forgiveness held out to her
III her elder sisters she finds only the 81
" doors of a contemptuous rebuke. WI
anu Because the cynical elder sisters
DIS not believe that prodigal woman W
ney q black past can ever, even by div
the power, be changed into a sainted VIC
so an with a spotless future. The CT
oe- inal has served his penitentiary tie
and is liberated from the stone CELL
aic- the great world at large ready to
und give him and receive him back 1
our honorable employment if he repen
d." Oh. no! The elder brothers and ell
that sisters are SO bitter against the exc
that victs that many repentant one
will deliberately returned to his crimes
pect cause he could earn a living in no I
$50 er way. When a visiting minis
Sum some wears ago, asked a convict If
d a would not like to be free, this ans
han was given: "Why should I want tc
our freep Is the honest world ready to
ANY ceive me with an outstretched hant
are love? No. In the worlds eyes
ums str;ned suit of the convict always