Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-02-07

| mean ana StinSy tnal lnere ~ ho lc''i
that you would drink glass OF wine
or smoke Il cigar unless some one else
paid for 1t. 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 st,ngy to spend cent. They keep
their money rs long as they can and
never give Il cent to a friend unless
they make that friend give them first
class security and pay full interest.
! But. my so called respectable and up
right pharfsaical friend. though you
are not prodigal, you may be usur-
! or. an extortioner and a slanderer. You
may Ne robber of the poor widows
f.nite and a contemplate tyrant In your
dealings with your debtors and your
! employees. You may be peddler Oh
evil reports and a murderer of your
neighbor's reputation. You may be
one of those keen, cold automatons
! without one drop Of human kindness
I'm 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
/ difficulty. And. elder brother If your
! faults are meanness and avarce, though
Won may have never violated the GRIM
inal code of your state, you are at heart
a sinful monster, financial tyrant;
YOU are at heart n merciless calumnia-
tor. God desplses your unrepented sins
Just as much as he despises the sins OF
1 the prodgal in the far country.
Satan is no nearer being Christian
gentleman for dressing himself in
broadcloth. The hangmans 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
I 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 llooded. unfOrgivng, sneering,
carping elder brother who was ready
/ to take every advantage he could over
/ his fellow men IL he could only do so
! without diSobeying the letter OF the
| law. Instead Of being drunk with
wine he was intoxicated with self con-
| ceit and selfshncss. Instead Of being
n beggar or earning his bread by tend
! ing swine he was ready to unkennel the
bloodhounds of vindictive rancor, which
would tear repentant brother limb
| from limb.
Despicnble 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-
I turning prodigal will crowd him out OF
some room which rightfully belongs to
J 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
rightful Inheritance to this lazy spend
thrift, this boon companion Of dissolute
characters. II he has spent his all,
then let him starve. 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 tc think that the advent OF the
poor and outcast 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 classes? "Oh,"
say the we'll dressed young girls of that
class. you are not going to put that
poor girl in our class. Why. it viii
ruin the whole class! You can't expect
the daughters of millonares to asso-
ciate with sewing girls even in a Sun
day school," Where can you find
more despicable. pharisaical spirit than
in the missionary life of some of our
large city churches? There are many
large and wealthy churches that are
! supporting missions in the foul Sums
of the city. yet whose members would
not for one instant allow the poor to
sit in their own pews or kneel at their
communion tables. And. mark you,
this pharisaical spirit Of old is not only
found among the rich. but also among
the poor. Some years ago the Avon
dale church of Cincinnati, Of which the
Rev. Charles F. Goss is pastor, tried
to run a mission in the slums. Dr.
Goss declared that that mission had
to be abaIpioned because Of the phar-
isaical spirit which was to be found
there among the poor. There. even
:.mong the rags and sins Of poverty,
h., found there were classes. Sinful
men and women would not associate
with each other because some OF them
thought their own rags were a little
| cleaner ana DeIler lllan lhcl hclSH
boris rags. SO all through the church
and the world you find this cOntemph-
BILE spirit of the elder brother. We
find so called Christian men and wom-
en- who protest against the prodigars
return because they fear the younger
brothers reformation might in some
way lnJure their own social and spir-
itual standing.
The Two Sons.
The elder brother never longs to sat-
lsfy the divine cravings Of his fathers
love. l 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
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