The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-02-05
To point to worlds both bright and fall,
And see the pagans bow in prayer
Is all my souls delight.

To point to worlds. both bright and fais.
And see the pagans bow in prayer
Is all my souls delight.
The elder brother does not reaisae
fully that his Divine Father is show.
ing more magnanimity in bearing with
his respectable meanness than in well
coming back the repentent prodigal
boy. l feel sorry for the wife who is
married to a drunkard or to q gambler
or to a dissolute clubman. That must
be crushing cross for a mother to car
~ for the sake of her cbildren-to feel
that for the baby's welfare she must
associate with man from whom the
law courts of the land would give her
a divorce if she only presented her evil
dence. But though this may be true,
l feel almost as sorry for a wife who
has to live with one of those cross
grained, sneering, irritating, fault find
ing, Jealous husbands who are wearing
out and sapping away the life and hap
piness of many home-I mean a wife
who has to live with one of these heart
less, brutal men who go around with
soft voices and smiling faces and yet
are as merciless as hornet thrusting
a sting: mean wife who has to live
with man who considers every day
wasted unless he is able to overreach
somebody and yet will do the over
reaching in such q polite and defpren-
tial way that his victim can say moth
ing and have no recourse to Justice.
fHppn 10 M cf
and further describing this hypocritical
class. You have a representation of
that class in the character of the elder
brother. He is to be seen everywhere.
He is to be seen inside the church as
we'll as outside. And yet the good ia
Their in the parable of the prodgal son
was ready to speak just as iorgivingly
to his elder son as to the younger.
The Fathers Forgiveness.
The other day a person asked me
what l considered the most beautiful
sentence in the parable. This was my
answer: ut is not to be found in the
good fathers dealings with the youn-
ger, but with the elder. son. When the
servant came in and told the good ia
Their that his elder boy was acting I'M
filially and unbrotherly. the father did
not lose his patience. He did not send
peremptory command to his elder
son to come to him at once, as he had
a right to do but, as a servant, he left
the banquet hall. He went out into
the darkness of the night and placed
his arm gently about bis sinful elder
sons neck, as he answered In a plead
ing, yearning voice, Son, thou art ever
with me, and all that have is thine
That Is as much as to say: My boy,
my dear boy, am not trying to do you
any injustice. I shall not take away
any Of your inheritance. All that have
is yours. What | long for is for the
love and the purity of my children.
want my two boys to be always by my
side. Come, my child; come back to
your fathers love. Come back into the
old homestead which / have prepared
for YOU" Oh, that answer to me is
beautiful! That answer is the sweet
est, gentlest, most loving and yet most
pleading rebuke ever spoken by the
lips of any of the characters Of the
Bible. That is a Christ love pleading
for you and for me to come into the
Fathers house and nestle as lamb
in his bosom.
But, after all, the most impressive
part of the elder brothers history is
the abrupt way in which the parable
ends. There is no doubt the younger
son was forgiven. No doubt the repent
ant prodigai was able to enjoy the rest
and the home pleasures of the fathers
house. But how about that cynical,
self satisfied and complaining elder
brother? Did he ask forgiveness Of
his father? Did he go into the BAN
quet where the feast was being cele-
brated? do not know. l cannot tell.
The parable ends with the earnest plea
Of the father. We must take the rest
as we will. Personally l have my
doubts about the salvation Of that eld-
er brother. 1t is sometimes far easier
for the sinner down in sthe slums to
living in luxurious palace. A Lon
don missionary was one night called up
to go to dying girl. This Maynard
child at the time was living in disso-
lutte house. When the missionary en-
tered the room, he found q sinful sis
ter holding in her arms the head of
the dying girl and she was saying:
Jennie, it is all right. Put your love
and trust in Jesus. He died for just
such sinful girls as we are Jennie, put
your faith in Jesus Christ Yes, we
can all feel that Christ died for the
prodigal son. but it is awfully hard
for some of the sinful elder brothers
and sisters to feel that it was neces-
sary for Jesus Christ to die for them
and their sins Ny elder brother in
sin, are you going to stay out of your
Fathers house? Are you going to re-
fuse to put your faith in Christ and
come into the marriage banquet of the
Lamb?
Mr.. Moody tells the story Of a sol
dia,, n viner in one of the field uOspff1fS