The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-08-21
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT AND HELPFUL DIS.
COURSE ENTITLED "LosTAT HOME"
The Rov. Francis }. Mcconnell breaches
Inatructiveiy on the Parable In Luke,
which Deals with the Grace of God
Toward the Lost.

Inatructiveiy on the Parable Ga Luke,
which Deals with the Grace of God
Toward the Lost.
New York CIrY-'Lost At Home" was
the subject of the sermon preached sunday
evening by the Rev. Francis j. Mcconnell,
pastor OF the New York Avenue Nj. =.
| Church. The sermon was based on Luke
xY Mr.. Mcdonnell said.
All the parallels of this fifteenth chapter
| Of Luke deal with the grace of God toward
The lost There is the story OF a sheep lost,
another of a coin lost and another of two
| sons lost. The parable from which the text
OF the evening is taken Is not the parable
| OF the lost son, but the parable of the lost
sons A great many of us stop at the TWEEN
| ty.itth verse. We rejoice I'm the sound OF
music and dancing which welcomes home
/ tne pr0dlgal, and prefer that the story
/ should end with the happiness OF the BAN
/ quet. The remaining verses, perhaps, seem
| to as somewhat out of place. The beautiful
narrative Is marred by reference to the
/ ugliness OF the elder brother, but If 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 He is justiiying His dealing
| with pubhcans and sinners. These are lost
| sheep which have wandered away from the
| shepherd lost coins which have cluded the
| fingers of the housekeeper and fallen into
/ the cracks; lost sons who have wandered
/ far from home to spend all ia riotous liv-
/ ing. The parable was spoken in response
/ 70 the murmurs OF Pharisees and Scribes.
! With wonderful eyqulsiteness Jesus puts
! the Pharisees and Scribes into the parable.
! The elder brother is the Scribe, who cam
! not understand the love of the Master for
/ pubiCans and sinners. 1t requires but a
moments glance to see that in the Masters
! thought the Pharisee is lost-lost not in
! open prodigality and outbreaking vcs, but
| lost in false conceptions and false feelings
! Jesus does not say, indeed, that the Phar-
! see is lost, but He 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 be well to say Just a
word about the sense in which the word
| "lOst" Is here used. Lost" in the gospel
means not ttpt destruction has already
come upon the soul, but that the soul is in
the grip of forces which, if left to them.
selves, will sooner or later bring disaster,
If the steepleclimber loses bis hold the
onlookers cry out Lost" not because the
| death-dealing shock has already come, bat
! because the steeple-climber is in the grasp
of force which will inevitably bring him
to destruction. If 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 is as staunch as ever The
"lO5tness" consists in her being in the
| grasp of force that must, if left to itself,
bring her to doom. The sheep out in the
! wilderness had not been killed when the
| shepherd found it, 1t, however, was lost
because wandering aimlessly 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 in danger Of being
| swept out upon the rubbish heap, where
it might never be found. The younger son
had not yet lost his life, but his days were
short if they were to be left to 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 as the younger.
| VI course, there may be degrees in lost
ness" One man may be further from the
right road than another, though any man
off the road is lost. A respectable-loolIing
Pharisee certainly does not seem so bad
| as dissolute spendthrift reduced to the
! company Of swine. But when lostness is
under consideration, nothing is so decep-
tive as outward appearances. Physical
vices that m2nifest 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 lostness of the elder brother
because he remained at home. We are very
apt to think of lostness as spatial. The
younger son was in a far country, and
| whether we realize 1t 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
lostness of the parable has very little to
do with spatial relation The father could
not have saved the younger son by fasten-
ing chains upon him and keeping him at
home. The son was already far away
when he clasped his fathers hand to say
goodby- Nearness in a spiritual sense is
not at all a matter Of physical distance.
The son who remained at home was in a
spiritual sense as truly lost as the son who
wandered into the far country. Spiritual
! lostness consists IN false WAYS of looking
at and feeling about spiritual things
1t may be that some will object that the
Pharisees were a particular class of people
living at. q particular date in the world's
history; that they have long since passed
on, carrying all their frailties with them.
Of what use to- speak of Pharisees. to-day?
1t must be responded that this view is
wholly supertclaI-that Jesus spoke for all
ages; that in Pharisaism were certain fun.
damental traits that appear over and over
again. Pharlsaism is not vet dead; this
| name Is changed, but the characteristic,
reappear. Few men are far enough beyond
PharisuIsm to make a protest against the
discussion Of the lOstness Of Rharsaisu
especially relevant.
First Of all, the stay-at-home, was lost il
his thought of himself. 10. these mars
years do serve thee The word Serve
IS not at all accidental; it is, very essen
tial part of the picture; it strikes at on,
deep faults Of Pharisaism-the inability @
the Pharisae to rise above the idea of ser
vantship in his thought Of mans reatio:
to God The elder brother did not tax
himself as a son, but as a servant. an,
therefore was lost in his thought Of him
\ A.. Lt-.---lE I. :.