The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-07-10

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are creations ci His children; they take
value from the TACT that the childrsn's fn.
gers have toiled lovingly upon them. God
values our dolugs because we are His chill
| dren. Ii we come. however. claiming to be
servants and pointing To the great things
that We have done, the only response Ia
that We are Improbable servants.
The stay'at-home was lost so long as he
looked upon himself as a servant. The hrst
| step towards recovery was for him TO take
himself as \ son, The first step out OF the
lostnesS OF the servant life is' to AXE SON
ship for granted and To act upon the as
sumption
Again. the lostness OF the s;ay.at.homc
appears from his thought Of service. And
l never transeressed commandant OF
thine These words are no more accidental
tnln the Others. The Master is cutting
c,o>e Ia the essential weaknesses IN the
| creed and practice ot Phar;s,ism. The two
weak words here are never" and Com.
mandment." The elders sons thought II
service was partly negative, and for To
rest consisted m keeping commandments.
The Pharisee habltually thanked God that
he was not "a other men. extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, ar even as the publican.
but tasted twice IN the week and gave
tithes of all that he Possessed.
First. the negative aspect vi the Phsrl'
salc creed According TO Pharisaisn re-
llsion consists largely in not doing
Never Is the blessed word. Adherence
To the never" creed causes the inert and
passlonleSs worsaiper 10 mistake the list.
lessness ef death for the peace that passeth
understanding. Negative p,ety is often
sheer lfelessness; there Is not vitality
enough to break forth IN sin: there Ia not
strength or spirit enough to make temp
tatlon possible. How exasperat,ug ~ is to
hear dry. wlthered soul declalm ON the
iollies OF youth, or a mind sluggish with
stupidity boast It's freedom from doubt
There ~ a long-hved heresy TO the effect
that the heart of religion IL repression
No longer DO this, or that, or the other
Drive out the devils, sweep the house, set
the furniture in order, board up the win.
dows. lock up the doors and hide the
keysl This, as OF old. overloohs some.
thlng-the skill of devils a. key.hndcrs
Rack they come with Others worse than
themselves, or, II they do not come hack
the house stands empty. which IL about
~ bad. Redemption really means abun.
dant life. The lteless and inert seriously
starting toward redemption NAV possibly
make more mistakes IN the first six months
of activity than IN all th, previous years
OF llstlcssness, but they are better never.
theless. One OF the most disagrecabc
features of this elder brother il limited at
IN this word never" II suggests a staid.
hfcless. ploddingness beside which the ,ol.
licking prodlgality of the younger brother
seems almost relief II IL almost rc.
llei. too, to find that the elder brother
becomes angry, for anger Is sometimes
SIGN OF awakening life.
The more of the merely never" there
is IN mans religion. the more completely
lost the man 10.
And then the other part of the creed -
the word commandment What the
Master had IN mind was the phariser's :
living by rule. lie ~ exposing the wood.
enness and mechanicalness of pharisaic
piety; lie IL showing us the lostncss of
living by rule. With the harsee life
had become a round of ceremonial ohscr-
Nances and Pharisalsm was lost IN the
abundance oi It's rules Any man is lost
who tries To be good mercy bv rule OF
course many of the great principles ot
the Christian religion can he brought
down to the compcndious statement of
rules. but IN these the principle is kept
IN mnnd am speak ing of Phar'saism
as the system which slayishly learns the
| rules and follows them. Such course
| leads inevitably 10 the wilderness ~ we
| lose sight OF the spirit and principle, we
| must have rule for everything This
| Phorisaism sirove for and was lost in its
| own cumbersomencss ii the system IL
| not complete. II there are spheres of con.
duct for which the Pbarisee has no rule,
then IN those spheres he ia apt to feel
| free to do his worst
Living the good life ia the finest Of the
fine arts. Fine art ~ not mechanical oh
| servancc Of ru'es--it ~ an absorption of
splrt. ln the religious life IL is being
| hlled with the spirit, and he who has not
the sprlt of life IL lost
The lostness of the stay.at home still
| further appears from his unnatural heart.
lesaness. Thy sopi' These words are
| doubly hcartlcss, they rcpudiatc brother.
hood with the returning prodlgal and they
| reproach the father for not looking upon
such a son az hs own Heartlessneas al
most inevitably follows mechancal,sm
| II ~ natural that II should be So There
IL no heart IN A cumbersome set Of com.
mandments. Commandments having 10 deal
simply with doings and not with feelings
| are in the nature OF the case wooden and
| lifeless. II life be looked upon as some.
thing To be fitted into a scheme Of com.
| mandments. all the fragrance of fine feel.
! ing evaporates. This picture Of the elder
| brother IL the perfect setting forth Of the
hcartlcsaness of developed Pharisasm
The beartlcssness came not out Of DELHI.
crate diabolsm, but out Of mechanical
legalism In the end, however, these two
| are not lar apart.
In this world OF ours we are compelled
TO make assumptions, 10 choose between
| views either OF which may bc correct
| SO far ~ the great mass Of things IL con,
| cerned, there IN no way Of getting absolute
proof beforehand. We must assume and
| zee. Now, concerning men and things,
good assumptions and bad assumptions are
| possible. but a. y matter Of general atti-
| tude of mind and heart toward things only
| one way IL safe That ~, to put the very
| best possible construction on the lives of
| men and the working Of things. This. IN
word. IL Christian faith. Christian
faith does not start by proving things.
II assumes the best. n man is actually
bad IL looks hopefully toward the better
| manhood which "a, IN almost every case.
possibility. Jesus called Judas friend"
and accepted his kiss even on the night
Of his betrayal Christian faith looks out
upon the working OF the entire universe
and assumes that they are righteous. In
| that trust IL found peace.
suppose one were 10 assume in dealing
with men that all men are liars u can
| not he proved beforehand that all men are
not liars or even that any one man -
absolutely truthful, but how hoDeiessly
lost IN his dealings with men would be
the one who should start with the assump-
ton that all men are liarsl The safe
path "a the long run " the assumption
that there - good IN all men and that the
good can be reached and made better.
I'm particular cases this may fail. bnt u !,
in general the only Christian view lie
who, like the elder brother, hold. 10 the
le.ly and irretrieyabiy lost, is himself
wandering in the wilderness far from
safety.
Lastly. the lo.tneas Of the stay.at home
appear, from hi. thought Of reward.
Thou never gavest me Md" The elder
brother seems ~ have been serving with
the thought Ut material pay. lie was
doing the work for what he could get on.
Of u. His thought OF reward moves along
low plane. Jesus condemned Pharisaism