Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1903-07-09

chat we are Improbable servants
The stay-at-home was lost so long as he
ooked upon himself as servant. The first
step towards recovery was for him to take
himself as a son. The first step out of the
ostness of the servant life is to take son.
ship for granted and to act upon the as
sumption.
Again, the lostness of the stay-at-home
appears from his thought Of service. And
| never, transgressed commandant OF
thine" These words are no more accidental
than the others. The Master is cutting
close, to the essential weaknesses in the
creed and practice of Pharisaism. The two
mandment." The elders sons thought q
service was partly negative, and for TIC
lest consisted in keeping commandments
The Pharisee habtualy thanked God that
he was not as other men, eXtortloners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as the publican,
nut tasted twice in the week and gave
tithes of all that he possessed"
First, the negative aspect Of the Phari.
sale creed. According to Pharisasm re.
ligon consists largely in not doing
Never is the blessed word. Adherence
to the never" creed causes the inert and
passionless worshiper to mistake the list.
essness of death for the peace that passeth
understanding. Negative piety is often
strength or spirit enough to make temp
tation possible. How eXasperating it is to
hear dry, withercd soul deolaim on the
foliies of youth, or a mind sluggish with
stupidity boast its freedom from doubt!
There is a lons.livcd hercsy to the effect
that the heart of religion is repression
No longer do this, or that, or the other!
the furniture in order, board up the win
dows, lock up the doors and hide the
keys! This, as of old, overlooks some.
thing-the skill of devils as key-finders
Back they come with others worse than
themselves; or, if they do not come back,
the house stands empty. which is about
as bad Redemption really means album
liant life. The lifcess and inert seriously
starting toward redemption may possibly
make more mistakes in the first six months
of activity than in all the previous years
of listlessness, but they are better never
theiess. One of the most disagrccablc
features of this elder brother is hintcd at
in this word never" 1t suggests a staid
lifeless. pioddingncss beside which the rol.
licking prodigality OF the younger brother
seems almost relief. 1t is almost re-
lief, too, to find that the elder brother
becomes angry, for anger is sometimes
Il sign of awakening lie.
The more of the merely "never' there
is IN man religion, the more completely
lost the man is.
And then the other part Of the creed
the word Commandment. What the
Master had in mind was the Pharisee's
living by rule. He is exposing the wood
enncss and mcchanicalness OF Pharisac
living by rule. With the harisec life
had become round OF ceremonial obser-
vanccS and Pharisaism was lost in the
abundance of its rules. ANY man is lost
who tries to be good merely by rule OF
course. many Of the great PRINCIPLES of
the Christian religion can be brought
down TO the compcndious statement OF
rules. but IN these the principle is kept
in mind. | am speaking of Pharisasm
as, the system which slavishly learns the
rules and follows them. Such course
leads inevitably to the Wilderness If we
lose sight OF the spirit and principle. we
must IAEc u rule Tor everything. This
PhauNaiSm strovc for and was lost in its
own cumhcrsomeness. II the system is
not complete, If there are spheres of con.
duet for which the PhariScc has no rule,
then in those spheres he is apt to feel
free to do his worst
Living the good life is the finest of the
tine arts. Fine art Is not mechanical OBJ
scrvanCC of ruIes-it Is an absorption Of
spirit. In the religions lie it is being
filled with tn" spirit; and he who has not
thc SPIRIT OF lie Is lost.
The loStncss Of the stayat-homc still
further appears from his unnatural heart.
lessness.. "rh, som" These words are
doub.y hcartlesS, they rcpudiatc brother.
hood with the returning prodga and they
reproach the father for not looking lpon
such a son rs his own. llcartlcs,ncss al.
most inevitably follows mechanicalism.
IT is natural that it should be so. There
Is no heart in a cumbersome set of com.
mandments Commandments having to deal
simply with doings and not with feelings
are in the nature Of the case wooden and
lfelcss. II life be looked upon as some
thing to he fitted into scheme of com.
mandments, all the fragrance of fine feel
ing evaporates. This picture of the elder
brother is the perfect setting forth of the
heart Iessness Of developed Pharisai~m.
The heartlessnoss came not out of DELHI
crate dlabolism, but out o. mechanical
legalsm. In the end, however, these two
are not far apart
1t would seem quite the fashion in these
matter of fact days to ridiculc emotion.
nlism. There is instead a kind Of emotion.
aiSm that deserves rdiculc. The piety
that consists only in being happy is a poor
piety. But strike cmotionalism out of re-
ligion and religion is not religion. In
Johns wonderful cpistlc OF love much is
said about the presence Of God in the life,
and that presence manifests itself in var
Gus forms Of feeling. Do you love the
brethren? That is to say do you feel
the force and power of friendship? A
part of the witness of Gods spirit is to be
found just here, IN the quickcnng of those
fine feelings of friendship and love which
seem to come so naturally as we relate
ourselves to one another. Is the feeling
for brothers and sisters becoming more
kindly? Is the attitude towards fathers
md mothers and children more affection
ate? Is the circle of loving interest widen.
ing? This is the mark of the presence of
God-this and that other feeling like unto
it,, the atiectionate going forth of the heart
emotionalism of this kind and you take
the substances out of life as well as out
of religion. Life is matter of feeling.
All values are realized in feeling, and the
feelingess mortal is an unnatural mon
strosity. Any system of religious thought
or practice that makes men feelingless
is to be condemned. Pharisaism was feel
inglesS; its lostness was set on high be-
fore the gaze of all the world by its failure
to feel the greatness of Jesus. 1t was as
il the light of the rising sun played upon
dead eyeballs. A feelingless life! These
words seem contradictory. A fcclingless
religion! These words are contradictory
and absurd, as absurd as unseeing seeing
or unhearing hearing.
Still further, the stay-at-home reveals
his lost condition in his tendency to put
the worst construction possible upon the
life of his brother. THY son, which hath
levoured thy living with harlots" The
elder son had no way of knowing this to
b. true He judged that this must be the
truth because it was about the worst thing
his brother could do.
In this world of ours We are compelled
to make assumptions, to choose between
1-ip,vs nithar of which may he rOrrpct
So far as the great mass of things is con
cerned. there is no way of getting absolute
proof beforehand. We must assume and
see. Now, concerning men and things,
good assumptions and bad assumptions are
possible; but as matter of general attl-
tude of mind and heart toward things only
one way is safe, That is, to put the very