The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-25
r os ANGELES, Cal. February 1s.-It

OS ANGELES, Cal, February 1S.-It
 Is the old, familiar story of the way L ward son. the "blaek sheep" of the family. which the preacher takes for his theme in this sermon, the text chosen be- ing Luke xv., 16, With the husks that the swine did eat"
 What an epitome of pathos is con densed within these eight small words! Never was gaunt and hideous visaged want more dramatically depicted than In this tragic climax of the prodigal sons misery He was in almost exactly the same pitlable condition as the only son of one of New Yorks millionaires and most honored citizens was few years ago. His father for years and wears had been the companion and the associate of the greatest leaders or thought both trans and eis-atlantic. In wealth and honor he retired to his pala- tial metropolitan home to pass his life amid refined associations. Not only was he great himself, but he had three great brothers, all of whom had made noted successes in other lines of work than his own. Pure was the blood of that genealogical family from which they sprang. But amid all his fame and wealth and brilliant family connections there was one startling weakness.
 The father could not see the 1aults or his wayward son. His love for his only boy blinded his common sense. Tn ms old age he let his only son control his money. This son not only mortgaged hls fathers property, but upon ms 1ather name borrowed right and left. Then py prohigacy and dissipation and reckless wildcat speculations he squandered ms fathers all. A few months before the fathers death came the financial crash. He awoke as from a horrible dream. He was practically bankrupt. Then came the death and the funeral. Then thls only son sank lower and lower into the quagmire of debauchery; lower and low CT until he used to tramp the streets or New York city with the signboard of a cheap restaurant strapped to his back. He sank lower and lower in the social scale until one day he was round olS- ging for food in the refuse barrel perore the very palace in which he and his father once lived. An, could any condi- ton in life be sadder than that? And yet this son was In no lower condition socially or morally than was the young Hebrew of my text, caring for herd or swine and fighting with these four-leS- ged beasts for their meals of dried, un- palatable husks.
 But as we see this social outcast of my text chewing the husks which had been thrown to the swine this thought comes to me: How similar is the con dition of some of us in a mental and spiritual sense who have not yet sur rendered our hearts to Jesus Christ?' Sin has come into our lives and taken away the sweet hopes which our fla thers and mothers had in the pardoning love and protecting care of their Saw jour- In place of these sustaining hopes sin has come and given to us a lot of husks-dried, unnutritious and un- palatable husks. Then sin has said, Now try to masticate and digest the teachings of the doctrines of atheism, asnosticisng skepticism, and all will be well. Ah' some of US have been trying to live upon these spiritual husks too long. Like the poor and prodlgal, we have been sinking lower and lower in the quagmire of de- spair. Therefore I am going to try to analyze for you some of the substances and ingredients of the false hopes which sin is offering and at the same time by the help of the Holy Spirit to break unto you the bread of life, of which if one eats he shall never be a-hungered again.
 The Husks of Atheism.
 Sin would blind our eyes to the spirit ual blessings of the gospel by trying to circumscribe us with the hateful doc Urine of human annihilation. It comes to us as a scoffer of life beyond the grave It says to us: Man is an anil nal. We grant that he is a higher form of animal, but still an animal. He has to eat and sleep and drink. He has to grow and develop and decline He has to be born, and he has to die. There fore as man never existed before ne was born he Is not going to exist after he is dead. When he Is dead he Is ex- actly the same as turkey which, with head chopped off, is cooked for the Thanksgiving dinner. He is dead, and that Is all there Is of him. Now, as a man has only a short time to live at most and as there Is no life beyond the grave, therefore 1t is the duty of every man to have just as good time as 1t is possible to have. Come, friends, let us eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die" And everywhere we see men and women worshiping at the altar of Bacchus and lowing in the temple of licentious Baal and kissing the golden shrine of evil Midas because they dc not think there is to be hereafter, and therefore they can do with impunity as they will.
 But our whole natures revolt against the teaching. Eat. drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." For two reasons We feel this repulson. We know that there is a judgment on this side of the grave for sin If there Is not on the other side. We know by bitter. awfully bitter, personal experience, that a worldly life lived for mere pleasure or fame, does not produce real pleasure. From worldly standpoint our search for happiness has been a great deal like that of Goethe, the uncrowned king of German literature. In one of his reflections he wrote as follows When I look back to the earlier and middle periods of my life and now in my old age think how few are left of those who were young with me l always think of a summer residence. At a bathing place when you arrive you make ac- quaintances and friends of those who have already been there some time and who leave in a few weeks. The loss is painful. Then you turn to the second s.1. n