The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1909-11-19
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON
THE REV. A. II. G.. MORSE
Theme: The Lost.

Sunday on THE Lost" He took his
text from Matthew 1911: For the
Son of Man is come to save that which
was lost" DR.. Morse said:
During the summer l saw Cana
dian city moved with a great anxiety
because a lad had been lost in neigh
boring wood. The papers published
a call for strong hearts to assist in
the search, and 1900 men hunted the
wood for two days and two nights. At
last the boy was found, his clothes
torn to shreds, his tongue swollen
with thirst and himself almost fam
ished with hunger. There was great
rejoicing when this little lad was re-
stored to his home.
1t was something like this which
Jesus had constantly in mind, and In
a score of ways He illustrated the
need of His work. A sheep was lost,
and, of course, the shepherd searched
for the sheep; coin was lost, and the
poor woman to whom it belonged was
unable to sleep until she had swept
every nook in her home and found it;
a boy was lost, he had deliberately
walked away from his home, but the
father broke his heart with pining:
the whole world had gone astray, and
therefore the need for His mission.
He had come to seek and to save that
which was lost.
The scholars have recently been
giving their attention to what they
have called s'the psychology Of sin,'
and it is interesting to see how their
findings have conformed to the teach
ing Of Jesus; this, of course, without
His great simplicity. The biologist
tells us that each little child passes
through the physical development of
the race, and that he actually carries
in his own experience the entire his
tory of his ancestors. Then the pSy-
chologist tells us there is the same re-
capitulation in the psychic life, and
that each individual passes through
the stages by which the race has at
tanned to civilization, morality and
right. 1t has taken the race uncount-
ed milleniums to discover the balance
of right, and to discern the things
which are essentially good, but the
child must achieve all this in the first
few years of it's life. There was
time when might was right, and when
each person felt that what came into
his hand was his own; there was
time when deception and cunning
were as necessary to maintain ones
right as locks and keys are necessary
to-day; and so We might go through
the whole catalogue of possible
wrong. The scholar will tell us that
the disposition to do these things is
only the temperance of primitive
impulses, and that these things are
non-moral; that they are simply
starting points for the upbuilding of
manhood, character and destiny. That
the problem of the child is to steady
himself past dangerous places to the
place where right will be easy, and
become the instructive choice of the
soul. How then do the moral anoma-
lies appear? In this way: The liar.
for instance, is simply the person
who, in passing through the racial ex-
perience, has been permitted to llnger
on the level where deception was
common thing; that the habit Is fixed
and the person is living on the plane
of an ancient and imperfect age; the
thief, he is simply the person who in
making this rapid review of the racial
experience was permitted to- linger at
the stage where each person thought
that all things were his Ii he could
get them; and so with every other
possible wrong.
The scholars also talk of the man
who is 'lost" By this they mean the
man who began with some simple
wrong, and has added to this again
and again, till he can see no way of
escape. He began with simple un-
truth, and added to this for protec-
ton, and to this again to cover his
shame, till he has built about him a
re 20 N, wi o.
tua1ly lost. He can see no way to re-
turn. nor has he the courage to con-
fess. He is like man lost in wood.
In this way the thief is lost. He be-
gan many years ago, when he took
little trifles at home; he goes into
business life, and other things are
taken, till the habit is fixed and the
poor man is lost in the maze of dis
honesty. He Is simply bewildered
and beyond all return, and is lost"
There is a vast deal of truth in
these findings, and our hearts confirm
what they say; but it was all taught
more simply by Jesus. He said very
much about the wanderings of men.
and the lost estate into which they
come He said men go astray like
sheep, which knows that the grass is
sweet, and that there is another tuft
Just aheads and so, with it's nose to
the ground, it nibbled along till it
was far from the path, and far from
the shepherds care and separated
from the company Of the rest of the
flock, and lost on the side of the
mountain. 1t was needless and it
wandered away.
There are people, He said, like
that. They do not intend any espe-
cial wrong, but they simply follow
their instincts, and live like the sheep,
which has no foresight nor conscience
and no sense of obligation. These
people live without restraint upon
their aDpetites, and ,unwittingly wan
der farther and farther away, till they
find themselves in a hungry place.
l saw an instance like that during
the summer. The fellow was young
and had never been we'll cared for in
his home. He simply knew that some
delights were sweet for the time.
He wandered along with no thought
of the end, till he was locked in the
Jail, where he lies tonight. l visited
him there and endeavored to help, but
his return will be hard, and the scars
he will always bear. Not bad boy,
but needless and silly as sheep; and
there are ten thousand like him in
this city tonight. II man. who is
meant to guide himself by intelif-
gence and will and forethought and
conscience and the eternal light of
heaven, is willing to follow mere in
stinct as a sheep, he will come at
length into a thirsty desert.
But the Master used another para
BILE. He said that men fall into sin
as coin, heavy and round, rolls
away into the dark and is lost. 1t
was not the coin which chose its ruin,
but gravitation carried it off, and the
coin had no power to resist.
This, said the Master, is partial
explanation of the wanderings of men.
Some are born into dangerous circum-
stances; they are dealt with careless
ly by others who ought to know bet
fer. and as coin might be rolled