The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1910-06-16
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
nav. c. CAMPBELL WALKER.
Theme: The Returned Wandcrcr.


elder son was in the field" Mr..
Walker said:
Nothing sets forth the promptness
and completeness of Divine pardon
to the sinner more fully than does
this story told by our Blessed Lord
SO long ago. Few stories are more
familiar to us than this, few which
appeal to us more strongly. 1t is all
so natural and true to life. 1t is all
so dear, for countless souls have
taken the language of the returned
wanderer upon their lips and have
made 1t all their own.
1t was this aspect of our Lords
character, as shown us in the picture;
His divine energy for the fallen and
the outcast, His willingness to bind
up the broken-hearted, and fan with
His own breath the flickering flame of
human hope, His tender, hopeful
spirit among the ruins caused by sin,
which binds mems souls to Him and
makes them willing to go even to
the Cross because they love Him so.
Now, the object OF the parable is
to show the feelings of the great All
Father toward His children, and to
mark the steps by which men allen
ate themselves from Him, and yet to
point the way, through penitence and
prayer by which they may return and
join In the festal Joy of the Fathers
house and live rejoicing in His love.
AS we read the story, we could almost
wish that II had finished and left us
rejoicing in the gledness OF the faith
er and the penitent son. But we must
remember that while our Lord had
been approached by sinners of the
lowest type, it is true, there we're 9th.
ers also standing by who heard the
story-geligious and moral people,
who were unacqualnted with His mis-.
sion, its character and the object
t,imed at in 1t all, and who were
shocked az the loving welcome given
to the poorest and the most forlorn
in life. Doubtless His object was to
open wide the gate of mercy, and His
purpose was that none should pass
dt by. And, so in order that this
might be so. our Lord must needs
hold up the mirror to them all. There
fore, II was that Jesus told us in the
story that "A certain man had two
sons" Was it only that He might
console and help the one? Did He
add the story of the elder brother as
kind of sequel to emphasize the
contrast, which, alas, too often exists
between the Fathers far-sighted,
generous love in the reception accord.
ed to the wanderer. and that which
he meets from his fellowman, and so
give to him kind OF consolation
amid the cynical rebuffs and scorn
of a so-called religious world? We
might almost be content to leave ii
thus, knowing we'll how greatly that
Sc. 81 n,,A Il.
intended for one class of men alone,
nor is it but to emphasize one side
of truth. Jesus meant to cover all,
and included in His thoughtfulness
the whole great family OF man.
Is the wandering, wasteful son,
living in his Wild excess, the only
type of sinner who is far from God?
Was the publican the only one who
sinned? Has not the Pharisee who
trusted in himself that he was right.
eous and despised others, no place
In the economy of Gods free grace?
When Jesus spoke to both, He surely
sought TO teach the lesson that the
loss of the fillal spirit. whether mani
Tested In the wllful folly OF the pub
lican or in the self-rlghteous arro-
gance Of the Pharisee, Is that which
takes men from the Fathers house
and calls for the Fathers grace,
whether IN the form OF pardon or
plying entreaty.
THE Elder Son was In the Field" ="
Here Is the companion picture to
the other of THE Far Country" For
even here there is a hint at distance
from the Fathers face and home, be.
cause in both Il Is the spirit in the
son which Jesus sought to empha-
size rather than the actual geogra.
ply of the situation. II any one OF
You has lost. or never realized your
filial spirit In relation TO your father
we need not go into the far country,
amid the waste and excess of riot,
where the famine must inevitably
come to find you. We may Just as
easily, and far more often, find you
''in the field" OF unlovlng service.
IL matters not what road men ira.
vel in their alienation from the Faith
er. II Is the spirit which they lost
which really separates from Him.
Here. then, were two prodigals, not
one. The only difference between
them was that one manifested his
lack OF loving fllial spirit to the Faith
er by taking his life into his own
hands and spending II as it pleased
him in the "far country" and the
other passed his time lin the field" as
the cold and insolent critic of the
Father. and narrow, intolerant censor
of his brother. It is not gross and
sensual sins alone which separate
men from God--it Is not poverty or
pain-for neither of them has been
able to break down happiness, hard
as the struggle often Is, IL love to
God is there. II Is the "unclean
thing" of selfishness which spoils the
fair beauty OF our life from which the
Father calls US saying, Come ye out
and be separate, and ! will receive
you and will be Father unto you,
and ye shall be My sons and daugh.
ters, saith the Lord Almighty"
Look at the three main features OF
this mans character as manifested by
his language "ln the field" and see Il
40 any extent the same is trne OF us.
Il 10 these many years do | serve
thee" he said. Surely this was we'll.
1t was In this respect that the other
son had signally failed. Far from be-
Ing dependent on the Fathers bounty
ne had claimed his own that he might
do with II as he pleased. and his only
hope OF freedom was in escape from
home. But was the other any bet.
teri Where is dependence and disin.
rerested servicey True, there was nc
open resentment of the Fathers disci.
pline. But after all was said and
done. the service was for hire alone
and the wages now seemed al ogether