The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-06-29
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON SEt
REV. C. CAMP6ELL WALKER
Theme: The Returned MaIderer.

Campbell Walker. rector of st. AIMS
Church on the Heights, had for the
subject of his sermon Sunday morn
ing, The Returned Wanderer.' The
text was from St. Luke 1925: The
elder son IA in the field MI.
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 tt 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 it all their own.
It 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 Pickering 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 alien
ate themselves from Him, and yet to
POINT the way, through penitence and
prayer by which they may return and
join il the festal joy Of the Fathers
house and live rejoicing in His love.
AS we read the story, we could almost
wish that it had finished and left us
rejoicing in the gladness Of the faith
ef 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 were 9TH
ers also standing by who heard the
story-religious and moral people,
who we're unacquainted with His mis-
sion, it's character and the object
aimed at N it all. and who were
shocked at 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
it by. And, so in order that this
might be so, our Lord must needs
hold up the mirror to them all. There
fore, it 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
a 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 a kind Of consolation
amid the cynical rebufs and scorn
of a so-called religious world? We
might almost be content to leave 1t
thus, knowing well how greatly that
is needed. But the story told Is not
intended for n class of men alone,
nor is it but to emphasize n 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 n who
isinned? 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 ilial spirit, whether mani
tested in the wilful folly Of the pub
lican' or in the self-righteous AFRO
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 e%ntreaty.
1.-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 1t is the spirit in the
son which Jesus sought to empha-
size rather than the actual geogra-
ply of the situation. If any one of
you has lost, or never realized your
flial spirit in relation to your father,
we need not 60 into the far country,
amid the waste and excess Of riot,
where the famine must inevitably
cone to find you. We may just as
easily, ard far more often, find you
ain the field" of unloving service. ;
1t matters not what road men ira
vel in their alienation from the Faith
or. 1t Is the spirit which they lost
which really separates from Him.
Here, then, were two prodig.ls, not
>r Tho np1u liForonco hotuoop
chem was that one manifested his
lack of loving ilial spirit to the Faith
er by taking his life into his own
hands and spending it as it pleased
him in the "far country" and the
other passed his time "in the field" as
the cold and insolent critic Of the
Father, and narrow, intolerant censor
OF his brother. 1t is not gross and
senaual sins alone which separate
mel from God-it is not poverty or
paln-for neither of them has been
aole to break down happiness. hard
as tho struggle often is, if love to
God is there. 1t is the "unclean
thing" of selfshness which spoils tie
fair beauty of our life from which the
Father calls us saying, Come We out
and be separate, and I will receive
you and will be a Father unto you,
and We shall be My ons and daugh-
tiers, saith the Lord Almighty"
Look at tt three main features Of
this mans character as manifested by
his language ''in the field" and see If
to any extent the same is true Of us.
"I 10 these many years do I serve
thee" he said. Surely this was we'll.
1t was in this respect that the other