The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-08-30
TALMAGE'S SERMON,
The Weekly Discourse Of the Grea,
Brooklyn Preacher.
Subjects "Queer Chrfstians''-
Delivered mt the PiedmO ont
(Ga.) Chautauqua.

TEXT: "And he tods angry and would
not 90 fn.-Luke w., 2S
Is the elder son Of the parable 80 nm.
and SO cold that he Is not
worthy of recognition? The fact is, that we
ministers pursue the younger son, YOU can |
hear the Tapping OF his rags in many q
sermonic breeze, and the branching of the
testant. confess that for Q long time was
unable to train the camera obscura upon the
elder son Of the parable Inever could get
q negative for photograph. There !
was not enough light In the gallery,
or the chemicals were poor, Or the
sitter moved in the picture. But now
think l have him. Not a sde-face, or q
length portrait as he appears to mo. The
father in the parable OF the prodigal had
nothing to brag Of in his two sons. The one
was rake and the other a churl. l find
nothing admirable in the dissoluteness OF the
one, and l find nothing attractive in the
acrid sobriety Of the other. The one goes
down over the larboard side, and the other
goes down over the starboard side, but they
both go down.
From the window of the old homestead
bursts the minstrelsy. The floor quakes with
the feet of the rustics, whose dance is always
vigorous and resoundlng. The neighbors
have heard Of the return Of the younger son
lIOul Ills WdUueTifiRS, duu bHcy udNo kdtu>
cred together. The house is full of congrat.
ulators. l suppose the tables are loaded
with luxuries. Not only the one kind of
meat mentioned, but its concomitants.
'Clap!" go the cymbals, ''thrum!" go the
harps, "click," go the chaices, up and down
go the feet inside, while outside is most
sorry spectacle.
The senior son stands at the corner Of the
house. a frigid pblegmatic. He has just
come in from the fields in very substantial
apparel. Seeing some wild exhilarations
around the old mansion, he asks of servant
passing by with a gostslin Of wine on his
shoulder, what all the fuss is about One
would have thought that on hearing that his
younger brother had got back he would have
gone into the house and rejoiced, and
II he were not conscientiously op-
posed to dancing, that he would
have Joined in the Oriental schottsche.
No. There he stands. His brow lowers.
His lips curl with contempt He stamps
the ground with indignation. He sees
nothing at all to attract. The odors of the
feast coming out on the air do not sharpen
his appetite. Tho lively music does not put
any spring into his step. He is in terrible
pout. He criticises the expense the in
justice, and the moral of the entertainment.
The father rushes out bareheaded, and
coaxes him to come in. He will not go in.
He scolds the father. He goes into
pds4uhiaue hRanst Inc younger
brother, and he makes the most un-
comely scene He says: Father. you
put premium on vagabondism stayed
at home and worked on the farm. You never
made party for me; YOU didn't so much as
kill kid, that wouldn't have cost half SO
much as a calf; but the scapegrace went off
in fine cloth es, and he comes back not fit to
be seen, and what time you make over
/, him. He breaks your heart, and you pay
him for it That calf to which we have been
giving extra feed during all these weeks
wouldn't be SO fat and sleek il / had known
to what use you were going to put it! That
vagabond deserves to be cowhded instead Of
banqueted. Veal is too good for him!'
That evening, while the younger son sat tell
ing his father about his adventures, and ask
ing about what had occurred on the place
since his departure, the senior brother goes
to bed digusted and slams the door after him.
That senior brother still lives. You can see
him any Sunday, any day Of the week. At
meeting OF ministers in Germany some one
SOM" and Krummacher answered, 81 know
him; saw him yesterday" And when they
insisted upon knowing whom he meant, he
said: "Myself; when | saw the account of
the conversion of most abnoxious man,
was irritated."
First, this senior brother of the text stands
for the seif-congratuatory self satisfied,
sef-worshipful man. With the same breath
in which he vituperaues against his younger
brother he utters a panegyric for himself
The sef-righteous man of my text, like every
other self-righteous man, was full of faults
He was an migrate, for he did not appreciate
the home blessings which he had all those
the father told him to come in, hs
stayed out. He was liar, fol
| he said that the recreant son had devoured
| his fathers living, when the father, so fal
| from being reduced to penury, had home
stead left, had instruments of music. hat
| mansion, and instead of being a pauper
was prince. This senior brother with s(
many faults of his own, was merciless in hi
criticism of the younger bl other. The only
perfect people that have ever known wer
utterly obnoxious. / was never SO badl,
a perfect man. lie got SO ia;
up in his devotions that he was clear vi
above all the rules Of common honesty
| These men that 60 about prowling amoni
prayer meetings, and in places of business
telling how good they are, look out for them
keep your hand on your pocketbookl hav
noticed that just in proportion as a man get
good he gets humble. The deep Mississippi
does not mako as much noise as the brawlin
mountain rivulet. There has teen many
store. that had more goods in tho show wiz
dowth inside on the shelves.
This self-righteous man of the text stood a
the corner of the house hugging himself i
admiration. We hear great deal in ou
day about the higher life. Now, there ar
two kinds Of higher-life men. The one ar
admirable, and the other are most repulsive
The one kind of higher-life man is YER
lenient in his criticism of Others does no
bore prayer-meetings to death with long har
rangues, does not talk a great deal about him
self but much about Christ and heaven, gel
kindlier, and more gentle and more usefr
until one day his soul spreads wing and
flies away to eternal rest, and everybod,
mourns his departure. The other higher lit
man goes around with Bible conspcuousl.
under his arm, goes from church to church.,
sort of general evangelist; is a nuisance to nj
own pastor when he is at home, and nuisanc
to other pastors when he is away from home
runs up to some man who is counting out
roll of bank bills, or running up Difficult
line of figures, and asks him how his sou
is; makes religion dose OF ipecacuanha
standing in q religious meeting making a
address, he has patronizing way, as thong
ordinary Christians were clear away dow
below him, SO he had to talk at the top of hi
voice in order to make them hear, but at tn
same time encouraging them to hope on; tina
by climbing many years they may afte
awhile come up within sight OF the plac
where he now stands! tell you plainly ths
roaring, registering, bouncing sinner is nc
so repulsive to me as that higher-lif malfoI
nation. The former may repent
the latter never gets over hi
pharisaism. The younger brother o
the parable came back, but the senio
brother stands outside entirely. oblivious o
his own delinquencies and deficits, pronounc
ing his own eulogium. Oh, how much easie
1t is to blame others than to blame ourselves
Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent
the serpent blamed the devil the senior brotf
er blamed the younger brother, and none o
them blamed themselves.
Again, the senior brother OF my text stand
for all those who are faithless about the re
formation Of the dssipated and the dssoluts
, In the very tones Of his voice you can hea
the fact that he has no faith that the reform
alton of the younger son is genuine. II
entire manner seems to say: Ihs
boy has come back for more money
: He got third Of the property; no
, he has come back for another third. b
will never be CO ntented to stay on the farm
he Will fall away. 1 would go in too and rt
joice with the others if Thought this thin
was genuine; but it is sham. That boy
confirmed inebriate and debauchee." Ala
my friends, for the incredulity in the Churc
of Christ in regard to ths reclami
| tion of the recreant You say asman h'
been strong drinker. l say: "Yes. but
has reformed" "Oh,n you say, with lug,