Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-04-25

by the congregation in the Tabernacle this
morning begins:
"No more let human blood be split,
Vain sacrifice for human guilt"
Professor Henry Eyre Brown rendered
the Second Sonata in E minor by Ritter.
Having expounded passages of Scripture in
regard to the behavior of Jacob and Esau,
the Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, DID,, preach
ed on the subject of Jealousy" taking his
text from Proverbs vi, a.: Jealousy is
the rage of man." He said:
Some subjects a religious teacher touches
thousand times, now coming on them
from one direction, now from another
But here is a Bible theme that for some
reason is left teetotally alone. This morn
ing asking your prayers and in the strength
of God, want 10 grapple it.
There is an old sin, haggard, furious,
monstrous and diabolical, that has for ages
walked and crawled the earth. 1t COM
bines all that is obnoxious in the races hu-
man, quadrupedol, pathological, reptilian
and insectile, horned, tusked, hoofed, fang
ed, stinged; the eye of basilisk, the tooth
of an adder, the jaws of crocodile, the
crushing folds of an anaconda, the slyness
of scorpion, the tongue of cobra, and the
coil of the worm that never dies. 1t is in
every community, In every church, in every
legislative hall, in every monetary institu-
tion, in every drawing room levee, in every
literary and professional circle. 1t whis-
pers, it Kisses, it lies, it debauches, it
damns. My text names it when it says
Jealousy is the rage of man." 1t is
grief at the superiority of others; their su-
periority in talent, or wealth, or beauty, or
elegance, or virtue, or social, or profession
al, or political recognition. 1t is the shad
ow of other peoples success. 1t is the
shiver in our pocketbook because it is not
as fat as some one else's pocketbook. 1t is
the twinge in our tongue because it is not
as eloquent as some one else's tongue. 1t
is the f1utter in our robes because they are
not as lustrous as some one else's robes
1t is the earthquake under our house be-
cause it is not as many feet front and deep
as our neighbor's house. 1t is the thunder
of other peoples popularity souring the
milk of our kindness. 1t is the father and
mother both of one-half of the discomfort
and outrages and detractions and bank
ruptcies and crimes and woes of the hu-
man race.
It was antediluvian as much as it is post
diluvian. 1t put rough stick in the hands
of the first boy that was ever born and said
| to him stNow, Cain, when Abel is looking
the other way, crush in his skull; for his
sacrifice has been accepted and yours reject
ed" And Cain picked up the stick as
though just to walk with it, and while
Abel was watching some bird in the tree
top, or gazing at some waterfall, down
came the blow of the first assassination,
which has had its echo in all the fratricides,
matricides, uxoricides, infanticides, regi-
cides of all ages and all nations. This
passion of jealousy so disturbed Caligula
at the prominence of some of the men of
his time, that he cut a much admired curl
from the brow of Cucinnatus, aud took the
embroidered collar from the neck of Torqu-
atus. and had Ptolomacus killed because of
his purple robe, which attracted too much
attention. After Columbus had placed
America as gem in the Spanish crown,
jealousy set on the Spanish courtiers to de-
preciate his achievement, and aroused an
imoslties till the great discoverer had his
heart broken. Urged on by this bad pas
sion, Dionysius fayed Plato because he
was wiser than himself, and Philoxenius
because his music was too popular. Jeal-
ousy made Korah lie about Moses aud Sue
Goth depreciate Gideon.
jealousy made the trouble between Jacob
and Esau. That hurled Joseph into the
pit. That struck the twenty three fatal
wounds into julius Caesar. That banished
Aristides. That fired Antony against
Cicero. Tiberius exiled an architect Lecause
of the fame he got for a beautiful porch,
and slew poet for his fine tragedy. That
set Saul in rage against David. How
graphically the Bible puts it when it says:
''Saul eyed DAVID 1t seems to take pos
session of both eyes and makes them flash
h,,r 10 ~, Of hol1 ii
eyed DAVID That is, he looked at him as
much as to say: "You little upstart; how
dare you attempt anything great? l will
grind you under my heel. I will extermi-
nate you. 1 will, you miserable homun-
culus. Crouch, crawl, stink into that rat
hole. I will teach those women to sing
some other song, instead of "Saul has slain
his thousands but David his tens of thou
sands" When Voltaire heard that Fred
erick the Great was forgetting him and put
ting his literary admiration on Bacaulard
d d'Arnand, the old infdel leaped out of his
bed and danced the floor in maniacal rage,
and ordered his swiftest horses hooked up
to carry him to the Prussian palace.
That despicable passion of jealousy led
Napoleon the First to leave in his will
bequest of five thousand francs to the ruffian
who shot at Wellington when the victor of
Waterloo was passing through Paris. That
stationed the grouty elder brother at the
back door of the homestead when the Prod
igal Son returned, and threw chill on the
family reunion while that elder brother COM
planned saying: "Who ever heard of Civ
ing roast veal to such prohigate ?' Aye,
that passion rose up and under the darkest
cloud that ever shadowed the earth, and
amid the loudest thunder that ever shook