St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-08
MINNEAPOLIS PULPITS.
Several Sermons by Clergymen Of the
Flour City.
"THE WICKED HUSBANDMAN"
The Subject of Rev. Lhamon's Dis
course---A Good Word for
Catholics.

Rev. William J. Lhamon, at the
Church of Christ, yesterday preached
from Mark xii, 1-12:
There are many points of interest in
this parable. 1t was delivered on the
third day of Passion week. That was
no time for euphemism. Jesus was
dealing with men religiously insincere.
These men were bent on his death. He
has no maledictiOns for them, but only
words of warning and decisions of judg-
ment. We call this parable an example
of plain speech. The application can
not be mistaken, and yet it is clothed in
such a gentility of indirectneSs that
the people who were meant by it were
left to pass judgment on themselves.
Such parallels are the form in which the
sadness of great and prophetic mind
is wont to clOthe itself. We call this
parable, yet it is judgment; it seems
to us picture, and yet it is bolt
fallen from the sky of a serene and
clOudlesS nature upon pretentious and
wicked men. In this parable there is
an abstract of Jewish history. That
nation had rejected its prophets. Step
by step the nation passed from insincer-
ity and neglect to disobedience
and cruelty. They tainted Isaiah;
they threw jeremiah into the
mire; they stoned Zachariah; they
winked at the death of John
the Baptist; they were ready to cast
out the Son'from His own heritage and
kill Him. To Moses the people had
said: "All that the Lord hath said
will we do" That answer was suffi-
GENTLY polite, but it was not sincere. 1t
is finely said: "PreSs insincerity lit
tie, and politeness gives place to rude
ness; press 1t still more, and rudeneSs
in word gives place to rudeness in act;
press it still further, and minor indignl-
ties. such as shifting with the hand,
splitting, pulling the hair, give place to
more serious forms of violence, such
as the infiicting of wounds with deadly
weapons; press it yet further, and VIC
lence eliminates in murder" Here,
then, is warning against progress in
perversity. No man can take step in
the wrong direction but he must re-
trace it, which is hard, or keep stepping
on, which is disastrous. Again, we
learn that we should be careful, lest
while we are accusing others, we
ourselves may be tresspasSing against
our proper authorities. They had
accused Jesus of treSpass when they
said: 'By what authority dOeSt lnOu
these things?" In this picture of the
nation they are shown to have been
themselves the transgressors, stealing
the fruit of the Lords vineyard, killing
the son, and intruding into the herit-
age. By what authority did they mock
their prophets; by what authority did
they Kill the Baptist, aud cruelty Christ,
and claim the nation for their own?
Again we learn the folly of crime:
They said: Let US kill the Son, and
the inheritance shall be ours"
As though to kill the son was to get rid
of conscience, and of law, and of God.
If sinners by SHINING could get rid of
law and of God, then we could see some
sense in their SHINING, but as long as
eternal law is not repealed, and as long
as the eternal God lives, sin is senseleSS.
Again, by referring to Matthew, we
find that the men to whom Jesus spoke
were made to pass judgment on them
selves. So at last the appeal will be
made to each conscience, and when it
has decided on what seems to be another
case the judge will turn and say, Thou
art the man."