Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1888-08-16
ENVY AND JEALOUSY.
Dr.. Talmage Discourses on Self
Righteous Christians.
Lessons to he Learned From the Parable OF
the PrOdIgal Son-The Fallen to be
Pitied, Not Scorned-God Ready
to Forgive.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, who has beer
making a tour of the West and South, has
been greeted by crowds wherever hs
preached. In a recent sermon at the grea,
Piedmont Chautauqua in Georgia hi
preached from Luke XIV. %: Sand he wa
angry, and would not go in" He said:
Is the elder son of the parable So unsym.
pathetic and so cold that he is not worthy
of recognition: The fact is that we minis
tiers pursue the younger son. You can
hear the Tapping of his rags in many a SER
monte breeze, and the branching of the
pods for which he was an unsuccessful con-
testant. confess that for a long time
l was unable to train the camera OBJ
scura upon the elder son of the parable.
l never could get negative for a
photograph. There was not much light
in the gallery, or the chemicals were
poor, or the sitter moved in the picture.
But now think have him. Not a side
face, or three-quarters or the mere bust,
but full length portrait as he appears to
me. The father in the parable of the prod
igal had nothing to brag of in his two sons.
The one was a rake and the other a churl.
find nothing admirable in the dissolute-
ness Of the one and find nothing attract
i've in the acrid so6riety 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 resounding. The
neighbors have heard of the return of the
younger son from his wanderings, and
they have gathered together. The house
is full OF congratulators. 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, 'clickw go the
chalices, up and down go the feet inside,
while outside is most sorry spectacle.
The senior son stands at the corner of the
house frigid phlegmatic. He has just
come in from the fields in very substantial
apparel. Seeing some wild exhilaration
around the old mansion, he asks of a SER
want passing by with a gOatskin 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 re-
joiced, and if he were not conscientiously
opposed to dancing, that he would have
Joined in the oriental schottische. No.
lin curls with contempt. He stamps the
g,ound with indignation. He sees nothing
at all to attract. The odors of the feast
coming out on the air do not sharpen his
appetite. The lively music does not put
any spring into his step. He is in a terri
BILE pout. He criticises the expense, the
injustice and the morals of the entertain
ment.
hn fot chnc ho,.o Al
coaxes him to come in. He will not go in.
He scolds his father. He goes into a
pasquinade against the younger brother,
and he makes the most uncomely scene.
He says: "Father, you put premium on
vagabondism. l stayed at home and
worked on the farm. You never made a
party for me; you didn't so much as kill
kid; that wouldn't have cost half as much
as q calf; but the scapegrace went off in
fine clothes, and he came back not fit to be
seen, and what time you make over him.
He breaks your heart and yea pay him for
it. That calf which we nave been giving
extra feed during III these weeks wouldn't
be SO fat and sleek if l had known to W hat
use you were going to put it! That vag-
abone deserves to be cowhided instead OF
banqueted. Veal is too good for him."
That evening while the younger son sat
telling his father about his adventures and
asking about what had occurred on the
place since his departure, the senior
brother goes to bed disguised and slams
the door after him. That senior brother
still lives. You can see him any Sunday,
any day of the week. At a meeting of
ministers in Germany some one asked the
Question, "Who is that elder SOM" and
Krumnacher answered, 81 know him: l
saw him Yesterday" And when they in
sisted on knowing whom he meant, he
said: myself; when saw the account of
the conversation of m ost obnoxious man.
was irritated."
First, this senior brother of the text
stands for the self-congratulatory, self
satisfied, self-worshipful man. With the
same breath in which he vituperates
against his younger brother he ut
tiers q panegyric for himself. The
self-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 years. He vac si,isobedient,
for when the father told him to come in he
stayed out. He was a liar, for he said
the recreant son had devoured his fathers
living, when the father, SO far from being
reduced to penury, had homestead left,
had instruments of music, had jewels, had
. mansion, and instead of being a pauper
was prince. This senior brother, with SO
many faults of his own, was merciless in
his criticism of his younger brother. The
only perfect people that l have ever
known were utterly obnoxious. was
never SO badly cheated in all my life as BY
q perfect man. He got so far up in his
devotions that he was clear up above all
the rules of common honesty. These men
that go about prowling among prayer
meetings and in places of business telling
how good they are, look out for them;
keep your hand on your pocketbOok.
have noticed that just in proportion as
man gets good he gets humble. The deep
Mississippi does not make as much noise
as the brawling mountain rivuiet. There
has been many a store that had more goods
in the show windows than inside on the
shelves.
The self-righteous man of the text
stood at the corner of the house huggine
himself in admiration. We hear a great
deal in our day about the higher life,
Now there are two kinds of higher-life
men. The one are admirable and the other
/. are most repulsive. The one kind of
higher-life man is very lenient in his criti-
cism Of others. does not bore prayer meet.
ings to death with long harangues, does
not talk q great deal about himself, but
much about Christ and Heaven, gets kind
lier and more gentle and more useful until
one day his soul spreads a wing and he
dies away to eternal rest, and every body
.--,,nc h;c donarfuro Tho ofbar h;rha,