News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-08-23
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR. TALMAGE'S
STERLING DISCOURsES
Subject "Queer Christians" De
livered at the Piedmont CGa)
Chautauqua. .

Is the elder son of the parable so M
sympathetic AMI so cold that he is NO
worthy of recognition. The fact is, that W
MN sters pursue the younger son. You ca
hear the tapping of his rags in many
sermonlc breeze, and the branching of tn
pods for which he was an unsuccessful con
testant. confess that for a long time wa
unable to train the camera obscura upon tn
elder son of the parable. never could ge
negative for a photograph. Their
was not enough light in the gallery
or the chemicals were poor, or TIL
sitter moved in the picture. But now
three-quarters, or the mere bust, but full
length portrait as he appears to me. The
father liz the parable of the prodigal had
nothing to brag of in his two sons The one
was rake and the other a churl. | find
nothing admirable in the diSSoluteneSS of the
one, and | 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 resoundmg. The neighbors
have heard of the return of the younger son
from his wanderiDgS, and they have gath
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
'ClapIn go the cymbals, ''thrum" go the
harps, ''cIickr 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 exhilarations
around the old mansion, he asks of servant
passing by with 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 rejoiced, and
posed to dancing, that he would
have joined i'll the Oriental schottische
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. The lively music does not put
any spring into his step. He is in terrible
pout. He criticise9 the expense, the in
Justice and the moral of the entertainment
coaxes HIM to come in. He will not go in.
He scolds the father. He goes into
a pasquinade against the 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 a kid, that wouldn't have cost half so
much as calf; but the scapegrace went off
in fine clotf 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 if / had known
to what use you were going to put it, That
banqueted. Veal is too good for himr'
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 sec
him any Sunday, any day of the week. AT
a meeting of ministers in Germany some one
asked the question: WHO is that elder
sonm and kTummacher answered, II know
him; 1 saw him yesterday And when they
insisted upon knowing whom he meant he
said: Myself; when | saw the account of
the conversion of a most obnoxious man, l
was irritated'
First, this senior brother of the text stands
for the self-congratuatory, self satisfied,
self-worshipful man. With the same breath
in which he vituperates against his younger
TIA 5ss 20, he utters panegYric for himself.
other selfrfghteo,,s In OF my text like every
He was an migrate for he did not appr aug
the home blessings which he had all those
years. He was disobedient, for when
the father told him to come in, he
stayed out. He was liar, for
he said that the recreant son had devoured
his fathers living. when the father, so far
from being reduced to penury, had home
stead left, had instruments of music, had
a mansion, and instead Of being pauper,
was prince. This senior brother, with so
many faults of his own, was merciless in his
criticism of the younger brother. The only
perfect people that have ever known were
utterly obnoxious. l was never so badly
cheated in all my life as by
up in his devotions that he was clear up
above al the rules of common honesty.
These men that go about prowling among
prayer meetings, ard in places of business,
telling how good they are, look out for them;
keep your hand on your pocketbook! l have
noticeQ that Just III proportion as man gets
good he gets humble. The deep Mississippi
does not make as much NOSE as the brawling
mountain rivulet. There has e-n manv a
store that had more goods in the show win
dow than inside on the shelves.
This self-righteous man of the text stood at
the corner of the house hugging himself in
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
lenlent IN his criticism of Others does not
bore praye meetings to death with long har-
rangues, does not ia k a great deal about him
self but much about Christ and heaven, gets
klndlier, and more gentle and more useful
until one day his soul spreads wing and he
flies away to eternal rest and everybody
mournS his departure. The other higher life
man goes around with Bib conSpicuouSly
under his arm, goes from I to church,a
sort of general evangelist; Is IL nuisance to his
own pastor when he sat home, and nuisance
to other pastors when he is away from home;
runs up to some man who is counting out a
roll of bank bills, or running up q difficult
line of figures, and asks him how his soul
IS; makes religion dose of ipecacuanha:
standing IN a religious meeting making an
address, ne has patronlzing way, as though
ordinary Christians were clear away down
below him, so he had to talk at the top of his
voice IN order to make them hear, but at the
same time encouraging them to hope on; that
by climbing many years they may after
awhile come up within sight of he place
where he now stands! tell you plainly that
ii roaring, registering, bouncing sinner is not
so repulsive to me as that higher-life malfor-
nation. The former NAV repent:
the latter never gets over his |
pharisaism. The younger brother of |
the parable came back, but the senior |
brother stands outside entirely oblivious of |
his own delinquencies and deficits, pronounc- |
ing his own eulogium- Oh how much easier |
1t is to blame others than to blame ourselvesl |
Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, |
the serpent blamsd the devil, the senior broth |
er blamed the younger brother, and none of |
them blamed themselves.
Again, the senior brother of my text stands |
for all those who are faithlesS about the re-
formation of the disspated and the dissolute |
In the very tones Of his voice you can hear
the fact that he has no faith that the reform
alton of the younger son is genuine. His
entire manner seems to say: That
boy has come back for more money. |
He got third of the property; now
he has come back for another third He
will never be contented to stay on the farm.
He will fall away. | would go in too and re-
lOlCe with the others If / thOuOht this thincr |
was genuine; but it is a sham. That boy is
a confirmed inebriate and debauchee." Alasl |
my friends, for the incredulity in the Church
Of Christ in regard to the reclama-
been a strong drinker. l say: Eyes, but he |
has reformed Oh" you say, with a lugu.
brious face, 81 hope you are not mistaken, l /
hope you are not mistaken" You say: /
Don't rejoice too much over his conversion, |
for soon he viii be unconverted, / fear. |
Don't make too big party for that returned |
prodigal, or strike the timbrel too loud; and |
If you kill calf, kill the one that is
on the commons, and not the one
that has been luxuriating in the |
paddock That is the reason why more
prodigals do not come homs to their fathers
house. 1t is the rank infidelity in the Church
Of God on this subject There is not house
On the streets of heaven that has not in it
prodigal that has returned and strayed
home. There could be unrolled before you
! scroll of hundred thousand names-the
names of prodigals who came back forever
turned prodigal. Who was Richard Baxtera
a returned prodigaL Who was George
Whitefeld, the thundererl A returned
DrodigaL And l could go out in all direc-
lions in this audience and find on either side
hose who, once far astray for many years,
nave been faithful, and their eternal saliva
ion is as sure as though they had been ten
years in heaven. And yet some of you have |