The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-08-24
THE ELDER SON.
pr. Talnage Pleads che Cause Of the Elder Son
In the Parable.


pr. Talnage Pleads the Cause Of the Elder Son
in the Parable.
Atlanta, Ca, Aug. 1.-THE Rev. 4. De
Witt Talmage, D. d., Of Brooklyn, is in this
region. He has spoken several times at the
great Piedmont, ~Chatauqua, and his pablic
appearances are attended by vast multiSudes
everywhere. Preaching from the text (Luke,
chapter 10, verse 2s,) "And he was angry,
and would not go in" he said:
rs the elder son of the parable so unsym.
pathetic and so cold that he is not worthy
Of recognition2 The fact is that we ministers
pursue the younger son. You can hear the
Tapping Of his rags in many a. sermonic
breeze, and the branching of the pods for
which he was an unsuccessful contestant. /
confess that for a long time l was unable to
train the camera obscure upon the elder son
ofthe parable. never could get p negative
for a photograph. There was not enough
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 a three-quarters, or the mere
bust, but a fuIl-lengtb portrait as be appears
to me. The father in the parable of the pro
digal had nothing TO brag Of in his two sons.
The one was a rake and the other a churl. !
find nothing admirable in the dissoluteness of
the one, and / find nothing ATTRACTIVE in the
aerid 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 ministrelsy. The floor quakes
with the feet ofthe ~rusties, whose dance is
always vigorous and ~resounding. Theneigh-
bors have heard of the return of the younger.
son from his wanderings and they have gath
cred together. The house Is full of congratu-
lators. / suppose the tables are loaded with
luxuries. Not only the one kind of meat
mentioned, but its concomitants. "Clapl'
go the cymbals, "thruml' so the haTps.
"clickr' go the chaliees, up and down go the
feet insides, while outside is a most sorry
spectacle.
The senior son stands at the corner of the
house, a frigid ~phlegmatie. Hehas just come
in from the fields in very substantial apparel
Seeing some wild exhilarations around the
old mansion, he asks Of a servant passing
by with a g~oatskin Of wine on his shoulder
what all this fuss is about. One would have
thought that on hearing thct his younger
brother had got back, he would have gone
'anto the house and rejoiced, and if he were
not conscientiously opposed to dancing, that
he would have joined in the Oriental schot-
ltisehe. No, there he stands. His brow
lowers, his lip curls with contempt. He
stamps the ground with indignation. He sees
nothing at all to attract. The 9dors 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 ina terrible pout.
He c~riticises the expense. the injustice and
the morals of the entertainment. The
father rushes out barehgaded and eoaxes
him to come in. He will not go in.
He seoids the father. He govs into
q basquinade against the younger brother,
and he makes the most uncomely scene, BE
says, Father, you put a premium on vag-
Alcoholism. I stayed at home and worked on
the farm. You never made a party for me;
you didn't so much as kill a kid; that wouldn't
have cost half so much as a calf; but the
scapegrace went of in fine clothes. and he
comes back NOT ft to be seen. and what a
time you make over himl He breaks my
heart, and you pay him for 1t. That calf to
which VIZ rave been giving extra feed during
these weeks wouldn't beSo fat and sleek i'll
had known to what use you were going to
put it'll That ~Yagabond deserves to be cow
hided instead of banqueted. Veal is too
good for himi" That evening, while the
younger son sat telling his father about his
adventures, and asking about what had oc-
currsd on the place since his departure, the
senior brother goes to bed disgusted and
Slams the door after him. That senior BROTH
eF ehii lives. You can see him any
Sunday, any day Of the week. AT q meeting
Of ministers in Germany some one asked the
question. "Who is that elder sOn2" and
Krummaeher answered, II know him; I saw
him yesterday And when they insisted
upon knowing whom he meant, he said, My
self; when / saw the account of the converse
tion Of q most obnoxious man, ! was irrita-
ted.n
First, this senior brother 81 the text stands
for the seIf-congratulatory, selfsatisfed,
selfworshipful man.. With the same breath
IN which he yituperates against his younger
brother he ustsrs~ q panegyric for himself.
This s~elfrighteous was fun OF faults.
He was an migrate, for he did not appreciate
the nome blessings which no had all those
years. He was disobedient, for when the
father told him to come in be stayed
out. He was q liar, for he said
that the recreant son had devoured bic
fathers living, when the father. so far
from being reduced to penury, had q home
stead left, had instruments of music, hadjeW-
els, had n mansion, and Instead OF being a
pauper, was a prince. This senior brother,
with 50 many faults d his own, was merciless
in the criticism of the younger brother. The
only perfect people that / have ever known
were utterly obnoxious. was never so bad.
III cheated IN all my life as by a perfect man.
He got 30 far up in his deyotions that he was
clear mp above all the rules of common hon.
esty. These raen that go about prowling
among prayer meetings, and places Of BUSH
ness, telling hoWgoOd they are-iook out for
fhsSn; keep your hand on your ~pocketbooki
! nave noticed thatjust In proportion as q
man gets good be gets g5umkle. The deep
Mississippi does not make as much noise as
the Drawing mountain rvulet. There has
boen mang q gtore that had more goods In
the show Window than inside on the shelves.
This salfFighteous man of the text stoodat
the corney u Ea0 house hugging himselfin
admiratiou. We hear a great deal in our day
about the higher ME. Now, there are two
kiD6s O aigheS life men. The one are admir-
able, and the other are most repulsive. The
one kind q higher life man Ia very lenientin
Aiessriticism Of others, does not bore prayer
messingc to death with long ~harangnes, does
--S1oaN d great deal about himself but much
about Christ and heaven, gets kindIier and
more gentle and more useful until one day
his soul spreads q wing and he flies away
to eternal rest, a~ndeverybody mourns his de-
pnrtura. The other higherlife man goes
around with q Bible conspicuously under bis