The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1888-08-23
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Parable Of the Prodigal Son
In New Dress.
"A Sermon Bearing Upon the Elder Broth
or and Those Christians Who Have
No Faith in the Conversion
OF Prodigals.

The following sermon was delivered by
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage at the Piedmont
Chautauqua in Georgia. His text was:
ARa H. was angry. ana would not so in
luke, Nv., -
Is the eller son Of the parable so un =
sympathetic and SO cold that he is not
worthy of recognition? The facT Is that
we ministers pursue the younger son.
You can hear the Tapping Of his rags in
paany n sermouic breeze, and the cranch-
lng of the pods for which he was an I'M
successful contestant l confess that for
q long time | was unable TO train the
camera obscura upon the elder son OF the
parable. IueveT could get negative for
photograph. There was not enough
light in the gallery, or the chemicals
were poor, or the sitter moved in the
picture. But now l think | have him.
Not side.face, or three.quarters, or
the mere bust but full.length portrait
as ne appears to me. The father in the
parable of the prodigal had nothing to
brag of in his two sons. The one was o
rake and the other a churl. l find moth
ing 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 aud the
other goes down over the starboard side,
but they both go down.
From the window Of the old homestead
tur9ls the minstrelsy. The floor quaEes
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 congratulations. l suppose the
tables are loaded with Injuries. Not
only the one kind of meat mentioned,
but its concomitants. CLAP" go the
cymbals, '.thrum!" 60 the harps, "click ~
60 the chalices, up and down go the fee t
inside, while outside is most sorry spec
tacle.
The senior son stands at the corner of
fhe house. q frigid phlegmatic. He has
Just come in from the fields in very sub
stantial apparel. Seeing some wild ex-
1ilaratiOnS around the old mansion, he
asks of servant passing by with goat
SKIN 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 if he were not
ConsCientiously opposed to dancing, that
he would have joined in the Oriental
schottische. No. There he stands. His
brow lowers. His lip curls with contempt
1Ie 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 a terrible pout He crit
icises the expense, the injustice, and the
morals Of the entertainment. The father
rushes out bareheadeI and coxes him to
come in. He will not go in. He
scolds the father. He goes into pas
Quiuade against the younger brother,
and makes the most uncomely scene. He
SAYS:
Father, you put pre- MUM on vaga-
bondism. l staid at home and wSrked o Il
the farm. You never made a party for
me; You didn't so much as kill a kid; that
wouldn't have cost half as much as calf;
but the scapegrace went off in fine
clothes, and he comes back not fit to be
seen, and what a time you make over
him! lie breaks youl 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 vagabond deserves to be
CoHhded instead Of banqueted. Veal is
too good for him"
That evening. while the younger son
sat telling his father q bouthis advent
ures, and asking about what had occurred
on the place since his departure, the
senior brother goes 10 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 Krumacher answered:
Il know him; l saw him yesterday"
And when they insisted upon knowing
whom he meant, he said:
Myself. When l saw the account of
the conversion of a most obnoxious man,
was irritated."
First, this senior brother of the text
stands for the f-congratulatory, self
satisfied, self-wors hipful man. With the
same breath in which he vituperates
against his younger brother he utters a
yanegyric for himself. The self
righteous man Of my text, like
every other self-righteous man, was
full Of faults. He was an migrate,
Tor he did not appreciate the home
blessings which he had all those years.
He was disobedient, for when the father
Il liar for he said that the recreant son
had devoured his fathers living, when
the father so far from being reduced to
penury, had a homestead left had instru-
ments Of music, had jewels, had a man :
sion, and instead Of being a pauper was q
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 l have ever
known were utterly obnoxious. l was
never so badly cheated in all my life as
by 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 proving among
prayer meetings, and in places Of BUSH
ness, falling how good they are-look out
for them; keep your hand on your pocket.
book! l have noticed that just in proper
ton as man gets good he gets humble.
The deep Mississippi does not make as
much noise as the brawling mountain
rivulet. There has been many store
that had more goods in the show window
than inside on the shelves.
This self-righteous man of the text
stood at the corner of the house hugging
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
criticism of others, does not bore prayer
meetings to death with long harangues,
does not talk great deal about himself but
much about Christ and Heaven, gets
ne ITS,