The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-01-15
THURSDAY AFTERNOON.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON.
MIR. Moody Tells Some Plain Facts
About That "Elder Brother."
| Ihave selected very difficult subject for
| this afternoon, difficult one TO get sou peo-
pie interested in. | am afraid you may get
| the chills before / am through, for / think IL
| is one of the coldest subjects you can find In
| the whole Bible. IL is about that elder
| brother of whom have been reading.
| When WAS in Europe once, Mr. spurgeon
| gave me a copy of all of his sermons, and out
| of the whole volume, between thirty and
| forty,I couldn'tfind one solitary sermon he had
| ever preached about that elder brother. /
have tried a number of times to get interested
| but mus confess that IL is hard TO get my
heart warmed up toward it,
This elder brotL er thought he was all right
| heard of man when l was across the sea
who thought so much of himself that he used
| to shake hands with himself every morning.
| He was an elder brother. Now, il you ever
had to live in a house with man that never
did wrong pity you. If you wives have
husband that never does wrong
1 pity you. Do you know why?
Because, IL anything goes wrong
| il is you that has TO suffer. he doesn't. All
the blame falls upon you. He is an elder
brother. There has been hot discussion for
ages about who these 90 that we read about in
They are the angels that have never fallen;
some think they are sort OF angelic people
and don't need to be converted. they are
so pure and upright naturally. i
believe they are the people who think they are
all right. You will notice that thc~chapter
begins with murmur and closes in the same
way. They were findirg fault with Christ
because he was receiving sinners and saving
the lost.
Now, this elder brother was angry because
the wanderer had come home. A lady came
to me some years ago and wanted me 10 get
her daughter into seminary with which l
was connected, but she said: Il want TO be
frank with you, want you TO know that do
not believe in your theology" My theology
didn't know / had any. i wish
you would tell me what my theology
Is" We'll, she said, Il don't
agree with your preaching" "Wbat is ii you
don't agree WITH" "Well," she said, ''your
views about that elder brother are the most
abominable ever heard Of" said, "You are
the first person i ever heard try TO uphold
him. What are his good traits? What are
his noble Qualities?" why! he stayed at
home with his father and took care of him,
and his younger brother ran off and left him"
took care of his fatherl Why! the
last / read about him he was outside
of the house in a mad fit and his father
couldn't get him in" o, yes. he took care of
his father These elder brothers are the
they think they are already there. IL is said
that ia Berlin one day German minister had
this question up for dscussion-who the 90
were and who the elder brother was.
He was a great preacher and he got up in
meeting and said he had
seen the elder brother the day before. "Saw
him! Where did you see him? Saw the elder
brother!" "Yes, when l looked into the
looking glass ! saw him. j saw my
self" He found himself envious of
another minister, and he was an elder
brother. i tell you what. there are a
good many more elder brothers than prodi-
gals, after all. There are n lot of US pretty
near kin to that elder brother. Men go to
church regularly, but tell you a man that
gets angry because the sexton puts man
into his pew who isn't dressed in the height of
fashion, believe belongs to this school. IL
you want TO find out where they are, just tell
them of n poor drunkard that has been
reclaimed, and see their eyes open and hear
them say, II don't believe in that kind OF
thing" You have got lot Of them right here
in Providence, have no doubt Of that. You
take and follow this elder brother down
through all the beatitudes, and you will find
that he fails in every solitary one OF them.
Now just hear what Christ says: blessed are
the poor in spirit" He poor In spirit2 Not he
The Lord says blessed are the poor I'm
spirit" A man may be rich and have n
broken heart, but there Is a blessing upon him
III ne mas. DlesScu are lntl lntb HOurns'
Did this man mourn? For whatl 1Ie had
nothing TO mourn over; he had never done u
wrong thing in all his life. Blessed are the
meek" Was he meek There was not n
single trace OF meekness about him. That
Pharisee that went up 10 the
temple to pray with the poor
Publican. did he know any thing about
mecknessg II thank thee, Lord, that ! am not
like other men. ! fast twice week, give
tthes OF all 1 possess" ], /, /. Five great
capital Is in little short prayer OF onlya
few words. There was not n prayer about IL.
He was just boas ting and Dragging. That is Just
what this elder brother was doing. blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst" lie
hunger and thirst after Righteousness?
lie had SO much he didn't know
what TO do with it. blessed are
the merciful" lie merciful7 He was very
merciful 90 his old father. wasn't he2 IIe was
kind TO his old father. wasn't he2 OF 1 pity n
father who has 90 be taken care OF by such n
son as that; sticking tborns into his old
fathers heart in the evening oflife. blessed
are the pure In heart" Was he pure IN heart?
Blessed are the peace makers" Was he n
peace makerl Breaking np the most peaceful
scene this world ever saw That old father siti-
ing nj the table with peace and JOY that ha1
never before come 90 him, and that elder
brother Just broke 10 up. / see that fathers
face Just beaming with Joy and delight when
the servants whisper that Levi Is outside nal
and will not come In. And | see the old man
get up. all the Joy gone from his face and 60
out and entreat his son to come In. but he is
in mad nc and the old man cannot get him
into the house. I tell YOU 1 think he had a