The herald., 1896-09-21
EAST SIDE BAPTIST CHURCH.
Mr. Dye Speaks on the Spirit of the
Elder Brother.

Rev. George E. Dye preached timely
sermon Sunday night on the Spirit or
the Elder Brother. The Master was sur
rounded with malignant, watchful enc
miles, The truths he taught were popu-
lar with the common people, but most
bitterly hated by the proud. self-con-
ceited and hypocritical scribes and
Pharisees. The Pharisees were class
who were eminently respectable, moral
and exact, but they robbed widows and
orphans and found fault with the COM
mon people. The beautiful story OF
the prodigal son was narrated by the
Master to justify himself in his kind
treatment of the oppressed classes.
There are three characters in the par
able---the common people, represented
by the prodigal, the scribes and Phari-
sees, represented by the elder brother,
and the good old father with a compass
sionate heart representing the kind
Heavenly Father. When the prodigal
came home and there was general re-
joicing the elder brother withdrew and
called him tard names, and refused to
go in to the banquet with the young
adventurer who had gotten back from
g dissipated life. The young prodigal
was like a jar Of fruit-a little spoiled
at the top, but he had good heart. The
elder brother was to all outward APP
pearance of paragon of excellence, but
within he was corrupt and foul. He
had no heart. He had no sympathy
or love. When the prodigal realized his
condition he retraced his steps, fell into
the arms of his loving father, and was
not only restored but feasted. But the
elder brother would have nothing to
do with the young man; he would look
after the property. AS Aaron wor-
SHIPPED the , golden calf, SO he ldolized
property was everything. He thought
more of a calf than he did of his brother.
Human nature is ever the same. We
see the same condition Of affairs about
us today. Men highly respectable, NOR
al men, exemplary men, but cold as
marble toward the masses and unsym-
pathetic as Dives toward suffering hui
inanity. Men have a right to wealth;
they have a right to amass fortunes
and inherit great possessions, but they
have no moral right to be heartless and
destitute of love and sympathy. The
selfish spirit of the elder brother per-
church, i9 business and in politics. Men
clothed in fine linen and faring sump-
tuously every DAY build the walls of
their houses so thick that they cannot
hear the groans of Lazarus without
They have right to fine clothes. a
Almighty will hold them responsible
for the blood of their brother, dying
from hunger and sickness and perishing
in sweat shops and tenement houses.
When Jesus wanted to select a man to
send to hades he did not select a pub
l1can or sinner, but he selected a
proud and imperious rich man and gave
him the hottest place in the inferno of
the New Testament. 1t was not because
he was not rich, not because he dressed
we'll or lived In a palace, but because
he lacked sympathy for the poor and
had no heart at all. Christ said that
the publcans and the harlots would 20
into the Kingdom of God before them,
Not that immoral courses are not wrong,
it is question of recoverability. There
is conscience behind this wrong doing,
but with the heartless rich who hate
the common people there Is no con.
science nor humanity. They wrap
themselves round and round with the
web of selfishness and are traitors to
Gods government Oh earth. The indis-
pensable condition of every element of
manhood and the prerequisite to the
spirit of Christianity is that man
should have heart, sympathy and love.
Beware of aristocratic selfishness; be-
ware of proud churchanity; beware of
anything that shall separate you from
the cry of distress Better to go to
heaven through a poor house than to
hades through palace. Love thy
neighbOr as thySelf"