The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1900-05-12
THE PRODIGAL son.
DR.. Talmage breaches a Sermon
About the Elder Brother.
Lesson Of the ParabIe-IIe DenOunces
self-RighteOusne&s ana Lack of
sympathy for tbs Fallen
and Unfortunate.
copyright. 1908. by Louis Klopseh1
Washington,

and would not go in"
D Many times have L been asked
preach a sermon about the eld
brother of the parable. | received
letter from Canada saying: as IL
elder son of the parable SO unsymp
thetic and so cold that he is M
worthy of recognition" The fact
that we ministers pursue the youns
er son. You can hear the tapping {
his rags in many sermonic bree2
and the branching of the pods TO
which he was an unsuccessful cor
testant. | confess that it has bee
difficult for me to train the Gamer
obscure upon the elder son of the par
able. | could not get negative TO
photograph. There was not enough
light in the gallery, or the chemical
were too poor, or the sitter moved
in the picture. But now l think
have him, not side face or a three
quarters or the mere bust, but full
length portrait as he appears to me
| The father in the parable of the prod
| igal had nothing to brag of in his two
sons. The one was rake and the
other churl. find nothing admira-
BILE 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 star
board side, but they both go down.
Al i
homestead bursts the minstrelsy. The
floor duakes with the feet of the rus
tics, whose dance il 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 congratulators. l suppose
the tables are loaded with luxuries,
not only the one kind of meat men
toned, but it's concomitants. "Clap."
go the cymbals, "Thrum!" go the
harps, "Click!' 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, a frigid phlegmatic. He
has just come in from the fields in
very substantial apparel. Seeing some
wild exhilarations around the old
he asks of servant passing
~ with a goatsllin of wine on his |
shoulder what all the fuss is about. |
)ne would have thought that, on
fearing that his younger brother had
rot back, he would have gone into the
rouse and rejoiced, and, if he were
lot conscientiously opposed to dane
ng, that he would have joined the ORR
ntal schottish. No, there he stands.
lis brow lowers; his face darkens;
is lip curls with contempt. He
lamps the ground with Indignation;
e sees nothing at all to attract. The
doris of the feast, coming out on the
ir, do not sharpen his appetite.
he lively music does not put any
pring into his step. He is in ter
ible pout. He criticises the expense.
he injustice and the morals of the
The father rushes out
and coaxes him to come
|. He will not go in. He scolds the ,
lther. He goes into a pasquinade
5ainst the younger brother, and he
axes the most uncomely scene. He
ys: Father, you put premium
l vagabondism. | staid at home and
orked on the farm. You never made
party for me; you didn't so much =
kill kid. That wouldn't have cost .
If as much as calf; but this scape- a
ace went off in fine clothes, and he f
mes back not fit to be seen. and
nat time you make over him! He
eaks your heart, and you pay him i,
r it. That calf, to which we have n
en- giving extra feed during all
ese weeks, wouldn't be so fat and h
eek if had known to what use YOU d
re going to put it. That vagabond "
serves to be cowhided instead of o.
nqueted. Veal is too good for v
n" That evening, while the young a
son sat telling his father about his
ventures and asking about what Il
d occurred on the place since his IL
oarture, the senior brother goes to W
Disguised and slams the door III
er him. That senior brother still IL
IS. You can see him any Sunday. h.
day of the week At meeting tn
ministers in Germany some one G,
ed the question:: "Who is that ne
er son?" and Krummacher an tn
red: II know him; saw him YES br
day." And when they insisted pc
IN knowing whom meant he said: de
yself; when saw the account of sn
conversion of most obnoxious WI
4 was irritated." hi
irst, this senior brother of the co
stands for the self-congratula- me
7, self-satisfed, self-worshipful DO
j. With the same breath in which Wa
'ltuperates against his younger
ther he utters panegyric for fol
self. The self-righteous man of nil
text, like every other self-righteous sa,
!, was full of faults. He was an VIZ
ate, for he did not appreciate the fri
re blessings which he had all those be,
IS. He was disobedient, for when toll
father told him to come in he wa
d out He was liar, for he said an
the recreant son had devoured ow
'ather's living, when the father. so era
from being reduced to penury ant
a homestead left, had instruments val
lusic. had jewels, had a mansion, DOC
instead of being a pauper, was a thi
&c. This senior brother, with SO stir
Y faults of his own, was mereiless tor
IS criticism of the younger broth gov
The only perfect people that 1 der
ever known were utterly obnox- was
was never SO badly cheated in livi
life as by perfect man. He got "W
r up in his devotions that he was mer
up above all the rules of COM of .
honesty Tbasa 49,. IL