The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-02-05
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

the prodigal, throws a new and search
ing light upon the character and con-
duct Of the elder brother of the famous
parable. The text Is Luke XIV, %, "And
| he was angry"
Who was the prodigal's elder broth
err? Il know who he is" answers some
one. 81 see him almost every day Of
my life. He is the honest. upright son
who stays at home and gets no credit
for being good: he is the respectable
| plodder of the family who does most
of the hard work in the office, in the
store and on the farm and then has the
extreme pleasure Of seeing all the
young girls run after his dissolute
younger brother merely because that
brother is driving fast horses and SOW.
| ing his wild oats The elder brother
is the son who is always sober and yet
receives he not one extra dollar from
his parents SIS Il reward. while the
drunken son Of the family is continual
~ receiving extra money to get his
clothes out of pawn, SO that he may
is the good boy upon whom the moth
er depends to help give his sisters new
dresses for the winter parties. yet he
never has party given for him. He
never had n fatted calf killed that he
might entertain his friends, though for
years he has cared for the cattle by
day and has seen that they were prop
erly MIXED at night. He is the good
boy who never had fine ring put on
his finger. The folks laughed at his
horny fingers, which were knotted from
handling the pillow and welding the
hoe and the ak. His feet were never
measured for dancing slippers because
his sandals were always soiled and
dirt begrimed. He was always work
ing In the fields. The drunkards. the
profligates. the midnight carousers, the
libertines and the associates of lewd
companions are the ones who, when
they reform, Have the smiles and the
dancing parties given to them, not the
elder brothers who have never done
any wrong"
Some years ago young college
classmafe said to me: 1T never pays
to be good. When | am good and stay
at home, then father and mother mere
~ take my goodness as matter Of
course. but If only so off on long
carousal then nothing is too good for
me when / come back home. There's
lots Of fun in being repentant prod
igal. There is no fun in always being
a goody, goody boy, who never gets the
fatted calf killed for his benefit. My
sympathies have always been with the
elder brother in the parable" once
wrote John r. Paxton, the great New
York preacher, and the popular sym
pathy Of the world from time imme-
mortal has been with the elder brother
OF my text and not with the repentant
herder of the swine. who returned in
rags and as beggar to his fathers
house.
Two Kinds of Faults.
But neither Of the brothers is por-
trayed as an example. Both were
bad, though in different ways. We cas-
lily see the faults of the younger broth
er; they were open and scandalous: but
the faults of the elder brother, being
decorously covered up by dutiful con-
duct, are not SO easily recognized. In
estimating character on Gods lines we
have to ask not only what man has
done, but what he is. Meanness and
nbrotherliness and cruelty in the heart
deface mans character as indelibly
as open iniquity. They make men. as
Christ said. like "whited sepuIchers,
which indeed appear beautiful outward,
but are within full of dead mems bones
and Of all uncleanness. : Therefore /
place my chief emphasis upon the sin
full life of the elder brother, to show
that the SO called respectable sins of
self Righteousness are of all sins the
most to be dreaded and that 1t is the
duty of the preacher to warn his hear
ers against them
The elder brother is the modern Phar-
isee, who thanks God that he Is not as
other men, He conplacently looks
upon the drunkard and tile social out
cast and the pauper and says to his
friends: Just look at me- / never had
tllA5 HUT dQa ttl1tttSSS 8IllitIi IilOSP pHDe
Pile have had was Of high strung.
impetuons nature. yet never would
let my evil desires get The better of
me. have never been drunk | have
never run up a bill was unable to
pay. never was freauenter of the
clubs, nor eonviviai associate of mid
night carousers. Indeed, to be frank
with you, have Just about as good |
opinion Of my moral attachments as
Prince bismarck had of his skill in
So anship. When some one asked |
t3e Chancellor who he thought |
was the brainiest statesman III all /
Europe. Bismarck replied: sMedesty |
forbfds my stating who is the brainiest.
because then j might have to mention /
my own name. But ! am perfectly |
willing to state that Benjamin Dis
raeli is without doubt the second |
ablest statesman in all Europe Other
saints" remarks the pharisaical elder
bf,nf bnr ssf1f:.y hp my faIlaI IN moral /