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About The Plattsmouth daily herald. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1883-19?? | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 1888)
THE DAILY JlKftALP: IM.ATTSMM i n. tBKASKA. MONDAV, AT'OHST 13. 1S88. .jS in. tiie south. HE WAS ANGRY, AND WOULD NOT GO IN." Ti Self Congratulatory, Self Satisfied. Mt Worshipful Man Is Fall of Faults, ; Two Kind of IIlghr Life Men lie turned rrixllffal. 'Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 12. Tho Rev. T. Do Witt Talraago, D. D., of Brook lyn, is in this region. He Las spoken several times at tho great Piedmont Chautauqua, and his public appearances are- attended by vast multitudes every where. Preaching from tho text (Luke xv, 28), "And he was angry and would not go in," ho said: Is tho elder son of tho parable so un sympathetic and so cold that he is not worthy of recognition? Tho fact is that vvo ministers pursue tho younger son. You can hear the flapping of his rags in many a sermonic breeze, and tho cranch ing of tho pods for which ho was an un successful contestant. I confess tliat for a Lng tiino I was unable to train the camera olwcura upon tho elder son of the parable. I never could get a nega tive for a photograph. There was not enough light in tho gallery or tho chem icals were poor or the sitter moved in tho picture. But now I think I have Li in. Not a side face or a three quar ters or the mere bust, but a full length Iortrait as he apjars to me. Tho father in tho J arable of tho prodigal had noth ing to brag of in his two sons. The one was a rake and the other a churl. I find nothing admirablo in tho dissoluteness of the one, and I find nothing attractivo in tho acrjd sobriety of tho other. Tho ono goes down over tho larboard sido and the other goes down over tho starboard bido; but they both go down. Prom the window of tho old home stead bursts tho minstrelsy. The iloor quakes with the feet of tho rustics, whose dance is always vigorous and re-;-ur;diiig. The neighbors have heard of I Ie return of tho younger son" from hij wanderings, and they have gathered iv gether. The houso is full of congratu Jators. I suppose tho tables are loaded with luxuries. Not only tho one kind of meat mentioned, but its concomitants. Clap!"' go the cymbals, "thrum!" go tho harjH, "click!" go the chalices, up find dcwi; go the feet inside, while ut pide is'a most sorry spectacle; The senior son stands at the corner of the house, a frigid phlegmatic. lie has jut como n from the piJs in Ypry subr totantial apparel. Seeing some wild X lularations around tb ol'J ni;nslua, La aiks of a servant passing by with a goat skin of wine on Ids shoulder what all the fus3 is about. One would liave thought hat, on hearing that Lis younger brother iad got back he would liare gono into ho' hoUso and rejoiced, and if he were not Conscientiously opposed to dancing, tliat he would have joined in tho orien tal scbottische, No, There ho stands. I lis brow lowers. His lip curls with con tempt. IIo stamps the ground with in dignation. Ho 6ees nothing at all to at tract. The odors of tho feast coming out on the air do not sharpen his appetite. The lively music docs not put any spi ing Jnto his step. He 'is hi a terrible pout. : He criticises tho expense, the in justice and the morals of the entertain ment. Tho father rushes out bareheaded and coaxes him to come in. He will not 0 ia. Ho scolds the father. He goes into a pasquinade against the younger brother, and he makes the most uncomely scene. He says, "Father, you put a premium on vagabondism. I stayed at homo and worked on tho farm. You never made a party for me; you didn't so ljuich as kill a kid; that wouldn't have cost half as much as a calf; but the scape grace went off in flno clothes, and ho comes lack not fit to be seen, and what a time j' ou make over hhn! IIo breaks your Leart, and you pay him for it. That calf to which wo have been giving extra feed during all theso weeks wouldn't be so fat and sleek if I had known to wliat use you were going to put it I That vagabond deserves to be cowhided instead of banqueted. Veal is too good for him!'' That evening, while the younger son sat telling his father about his adventures, and asking about what had occurred on the place since his departure, the senior brother goes to bed disgusted, and slams tho door after him. Tliat senior brother still lives. You can see him any Sunday, any day of the week. At a meeting of ministers in Germany eomo o:io asked the question, "Who is that elder son?" and Krumniacher an swered, "I know Lim; I saw him yester day." And when they insisted upon knowing whom he meant, he said, "My self; when I saw tho account of the con version of a most obnoxious man, I was irritated." First, this senior brother of the text 6taids for the self congratulatory, self satisfied, self worshipful man. With tho same breath in which he vituperates against his younger brother ho utters a panegyric for himself. Tho self right eous man of my text, like every other self righteous man,v was full of faults. He was an ingratc, for ho did not appre ciate tho homo blessings which lie Lad all those yeara. He was disobedient, for when fhe father told Lim to como in lis, stayed out. " Ho was a liar, for he said that the recreant son had devoured Lis father's living, when the father, so far from being reduced to penury, Lad a Lomestead left, Lad instruments of music, Lad jewels, Lad a mansion, and, instead of being a pauper, was a prince. This senior brother, with so many faults of Lis pwn, was mercU.iss in his criticism pf the, younger brother. The only perfect pec plo that I have ever known were utterly obnoxious. I was never so badly cheated in all my life as by a perfect man. He got so far up in Lis devotions that he was -clear up above all the-rules of common honesty. TLese men that go about prowling among prayer meet ings and in places of business, telling Low good they are look out for thein ; keep your hand on your pocketbuok I I liaye noticed that just ia projiortion as a man gits good Le gets humble. The deep Jlisbissippi does not make as much noise as tho brawling mountain rivulet. There Las been many a store tLat liad wore goods in the show window tliau inside on the shelves. . This self righteous man of tho text -1 at tLe corner of tho house Lugging t h admiration. We Lear a great - ' 7 r"" f " ? t'jUer Ufa. Now, there are two kinds of higher life men. The oe are admirable, and tha other are most repulsive. The ono kind of liigher life man ia very lenient in his criticism of others, does not bore prayer meetings to death with long harangues, does not talk a great deal alwut himself, but much about Christ and heaven, gets kindlier and more gentle and more useful until ono day his soul spreads a wing and ho flies away to eternal rest, and every body mourns his departure. Tho other higher life man goes around with a Biblo conspicuously under his arm; goes from church to church, a 6ort of general evan gelist; is a nuisance to his own pastor when Le is at Lome and n nuisance to other pastors when ho is away from Lome; runs up to some man wLo is counting out a roll of bank bills or run ning up a difficult line of figures and asks Lim Low is soul is; makes religion a dose of ijecacuanha; standing in a re ligious meeting making an address, Le Las a patronizing way, as though ordinary Christians were clear away down below him, so he has to talk at the top of Ids voice in order to make them hear, but at tho same time encouraging them to hope on; that by climbing many 3-ears they may after a while come up within sight of tho place where ho now stands! I tell you plainly that a roaring, royster ing, liouncing sinner is not so repulsive to me as that higher life malformation. Tho former may repent; the latter never gets over his pharisaisrn. Tho younger brother of tho parable came back, but tho senior brother stands outside entirely oblivious of his own delinquencies and deficits, pionouncing Ins own eulogium. Oh, how much easier it is to blamo others than to blamo ourselves! Alam blamed Eve, Evo blamed tho serpent, tho serpent blamed the devil, tho senior brother blamed the younger brother, and none of them blamed themselves. Again, the senior brother of my text stands for all those who are faithless about tho reformation of the dissipated and tho dissolute. In the very tones of his voice you can hear the fact that ho has no faith that tho reformation of th younger, son is genuuW. His entire manner seems to say: "That boy has come back for moro money. IIo got a third of the jdoperty; now ho has como back for another third. He will never be contented to stay on the farm. He will fall away. I would go in, too, and re joice with tho others if I thought this thing wa3 genuine; but it is a sham!.' Tliat boy is 'a confirmed inebriate and de bauchee.?' Alas! bit 'friends, for the in credulity in tho church c.f phrisj; in gard, q the ve'clamatioil or "tho' re? creant. on ey a ttl&n. La " SUVUZ drink- v reformed." "Oh," you say, with a lu gubrious face, "I hope you are not nils-, taken; I hope yon are not uii3- taken." You say; ''Don't rejoice "too much over Lis conversion, for soor. he will bo unconverted, I fear. Don't make too big a party for that re turned prodigal, or strike the timbrel too loud; and if you kill a calf, kill tlie one that is on the commons, and not tho ono that has been luxuriating in the paddock." That is the reason why more prodigals do not come home to their father's house. It is the rank inQdeiity in the church of God on, this' subject. There is not a house on the streets of heaven that has not in it a prodigal that Iia3 returned and strayed home. There could be unrolled before you a scroll of a hundred thousand names the names of prodigals who came back forever reformed. Who was John Bunyan? A returned prodigal. Who was "Richard Baxter? A returned prodigal. Who was George Whitefield, the thunderer? A returned prodigal. And I could go out in all directions in this audience and find on either bido those who, once far astray for many years, have been faith ful, and their eternal salvation is as sure as though they had been ten years in heaven. And yet some of you have not enough faith in their return. You do not know how to shake hands with a prodigal. You do not know how to pray for him. You do not know how to greet him. He wants to sail in tho warm gulf stream of Christian sympa thy. You are tho iceberg against which ho strikes and sliivers. You say he has been a prodigal. I know it. But you are the sour, unresponsive, censorious, saturnine, cranky elder brother, and if you are going to Leaven one would think some people would bo tempted to go to lerdition to get away from you. The hunters say that if a deer bo shot the other deer shovo him out of their com pany, and tho general rule is, away witli the man who has been wounded with sin. Now, I say tho more bones a man lias broken the more need he has of a hospital, and that the more a man has been bruised and cut with sin the more need ho Las to be carried into human and divine sympathy. But for such men thero is not much rqqrq in this world the men who want to come back after wandering. Plenty of room for elegant sinners, sinners in velvet and satin and lace, for sinners high salaried, for kid gloved and patent leather sinners, for sin ners fixed up by Lair dresser, pomatumed and lavendered and cologned and frizzled and crimped and "banged" sinners plenty of room ! Such we meet elegantly at the door of our churches, and we inr vito them into the best seats with Ches terfielJian gallantries; we usher them into the house of God, and put soft otto mans under their feet, and put a gilt edged prayer book in their hand, and pass the contribution box before them with an air of apology, while they, the generous souls ! take out the exquisite portenion naie, and open it, and with diamond finger push, down "beyond the ten dollar gold pieces and delicately pick out as an expression of gratitude their offering tQ the Lord of one cent. For such sinners, plenty of room, plenty of room. But for the man who Las been drinking until Lis coat is threadbare and Lis face is erysipelased, and Lis wife's wedding dress is in the pawnbroker's shop, and his children, instead of being in school, are out begging broken bread at the basa ment doors of the city the man, body, miud and 60ul on lire with the flames that liave leaped from the scathing, scorching, blasting, consuming cup which the drunkard takes, trembling ana agonizea ana annguiea, anu prtacs j to Lis parched lip and Lis pracked tongue and LU shrieking yet immortal spirit no room. Oh, if this younger 6on of the parable ; had not gone so far on, If he bad not dropped so low in waeaiL, the protest would not Lave been so severe; but go ing clear over the precipice as the younger son did, the elder son is angry and will not go in. Oh, le not so hard in your criticism of the fallen, lest thou thyself also bo tenipteu. A stranger ono Sunday stag gered up and down the aisles of my church, disturbing the service until tho service had to stop until he was taken from tho room. He was a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of a sister denomination! That man had preached the Gospel, that man had broken the bread of the Holy Communion for the people. From what a height to what a depth! Oh, I was lad there was no 6miling in tho room when that man was taken out, his poor wife following him with his hat in Ler Land, and Lis coat on Ler arm. It was as solemn to mo as two funerals the funeral of tho body and tho funeral of the soul. Beware lest thou also bo tempted. An invalid went to South America for his health, and ono day sat sunning him self on tho leach, when ho saw some thing craw ling up tho beath, wriggling toward him, and he was affrighted. He thought it was a wild beast, or a reptile, and lie took Ids pistol from his iocket. Then he saw it was not a wild beast. It was a man, an immortal man, a man made in God's own image; and the poor wretch crawled up to tho feet of tho in valid and asked for strong drink, and the invalid took his wine llask from his Iocket, and gave the poor wretch some thing io drink, and then under the stimulus ho rose up and gave his history. IIo had been a merchant In Glasgow, Scotland. IIo had gono down under tho power of strong drink until ho was so reduced in poverty that he was lying in a boat just off the beach. "Why," said the invalid, "I know a merchant "in Glas gow once," a merchant by such and such a name, and the poor wretch straightened himself and said, "I am that man." "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest ho fall." Again. I lemark that the senior brother of my text stands for tho snlrit of WITT and jealousy. Tho senior brother thought that all tho honor they did to the returned urotiier was a wrong to him. He said. "I have stayed at home, and I ouc-ht to have had the ring, and I ouzht to hav had tho banquet, and J ought to have had tho r.-r'ana.1 AL ' ior ' this' spirit' of uibyses and the brother he slew because he was a better marksman. Dionysius and Philoxenius, whom ho slew because ho was a better singer, Jealousy among painters. Closterman and Geoffrey Ivneller, Hudson and Reynolds. Francia, anxious to see a picture of Raphael, Raphael sends him a picture. Francia, seeing it, falls in a fit of jealousy from which Le dies. Jealousy among authors. How seldom contemporaries speak ol each other. Xenophon and Pluto living at tho same time, but from their writings you never would supioso they heard of each other. Religious jealiousies. The Mahommedans praying for rain during a drought, no rain coming. Then the Christians began to pray for rain, and tho rain comes. Then the Mahommedans met together to account for this, and they resolved that God was so well pleased with their prayers ho kept the drought on so as to keep them praying; but that tho Christians began to pray, and tho Lord was so disgusted with their prayers tliat he sent rain right away so he would not hear any more of their supplications. Oh, this accursed spirit of envy and jealousy! Let us stamp it out from all our hearts, A wrestler was so envious of Theoge nes, the prince of wrestlers, tliat he could not be consoled in any way ; and after Theogcnes died and a statue was lifted to him in a public place, Ins envi ous antagonist went out every night and wrestled with the statue until ono night he threw it, and it fell on him and crushed him to death. So jealousy is not only absurd, but it is killing to tho body and it is killing to the souk How seldom it is you find one mer chant speaking well f a merchant in tho same lino of business. How seldom it is you hear of a physician speaking well of a physician on the same block. Oh, my friends, the world is large enough for all of us. Let us re joice at tho success of others. The next best thing to owning a garden ourselves is to look over the fence and admire the flowers. The next best thing to riding in fine equipage is to stand on the street and adniire the prancing 6pan. The next best thing to having a banquet given to ourselves is having a banquet given to our prodigal brother tliat Las come home to his father's house. Besides that, if we do not get as much honor and as much attention as others, we ought to congratulate ourselves on what we escape in the way of assault. Tho French general, riding on horseback at the Lead of Lis troops, heard a 6oldier complain and say, "It is very easy for the general to command us forward while he rides and we walk. " Then the general dismounted and ponaplled (he complaining soldier' to get on the horse. Coming through a ravine a bullet from a sharpshooter struck the rider and he fell dead. Then the general said, "How much safer it is to walk than to ride." Once more I have to tell you that this senior brother of my text stands for the pouting Christian, While there is so much congratulation within' doors, the hero of my " text stands outside, the corners of his mouth drawn down, jooki ing as he felt miserable. I am glad his lugubrious physiognomy did not spoil the festivity within. How many pouting Christians there are in our day Chris tians who do not Lke the music cf our churches, Christians who do not like the hilarities of the young pouting, pput-s ing, pouting at society, pouting at the fashions, pouting at the newspapers, pouting at the church, pouting at the government, pouting at the high Leaven. Their spleen is too large, their liver does not work, their digestion is broken down. There are two cruets in their caster al ways sure to be well supplied vinegar and red pepper! Oh, come away from that mood. Stir a little saccharine into your disposition. While you avoid the dissoluteness of the younger son, avoid also the irascibility and the petulance and the pouting spirit of the elder son, and imitate the father, who had embraces for env v una jealousy coming down through, the ages! Cain and Abel, Fq and Jacob, Saul and David, Uama';i and 5tfordvaL Othello, aid Jagp, Orlando" and A.u-''"-' Caligula, and TovmtatUa. Si?ca' "iicl the Spanish courtiers. tho returning prodigal and coaxing words for the splenetic malcontent. Ah! the face of this pouting cider son is put before us ia order that wo might better see the radiant and forgiving face of tho father. Contrasts aro mighty. Tho artist in sketching the field of Water loo, years after the battle, put a dove in the mouth of tho cannon. Raphael, in one of hu cartoons, liesido the face of a wretch put the face of a happy and innocent child. And so tho Bour face of tlu's irascible and disgusted elder brother is brought out in order that in the contrast we may better understand the forgiving and the radiant face of God. That is the meaning of it that God is ready to take back anybody that is 6orry, to take him clear back, to take him b:ick forever, and forever, and forever, to take him back with a loving hug, to put a kiss on his parched lip, a ring on his bloated hand, an easy shoo on his chafed foot, a garland on his bleeding temples, and heaven in his soul. Oh, 1 fall Hat on that mercy! Come, my brother, and let us get down into the dust, resolved never to rise until tho Father's forgiving hand 6hall lift us. Oh, what a God we have! Bring yaw doxologies. Come, earth and heaven, and join in the worship. CVy aloud. Lift the palm branches', Do you not feel tho Father's arm around your neck? Do yon not feel the warm breath of yoar Father against j-our cheek? Surrender, younger son! Surrender, elder son! Sur render all! Oh, go in today and sit down at the banquet. Take a siice of the fat tened calf, and afterwards, when von arc Bu.ii.c-u, wuii one It .1 li.c l.u;:l ,J returned brother, and the other hand in the hand of the rejoicing father, let your heart beat tiino to the clappiiijr of the i . .1 , , .i , , ., cymbal and the mellow voice of the flute. "It is meet that wo should mako ineirv. and lie glad, for this thy brother was dead and is alive again; aiyl was lott4 and is found. " SELECTED PARAGRAPHS. Greece is about to becrin a national library. An organ hems' built for Svdnev will have 1 2U sounding stops and five manuals. A velvet pile Peraian caroet was recen tly sold at auction for $7,000, ' A New Haven artist has nainf 'i si tilt so. realistically that 5 gGt S900 for the picturo. superb private railway carriages have been made in Paris for the emperor and empress of China. Chestnut has become tho fashionable color in London. It is the craze, and predominates in all dress goods. How many people know it to be a fact that the legislature of Kansas years ago offered $1,000 to the first man who raised a family of thirteen children within tho borders of the state? Such is a fact. A very interesting speck of strife is the suggestion that the Greek government may make an attempt to recover from Fiance all Grecian objects of antiquity which France has obtained unlawfully. Tho paper money of Chili is so de preciated in value that a guest at a hotel ordinarily pays $G00 a day for his ac commodation. At one time, only a few years ago, calico sold for $2,000 a yard in these depreciated bills. The British government proposes to re place private schools in India by govern ment institutions, and to engage British specialists to supervise and enlarge tech nical education. Moral training will be provided for by a text liook on morality, based on natural religion. An Allentown (Pa.) firm of tailors em ploys a pretty young lady as collector. If a debtor murmurs something about being short of money, and hints at "call ing again," she smiles sweetly at him and takes a seat, from which she seldom rises without the money duo in her hand. A patch of sweet potatoes in full bloom in Port Fulton, Ind., is attracting a great deal of attention from the curious, scores of whom go out every morning to see the freak of nature. The flowers are higldy prized for their medicinal qualities, and are similar in appearance to those of the morning glory. A society called the Columbia ha3 started a carrier pigeon service between Strasburg and Vienna, and recently a number of pigeons were started at the latter city at 5 o'clock one evening, and tho first of them reached Strasburg at G o'clock the next morning, having trav eled at the rate of over thirty-one miles an hour all night. Tho Anglican church of New South Wales has resolved to raise $1,000,000 in five years to commemorato centennial year, and Lave made a start with 230, 000. The Wesleyans in tho same colony propose to raise $230,000 in five years. Other colonies and other sections of the church aro similarly marking the year, and jubilee funds aro in high favor. The Texas and Pacific railway i3 equip ping tho entire fine with Sheffield paper wheel hand cars, which are capable of being easily run fifteen miles an hour. This enables the laborers to put in moro hoars at work for the company, and here is where the advantage comes in. With the old style hand car it took the section hands a great part of the day $q go to and come from their work, The method of demagneting watches by burying them in the ground has been condemned in round, terms by the treas urer of the Waltham Watch company and the electricians of the New England and American Bell Telephone companies. Not only will it fail to demagnetize the time piece, but it will render it worthless by corrosion. A Connecticut doctor was the author of the dangeroivi theory, France is surprised at tho operation of its new divorce law. Tho first year such a thing as divorce was recognized by the law there were 1,800 granted, the second year 4,000, and tho third year 4,500. Sixty women demand divorce for every forty men, and in more than half the case3 that come before the courts there are no children. There are four divorces for every 1,000 marriages in France now, and in Paris the rate is forty -seven for every 1,000 marriages. Perhaps the oldest railroad engineer in the country in length of service is Ben jamin Hafner, who Las been employed by the Erie road for forty-seven years. In all that time, no train in Ins chargo Las met with a serious accident. The Plattsmouth Herald Is on joying a DAILY AITO WEEKLY EDITION B. Tlie Tear Will be one during which the subjects f national interest and importance will he strongly agitated and the election of a President will take place. Ihe people ol" Cass County who would like to learn of Political, Commercial and Social of this year and would keep apace with the times should ' For kithek tiik Daily or Weekly Herald Now while wc have the suhject before the people we will venture to speak ol our Jii "Which is first-class in all respscts and from which our job printers are turning out much satisfactory work. PLATTSMOUTH, Boom in both, ito 1888 Transactions IV! mi u M UVJ NEBRASKA.
