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About The Henry County weekly. (McDonough, GA.) 18??-1934 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1908)
THE PULPIT. A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY PROFESSOR HLGH BLACK. Subject: Esau's Temptation. - Brooklyn. N. Y.—Professor Hugh Black, of Union Theological Semin ary, preached Sunday in the Lafay ette Avenue Presbyterian Church to a large audience. His subject was, “Esau’s Temptation." He took his text from Genesis 25:32: “And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” Professor Black said: We cannot suppress a natural sym pathy with Esau in this scene be tween the two brothers. He seems as much sinned against as sinning, and in comparison with the cunning, crafty character of Jacob he appears the better of the two. His very faults lean to virtue’s side, we think, as we look at his bold, manly, impulsive figure. There is nothing of the cold, calculating, selfishness, the astute trickery, the determination to get his pound of flesh, which make his brother appear mean beside him. With our swift and random and sur face judgments we are inclined- to think it unjust that Esau should be set aside in the great history of grace for one who could be guilty of both malice and fraud in advancing his own interests. We are not at present dealing with the character of Jacob or we would see that this hasty judg ment, true so far as it goes, is some thing less even than half the truth, and that though he here and elsewhere sinned and was punished through all his life for his subtlety and selfishness, yet he was not the monster of unbroth erly mslicG morsly wiiicli tills scene might suggest, and that he had qual ities of heart and spirit which made it inevitable that he, and not Esau, should be chosen for the line of God’s purpose. Our subject is Esau and his weakness and fall in the presence of his overmastering temptation. Esau’s good qualities are very evi dent, being of the kind easily recog nized and easily popular among men, the typical sportsman who is only a sportsman, bold and frank and free and generous, with no intricacies of character, impulsive and capable of magnanimity, the very opposite of the prudent, dexterous, nimble man of affairs, rather reckless indeed and hot-blooded and passionate. His vir tues are already, we see, dangerous ly near to being vices. Being largely a creature of impulse, he was, in a crisis, the mere plaything of animal passion, ready to satisfy his desire without thought of consequences. Without self-control, without spir itual insight, without capacity even to know what spiritual issues were, judging things by immediate profit and material advantage, there was not in him depth of nature out of which a really noble character could he cut. This damning lack of self control comes out in the passage of our text, the transaction of the birth right. Coming from the hunt hungry and faint, he finds Jacob cooking pottage of lentils and asks for it. The sting of ungovernable appetite makes him feel as if he would die if he did not get it. Jacob takes advantage of his brother’s appetite and offers to barter his dish of pottage for Esau’s birthright. There would be more superstition in the minds of both of them as to the value of the birthright. Both of them valued it as a vague advantage, carrying with it a religious worth, but it meant nothing tangible; and here was Esau’s temptation, terribly, strong to a man of his fiber. He was hungry, and before his fierce desire for the food actually before him such a thing as a prospective right of birth seemed an ethereal thing of no real value. If he thought of any spiritual privilege the birthright might be sup posed to confer, it was only to dis miss the thought as not worth con sidering. Spiritual values had not a high place in his standard of things. He could not be unaware of the ma terial advantages the possession of the birthright would one day mean. He must have known that it was something to be recognized as the eldest son, with special rights of in heritance and precedence and author ity after his father’s death. These things were real enough to him, even though he might have no notion of a deeper meaning in being the heir of the promise. But in the grip of his appetite even these temporal advan tages were too distant to weigh much. In the presence of immediate satisfac tion the distant appeared shadowy and unreal and not worth sacrificing present enjoyment for. He feels he is going to die, as a man of his type is always sure he will die if he does not get what he wants when the passion is on him; and supposing he does die, it will be poor con solation that he did not barter this intangible and shadowy blessing of his birthright. “Behold lam at the point to die; and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” The Bible writers speak of Esau always with a certain contempt, and with all our appreciation of his gooi natural qualities, his courage and frankness and good humor, we can not help sharing in the contempt. The man who has no self-control, who is swept away by every passion of the moment, whose life is bounded by sense, who has no appreciation of the higher and larger things which call for self-control —that man is, after all, only a superior sort of ani mal, and not always so very superior at that. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews calls Esau “a profane person, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” “Profane” means not blasphemous, but simply secular, a man who is not touched to fine issues, judging things by coarse earthly standards, without spiritual aspiration or insight, feeling every sting of flesh keenly, but with r.o sting of soul toward God. Bold and manly and generous and with many splendid constitutional virtues hi may be; but the man himself lacks sus ceptibility to the highest motives of life. He is easily bent by every wind of impulse, and is open without de fense to animal appetite. He is capa ble of despising the intangible bless ing of such a thing as a birthright, even though he feel it to be a holy thing, because he cannot withstand present need. A profane, a secular person as Esau, is the judgment of the New Testament. This scene w r here he surrenders his birthright did not settle the destiny of the two brothers; a compact like this could not stand good forever, and in some magical way substitute Jacob for Esau in the line of God’s great religious purpose. But this scene, though it did not settle their destiny in that sense, revealed their charac ter, the one essential thing which was necessary for the spiritual suc cession to Abraham; and Esau failed here in this test as he would fail anywhere. His question to reassure himself, “What profit shall this birth right do to me?” reveals the bent of his life, and explans his failure. True self-control means willingness to re sign the small for the sake of the great, the present for the sake of the future, the material for the sake of the spiritual; and that is what faith makes possible. Of course, Esau did not think he was losing the great by grasning at the small. At the mo ment the birthright, just because it was distant, appeared insignificant. He had no patience to wait, no faith to believe in the real value of any thing that was not material, no self restraint to keep him from instant surrender to the demand for present gratification. This is the power of air appeal to passion—that it is present, with us now, to be had at once. It is claim ant. imperious, insistent, demanding to be satisfied with what is actually present. It has no use for a far-off good. It wants immediate profit. This is temptation, alluring to the eye, whispering in the ear, plucking by the elbow, offering satisfaction now. Here and now—not hereafter; this thing, that red pottage there, not an ethereal, unsubstantial thing like a birthright. What is the good of it if we die? and we are like to die if we do not get this gratification the senses demand. In the infatuation of appetite all else seems small in com parison; the birthright is a poor thing compared with the red pottage. It is the distortion of vision which passion produces, the exaggeration, of the present which temptation creates, making the small look like the great, and discrediting the value of the thing lost. The vivid, lurid descrip tion in the Proverbs of the young roan, void of understanding, snared in the street by the strange woman, gives both these elements of the ef fect of passion—the weak surrender to impulse and the distortion of vis ion which blinds to the real value of what is given up for the gratification: “He goeth straightway as an ox goeth to the slaughter, till a dart strikes through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.” But it is not merely lack of self control which Esau displays by the question of our text. It is also lack of appreciation of spiritual values. In a vague way he knew that the birthright meant a religious blessing, and in the grip of his temptation that looked to him as purely a sentiment, not to be seriously considered as on a par with a material advantage. The profane man, the secular man, may not be just a creature of im pulse; he may have his impulses tn good control, but he has no place for what is unseen. He asks, natur ally, What shall it profit? Men who judge by the eye, by material re turns only, who are frankly secular, think themselves great judges of profit; and they, too, would not make much of a birthright if it meant only something sentimental, as they would call it. The real and not the ideal, the actual and not the visionary, the thing seen and not the thing unseen -—they would not hesitate more than Esau over the choice betw r een the pottage and the birthright. They judge by substance, and do not un derstand about the faith which is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. How easy it is for all of us to drift Into the class of the profane, the sec ular, persons as Esau, to have our spiritual sensibility blunted, to lose our appreciation of things unseen, to be so taken up with the means of liv ing that we forget life itself and the things that alone give it security and dignity! How easy, when soul wars with sense, to depreciate every thing that is beyond sense,and let the whole moral tone be relaxed! There is much cause for the apostle to warn us to “Look diligently lest there be among us any profane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” We, too, can despise our birthright by living far below our privileges and far below our spiritual opportun ities. We have our birthright as sons of God, born to an inheritance as joint heirs with Christ. We be long, by essential nature, not to the animal kingdom, but to the kingdom of heaven; and when we forget it and live only with reference to the things of sense and time, we are disinherit ing ourselves, as Esau did. The sec ular temptation strikes a weak spot in all of us, suggesting that the spir itual life, God’s love and holiness, the kingdom of heaven and His right eousness, the life of faith and prayer and communion, are dim and shad owy things, as in a land that is very far off. “What profit shall this birth right do to me?” What shall it profit? seems a sane and sensible question to be consid ered in a business-like fashion. It is the right question to ask; but it has a wider scope and another appli cation. What profit the mess of pot tage, if I lose my birthright? What profit the momentary gratification of even imperious passion, if we are resigning our true life and losing the clear vision and the pure heart? What profit to make only provision for the flesh, if of the flesh we reap but corruption? What profit the easy self-indulgence, if we are barter ing peace and love and holiness and joy? “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world (and not merely a contemptible mess of pot tage) and lose his own soul?” What profit if, in the insistence of appetite, men go like an ox to the slaughter, knowing not that it is for their life? ■’Thus Esau despised his birthright.” JUSTICES LAMBASTED BY DUNN. California Court of Appeals Was Biased in the Schmitz Decision. Regarding the opinion of the Califor nia court of appeals setting aside the conviction of Abe Ruef and ex-Mayor Schmitz, Judge Dunne of the supreme court, who heard their cases, is quoted as saying: “It is to be regretted that the hear ing of this appeal came up before a court whose members have relatives and intimate friends against whom many indictments were returned by the grand jury that returned these true bills. “In view of these facts I do not be lieve that the court was in proper frame of mind to give this matter an impartial consideration and judge it strictly upon its merits. I am certain the evidence warranted the verdict which was given by the grand jury.” TRIAL OF THAW UNDER WAY. Cowardly Murder Claimed by State; Insan ity Claimed by Defense. The Thaw trial moved with a rush at New York Monday. After the state had presented its direct case and As sistant District Attorney Garvan had characterized the killing of Stanford White as “a premeditated, deliberate and cowardly murder,” Martin W. Lit tleton, for the defense, made the open ing plea for the prisoner. He prom ised to forge a chain of circumstances, and to produce a line of testimony, which will prove Harry K. Thaw, un deniably Insane at the time of the hom icide. MEMORIAL TO GENERAL CUSTER. Widow of Indian Fighter to Erect Home for Aged Literary Women. Mrs. Elizabeth Custer, widow of General Custer, who was killed in the Indian masacre in the west of 1876, intends to erect a home for aged lit erary women as a memorial to her husband. She has purchased sixteen lots in Bronxville, Westchester county, New York, and will erect the home there. Mrs. Custer has written several books, and has long been interested in literary women. FROM HIRE OF HER CONVICTS State of Georgia Will Get Nearly SIOO,OOO of Last Quarter of 1907. Nearly SIOO,OOO will be collected by the state of Georgia this month for the hire of convicts leased, for the quarter ending December 31, 1907. Captain Goodloe Yancey of the state prison commission has completed a statement, which he has furnished Comptroller General Wright for collec tion. This statement shows that there are thirteen lessees in the state owing an aggregate of $94,368.10. NEGRO MOB LYNCHES NEGRO. Colered Citizens of a North Carolina Town Resent Being Buncoed. A long distance telephone message from Selma, N. C., reports the lynching at Pine Level, Johnston county, of a strange negro at the hands of a negro mob. The strange negro, purporting to be advance agent of a “big show,” faked the negro residents into attendance on what turned out to be a one-man per formance by the strange darkey him self. His body was found at daylight on the Southern railroad tracks. GOOD SHOWING FOR BANKS. New York Institutions Now Holding More Than the Legal Reserve. The statement of clearing house banks in New York for the week shows that the banks hold $6,084,050 more than the requirements of the 25 per cent reserve. This is an increase of $17,593,600 in the proportionate cash reserve as compared with last week, when there was a deficit of $11,509,550. PLOT ALLEGED BY ROOSEVELT Thinks Nevada Governor Scheemed to Get Tioops to Goldfield. RULED BY MINE OWNERS Soldiers Will Be Withdrawn When Legis lature Assembles Declares President. Acts on Report of Investigators. President Roosevelt has determined to withdraw the federal troops from Goldfield, Nevada, shortly after the legislature begins its special session. This intention was made known at the white house Sunday when the re port of the special investigating com mission was made public, together with a letter from the president to Governor Sparks, dated January 4. The pres ident says he shall be governed by the recommendatiens in the case unless the governor can show that the state ments of the report are not in accord ance with their facts. The report says: “The conditions did not support the general allegations in the governor’s request for troops, nor were his spe cific statements established to any such extent as to justify his use of these statements for the purpose of getting federal troops. It concludes with this recommenda tion: “But we also must firmly believe that upon the assembling of the legislature, or within a few days thereafter, the troops should be removed, regardless of any request for their retention that may be made either by the legislature or the governor of Nevada, it being essential that the state of Nevada shall understand this situation com pletely, shall recognize the fact that the state government the responsibil ity of keeping order, and that recog nizing this possibility, it may take such action as is the duty of the state and as will be sufficient in the premises. In his letter to Governor Sparks, af ter reviewing the steps so far taken in the Goldfield mining trouble, the pres ident continues: "I have just received the report of these three gentlemen (Murray, Smith and Neill) which sets forth in the most emphatic language their belief after a careful investigation on the ground, that there was no warrant whatever for calling upon the president for troops, and that the troops should not be kept indefinitely at Goldfield. The report further states that there was no in surrection against the power of the state at the time the troops were call ed for, that nobody supposed that there was such an insurrection.” “The signers of the report express their conviction that the troops should remain in Nevada until the assembling of the legislature, so as to preserve the status quo in order that the legisla ture may deal with the situation as it exists; but that shortly thereafter the troops should be removed. “I agree with the recommendations of this report, of which I enclose a copy, and shall act accordingly. Un less it can be shown that the state ments of the report are not in accord ance with the facts, it will be incum bent upon the legislature of Nevada, when it convenes, itself to provide for enforcing the laws of the state. The state of Nevada must itself make a resolute effort in good fatih to per form the police duties incident to the existence of a state.” “The report further says: “ ‘There is absolutely no question that if the state of Nevada and the dounty of Esmeralda exercised the powers at their disposal they can main tain satisfactory order in Goldfield; that, so far, these authorities have done nothing but rely on federal aid, and their attitude how is expressly that of refusing to do anything and desir ing to throw their own burdens upon the federal government for the main tenance of those elementary conditions or order for which they, and they only, are responsible.’ ” Reviewing the conditions leading up to the present strike and since the strike began, November 27th last, the report draws this conclusion: “The action of the mine operators warrants the belief that they had de termined upon a reduction in wages and the refusal of employment to mem bers of the Western Federation of Miners, but that they feared to take this course of action unless they had the protection of federal troops, and that they accordingly laid a plan to secure such troops and then put their program into effect” TAFT A CINCH THINKS TEDDY President Figures That War Sec retary Will Win in Convention. COUNTS ON 600 VOTES Taft Makes His First Campaign Speech in New York-Address Devoted in Part to Placating Labor. A Washington special says: Presi dent Roosevelt made the prediction Friday to callers that Secretary Taft will get 600 votes in the republican national convention on the first ballot aud be nominated without a contest. This is the first positive statement in the shape ot a forecast given out from the white house, and is taken to mean that the president is entirely satisfied with the outlook. The friends of the war secretary are elated. The president went into the matter in detail aud showed where the secretary was go ing to get on the first ballot 600 of the 980 votes which will bo represent ed at the convention. 110 has recently received advices that make him confident that Secretary Taft can count on the delegations from the solid south, the solid west, many of the middle western states and one half ot the New England states. Ho thinks several votes from states sup porting “favorite sons” will go to Taft and that if Go*/ernor Hughes persists in his present attitude, Secretary Taft can count on one-half of New York. It is known that every influence is being exerted from the white house to insure the nomination of Taft. Taft Speaks in New Lork. For the first time since he became a recognied candidate for the repub lican presidential nomination, Secreta ry of War William H. Taft, Friday night, faced a New York audience, set forth in detail his stand on the perti nent questions of the relative interests and rights of labor and capital, and in tarn submitted to a rapid fire at tack from the audience, which quizzed him keenly and in a somewhat contro versial spirit, according to the prac tice of the People’s Institute, whose guest he was. The secretary proved equally effective in attack and de fense. Not less than 2,000 persons, its ca pacity, had crowded into Cooper Union when police reserves were summoned to clear the walks in front of the build ing, where a thousand or mroe had congregated. In his prepared address the secretary pointed out the dependence one upon the other of capital and labor. He de clared that great aggregations ot prop erly employed wealth widened the field of labor and were to be welcomed, while improperly used wealth was to be condemned. He advocated uinonism in so far a 3 sympathy and the result ant co-operation made for the com mon good. He said, in part: “The conclusion I seek to reach is that the workingman who entertains a prejudice against the lawful capitalist because ho is wealthy, who votes with unction for the men who are urging un just and unfair legislation against him, and who make demagogic appeals to ac quire popular support in what they are doing, is standing in his own light, is blind to his own interests and is cut ting off the limb on which he sits. It is to the direct interest of the working man to use careful discrimination in approving or disapproving proposed legislation of this kind and to base his conclusion and vote on the issue whether the provision is fair or just, and not on the assumption that any legislation that subjects a corporation to a burden must necessarily be in the interest of the workingman.” FOUR FIREMEN MEET DOOM. Disastrous Blaze Totally Wrecks a Big Sky-Scraper in New York. Four firemen went to their deaths Friday when they responded to a fire that ruined a twelve story business structure in New York. Fought by half the firemen ot Manhattan and aparatus that blocked the streets for blocks, the flames were never con trolled. Floor after floor gave way and beneath these crumbling walls no less than thirty firemen were caught. The fire was one of the most spectac ular, as well as disastrous, in recent years. From start to finish its course was marked by heartrending scenes, sensational escapes and flashes of hero ism. The loss is estimated at $1,500,* 000.
