Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1888 — JEALOUSY. [ARTICLE]

JEALOUSY.

Ail Occupation* and Profession* Cursed with the Meannede' of Jealousy. It t« Wortilhm Ihr Anaconda's Embrace, or the Colls of the Worgs tli%t Never Dies —Even the Clerity Is not Free from Its Crashing Usvlccs.Rev. Dr. Talma ;e preached at the Brooklyn Tabernacle las'. Fuaday. Subject "Jealousy.” Teit Proverbs vi., 34: “Jeifousy the rajo of a man.” He »»id: Some subjects a religious teacher touches stboaeand times, now eomiDg on then from one d rection, now from another. But tore is a Bible th me that for same reason it 1-ft teetotally alone. Tbit morning aekiug your pravere and in the s rength of God. I want to grapple it. There is an old trio, haggard, fuii us, monstrous and dinb >li - al, that baa f r ares walk d and crawled the tartb. It comt ines all tbat ia ot-noxi >ne in the ra *s—bumsn, quadrupedal, ornithologi si, re til mi and ms»ctil», horned, tusked, boo od, fanged, e inged; ih-e>eofa ta ili k, tbs tooth ol an adder, thiiawsot aerroodde, tie cm hi ing folds of an anaconda, ihe slyness of a j tcorpion,ihe tongue ot a cobra, and tbe co 1 of the worm that neverdns. It is in every community, in every church, in every leiisl t ve hall, in every monetary insiitot on, in every drawing-room levee, in every itaiary and prose sionel Circle, lit,whispers, it his es,it lies, it debauches, it blasphemer, it damns. My text namts it when it raj-s “Jtatousy is the rage ota mm.” lr is grief at the super or ty of others—their superiority in Ulent, or wealth, or beauty, or elegance, or viltne, or social or profesri n-ilor political reoogni ion. Itis the sha ow of other people’s saocees It is the shiver in our pocket-book, because it is not as 'at as some oneelse’sjpoiktte book It it the twinge ra our tongue, because it is not as eloquent as some one else’e tongue. It is the flatter in oar robes, because they are not ts lnsrons as some on a e he's robes. Itistheearhquake un ter oar house, beetuseit is not sb many feet front and deep as onr neighbor’s hou-e. It ib tbe lhander of ether people’s popular, ty souring the milk of our kin muss. It is the lather and mother both of ont -half of the discontent trad o .traresand detractions a d bankrapt ies and crime) and wees of the human race. It aas anttdi uvfon as much as it i) P"s dilavia". It put a rough stick in the bauds of the first boy that wa3 evtr born, and ssii to him: “Now, Ca'n, whea Abel i) looking the ether way, crush in bis siiul ; for his sacrifice labeen accept d and yours rejected.” And Cain picke inp the stick as though just to walk With it, and while Abel wts watching some bi ds in the tree-top, or gazing a’. some wa e fall, down came the mow of thefiret asaasrination, which has hul ite echo in all the fratricides, matricid-8, uxoricides, homicides, infamicidee audregreides of a’l ages and all nations. • ) This passion of jealousy so disturbed Caligula at the prominences of some of the men of his time that he cut a muchadmired curl from the brow of Cincinnatus, and took the embroidered collar from the neck ol Torquatos, and had Piolomsens killed because of his purple robe, which attracted too much attention. After Columbus had placed America as a gem in the Spanish Crown, jealously set on the Spanish courtiers to depreciate hi achievement, and aroused animosities till the great discoverer had his heart broken. Urged on by his bad passion, D ouysius flayed Pla'o because ne was wiser than himself, and Philexenios because his music was too popular. Jealousy made Korah lie about Mosee and Suocoth depreciate Gideon.

Jealousy made the trouble between Jaoob and Esau. That hailed Joseph into the pit. That struck tne twentythree fatal wounds into Jalins Caesar That banished Aristides. Tbat fired Anthony against Ciceio. Tibet ins exiled an architect be cause of tbe fame he got for a beautiful porch, and slew a for his tragedy. That set Saul in a rage eganst David. How graphically the Btoie puts it when it save: “Saul eyed David.’ It seems to lake possession of' both eyes and makes them flash and burn like two post-roles of helf. “Saul eyed David.” Tnat is, he looked at him as much as to say: You little upstart, how dare vou attempt anything great!” When Voltaire heard that Frederick the Great was forgetting him and potting his literary admiration on Bacanlard d’Arnand the old infidci leaped ont of hiß bed and danced tbe floor in a maniacal rage, and ordered his swiftest horse booked np to carry him to the Prnssiaß palace. , e Thf-t despicable passion of jealously led Napoleon I. to leave in his will a banquett of 5,000 francatothe ruffian who shot at Wellington when the victor of Waterloo was passing through Paris. Thatttationed the grouty elder brother at the back door of the homestead when the Prodigal ton returned, and threw a chill in the family reunion, while that elder bi other com p'atned, saying: “Wbo ever heard of giving roast veal to such a profligate?” Aye, taat passion rcss np and under the darkest c.oud thal ever shadowed the earth, and amid.the loudeet thunder that ever shook the moontains, and amid the wildest flash of lightning that ever blinded or stunned the nations, hang up on two pieces of rough lamuer back of Jerusalem the kindest, potest, loyingest nature tnat Heaven could delegate, and stopped not until there was no power left in hamm x or bramble or javehn to hart the dead Hon of God. * —— ~ That passion of jealousy, livid,hungry, unbaiked, rages on, and it now pierces the earth like a fiery diameter and encircles it like a fiery circnmferance. It wamts botH hemispheres. It wants the the palace of God, and dethrone IfehxH yah, and chain tbe Almighty in eternal exile, and after, the demolition of the universe would cry: “Satisfied at last; here I am! Alone! the nndispnted and everlasting, Me, Mine, Myee f ” That passion keeps all Europe perturbed. Nations, jealoas of Germany, of England, of Rossis, and those jealous of each other, and all of them jealoas of America. In onr land this passion of jealousy keeps all tbe political world a-boi). There are at least five hundred people who are jealous of Governor Hill and would like to be his successor, about five thousand who are jealoas of Grover Cleveland and would like to relieve him

of the cam ot office, and after the nominations of next rammer have been made a whole pandemoninm of defamation, scurrility, hatred, revenge, falsehood, proianity and misrepresentation will be tamed upon this land. Tbe tariff,about the raising or lowering or reformation of which many of them care nothing except as to its effect on votes, will be discussed from a thousand platforms, and the people of Louisiana will be told that the tariff most be arranged for the advantage of American sugar, the pec p e of Virginia will bs told that the tariff most be arranged for the advantage of American tobacco, and the people of Pennsylvania will be told that the tariff most be arranged for the advantage of American iron, and the people of Kentucky will be told that the tariff must be arranged for the advantage of American whisky, and the people of Ohio tbat the tariff most be arranged for the advantage of American wool, while Massachusetts and Connecticut will be promised protection for manufactures, and all the moneta v interests, North, South, East and West, will be told in each neighborhood that the tariff and taxea will be fixed to suit them, irrespective of anybody else; and, the Presidential election over, all will settle down es it was before. If yon think that all this discussion in public places is from any desire for the welfare of the dear people and not for political effect, ycu are grievously mistaken. Go into all occupations and professions, and if you want to kfiow how much jealousy is yet to be extirpated, ask master builders what they think of each other’s hooeee, and merchants what their opinion is of other merchants in the same line of business on the same street, and ask doctors what they think of doctors, and lawyers what they think of lawyers, and ministers what they think of ministers, and artists what they think of artists. As long as men and women in any department keep down and have a hard straggle they will be faintly praised, and the remark will be, "Oh, yes) he is a good, clever sort of a fellow.” "She is rather, yes, somewhat, quite—well, I may say, a tolerably nice kind of a woman.” Bat let him or ber get a little too high and off goes the as* piring head by tocial or commercial decapitation. V Remember that envy dwells more on small deficits of character than on great foices, makes more of the fact that Domitian amused bitnse f by traosfixing flies with his pen-knife than of hid greet conquests; of the fact tbat Handel was a glutton, than of the fact tbat he created impe ishable oratories; more ofColer dge’s opium habit tnan of his writing “Cbristabel” aid “The Ancient Mariner,’’more of the fact tbat Addison drank too mneb than of tbe face that he was tbe author of the “Spectator;” more of a man’s peccadilloes than of his miahty energies; more of his defeats than of bis victories. Look at the sacred and heaven-descend-ed cfonce of heal ng, and then see Dr. Ma kenzie, the English surgeon who proloug -d the life of the Crown Prince of Germany until he became Emperor, and I hope may yet cure him, so tbat he may for many years govern tbat magnificent German Nation. Yet so srreat are toe medical jealmsies that Dr Mackenz:e dare not walk ihe streets of Berlin. He is under mil tary guard. The medical stndents of Germany can hardly keep their hands off him. The old doctois of Germany are writhing with indignation. The fact is that in saving Frederick’s life Dr. Mackenzie saved the peace of Europe. There was not an intelligent man on either side of the ocean that did not fear for the result if the throne passed from the wise and goc d old Emperor William to his inexperienced grandson. But when under the medical treatment of Dr. Mackenzie, the Crown Prince Frederick took the throne, a wave of satisfaction and confidence rolled over Christendom. What shall the world do with the doc.or who caved his life? “Oh?” cried out the med oal jealousies of Europe "destroy him; ot coarse, destroy him.” What a brutal scene of jealousy we had in this ooontiy when Pres’dent Garfi Id lay dying. There were faithful physicians that sacrificed their other practice and sacrificed their health for all time in fidelity to that deathbed Doctors B isa and Hamilton and Agaew went through anxieti s and toils and fa ignes such as none bnt God could appreciate. Not iiag pleased many of tbe medical profession. The doctors in charge did nothin* right. We who d d net see the case knew better than tbose who agonized over it in the sick-room for many weeks. I who never had anything worse than a run-round on my thumb, which seemed to me at the time was worthy all the attention of the entire medical fraternity, had my own id*as as to how the President ought to be treated. And in proportion as physicians and laymen were ignorant of the case they were s-irethe treatment practiced’ was a mist ike. And when in postmortem the bullet dropped out of a different part of the body from that in whicp it was supposed to have been lodged, about too hundred thousand poopi** shouted: “I to d vou so.” There are s me doctors in *ll cities who would rather have the patient die under the treatment of their own schools than have them get well under some otuer pathv. Yea, look at the clerical profession. lam sorry to say that in mattere of jealousy it is no better than other professions. There are now in pll denominations a great many young clergymen who have a faculty for superior usefulness, but they are kept down and kept batk and crippled by older ministers, who look askance at these rising evangelists. They are snubbed. They are iostled. They are patronizingly advised. .It is suggested to them that they had better know their place. If here and there one with more nerve and brain and consecration and divine force go past the seniors who want to keep the chief places, «he young are advised, in the words of Scripture: "Tarry at Jericho till Aheitbcardaare. grown.” —- They are cnargea with sensationalism. They are compared to rockets that go up in a blase and come down sticks, and the bievity of ttoir career is jubilantly prooboied. If so be a denomination with bishops, a bishop is implored to sit down heavily on the man who will not be molded; or if a denomination without bishops some of the older men, with nothing more than their own na’nral heaviness and theological avoirdupois, are advised to flatten out the innovator. In conferences and presbyteriee and associations and conventions there is most damnable jealousy. Such eceeeiaetical tyrants would not admit tbat jealousy had any possession' of them, and they take on a heavenly air. and talk sweet oil and sugar-plums and

balm of a thousand flowers, and roll up their ejes with an air of unctuous sane tity when they simply mean the destruction of tbose over whom they pray and enoffli. Toere are cas»s where minister j of rt ligicrt are ceel ct and criminal and they muet be pat cut. But in th) majority «>f cases that I have wtti vised in the ecclesiastical trials there J s a jealous attempt to keep men from surpassing their tbeoogiciil follows, and as at ti e Presidential ekcions in country p’aiea the paople have a barbecue, which is a r asted ox round which the people dance with kojves, catting off a she) ht re, and pulling a rib there, and sawing off a beeisteak yonder, and having a high time—so most of tbe denomil a tots ot Christiana keep on hand a barbteue in which some minister is rt asted, while the Church Courts sanes around with their tharp knives ts attack, and one t-kes an ear, another a hand, another a loot, and it is hard to tell whether tbe ecclesiastical plaintiffs of this world or the demons of the nether wor’d most enjoy it. Albert Barnes, than whom no man has accomplished more good in the last thousand years, was decreed to sit silent for a year in the pew of his own church while some ope else occupied his pulpit, the pretended offense that he did not believe ip a limited atonement, bnt the real of fencethe fact that all the men who tried him put together would not equal oo e Albert Barnes. Yes; amid all professions and businesses and occupations and trades, and amid all circles needs to be heard what God says in regard to envy and jealousy, wnich, though not exactly the rate, are twine; "Envy is the rotteness of the bone;” “Where envy and sir tie is. there is confusion and every evil work;” "Jealousy is the rage of a man.” My hearers’ if this evil passion is in any of yoursonls, cry might ly unto God for its expulsion. Tbat which has downed kings and emperors and apostles and reformers and ministers of religion and thousands of good men and women, is too mighty for you to oontend against unaided. The evil has to many roots, of such infinite convolution, that nothing but the enginery and omnipotence can pnll it ont. Sorely this world is large enough for you and all your rivals. God has given von a work to do. Go ahead and do it. Mind your own busioc ss. In all circles, in ail businesses, in all professions,there is room for s raightforward Bucceeses. Jealously entertained will not only bedwarf your soul, but it will flatten your skull, bemean your eye, put pinchedness of look about your nostril, give a bad curl to the lip, and expel from your face the divine image in which you were created. When you hear a man or woman abused, drive in on the defendant’s side. Watch for excellencies in otheis rather than for defect], morningglories instead of nightshade. If some one it more beauti'ul than you, thank God that you have not so many perils of vanity to contend with. If some one has more wealth than you, thank God that you have not so great a stewardship to answer for. If some one ib higher up in social position, thank God that those who are down need not fear a fall. If some gets higher office in Church or State taan you, thank God there are not so many to wish for the hastening on of yonr obsequit s. Substitute for jealousy an elevating emulation, fleeing others gqpd, let ns trv to be better. Being others industrious, let us work more bouts. Seeing others benevolent, let ns resolve on giving a larg-tr percentage cf our means for charity. May Goi put congratulations for others into our right head and cheers on our lips for tuose who do brave and useful things. Life is short at the longest; let it all be filled np with helpfulness for others, work and sympathy for each other’s misfortunes, and onr arms be fall of white mant es to oover up the mi takes and failures ol others. If an evil report about feme one comes to us, let us put on it meat favorable construction, as the Rhone enters lake Leman foul and comes out crjstelioe. Do not build so mnch on tne transitory differences of this world, for soon it will make no difference to us whether we bad ten million dollars or ten cents, and ihe sshes into which tne tongue of Demosthenes d ssolved are just like ihe ashes in'o which the tongue of the veriest stammerer went. If you are assailed by jealous y make no answer. Take it as a coinp'iment, for people are never jealous of a fai.ure. Until your stork is done you are invulnerable. Remember how our Lord belayed under such exes Derations. Did thev no: try to catch Him in His word? Dd they not call Him the victim of intoxicants? Did they not misiutert ret Him ftodn the winter of the year 1 lo tbe spring ofthe year 33; that is, from His first infant cry to the last groan of His assas ination. Yet he answered not a wordl The world has the habit of making a great ad© about what you do wrong and forgetting to cay any thing about what you do right; but the same God will take care df you who p-ovided for Mar in, the Christian mariyr, when bid ien from bis pursuers in a hay-mow in Paris, an d a ben came and laid an egg elos sby him every morning, thus keeping bim from starvation. iJless-d are they that are persecuted, although persecution is a severe cataplasm. Ointment may smart the wound before healing it. What a bo ft pillow to die on if when we leave the world we can feel that, though a thousand people may have wronged ns, we have wronged no one; or,.having mate envidus mud jealous ateack on others, we have repented of the tin and as far as possible made reparation.