Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 9, 1914)
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX, PORTLANP,- AUGUST 9. 1914. BAPTIST PASTOR CALLS CHRIST HOPE OF THE MODERN ESAUS Dr. Walter B. Hinson at White Temple Takes Genesis 25:34, "Esau Despised His Birthright," as Text at Services. BY WALTER B. HINSON. V. D. NOW what that birthright was X am not prepared to say. But it locks as though it were so gran and good It would have given Ksau a place with Abraham and Isaac But he valued It trlfllngly. Yet his brother realized the worth of it. while Esau did not- And so one day. being hungry after returning from the chase, Esau sold his birthright for a meal. And thus it came to pass that the text was written. "So Esau despised 1U8 birth right." Now he may have been prepared to despise that birthright by a long season of slowly accumulating disparagement of It. Just as you can easily recall how. when we were young, there came into the mind a feeling of dis content in regard to the arrangement of the home and its discipline. And we looked about and saw how other lads had more liberty than we. God help ii nnrt nlrv im fnr our foolishness! And wo nurtured the consciousness that if we could go away from .the father and the mother and the restraints of home It would be so much better for us. And mm tt,m ..Htnir to a. lonsr series of discontents there came the day when we ran away from home, and tempora rily thank God It was not. pernineii. ta .-. lost our blrthrlKht. iv talk so foolishly right often about a sudden fall. We say swiftly a the lightning flash the man fell from nobility to Ignominy and from holiness to shame. That is not the way men fall, my friends. You saw that of the forest when It went nnshlnc down to the consternation of the underbrush, and you said It was a Kurtrfrn fall. In a sense It was. nut nau you gone up and examined the break In that tree you would nave rouna it was a 20-year fall. And that tree had Tioon nraoarina- to fall, while the Sum- ...,,.. and the Winters. That Is whv it is so harzardous to encourage evil In even your thinking, because you erow tolerant toward It. You come to regard it with a sort of sympathy. And thn whan the fitting occasion comes and the opportunity offers suddenly you make the decision which, but for your long preparation for it, you would never have made under God's heaven. t, oroforA rDl the first advance of the evil. And yet there are men of the Esau tamp impulsive, emotional men and It is marvelous with what suddenness such persons arrive at a conclusion and form a decision. And since moat of us torinv are imDulslvely made up, it be hooves us to be careful how we place ourselves In positions and situations where the sudden squall may strike, and we In an hour wreck a life. You see Esau's philosophy was a modern philosophy, an American phil osophy. It was materialistic, and of the present only. For he said when hun gry: "I have a birthright, but the birthright lies far In the future; and. anyhow. It is of no worth to a hungry man." And so he despised his birth right, as we are doing today. Oh. the price some people pay for money is enough to make Christ again weep! The sacrifice some people endure for the saku of a passing pleasure or the grat ification of a moment's whim is enough to startle the angels. For Esaus are In this congregation at this moment. That is why. all the day long. I have been looking forward to this moment, under the consciousness that I was going to say something pertinent to mvself and you. I don't know where those choices lie in your life. I know where some of them were in mine when I despised the birthright. And how we wonder now that even the devil himself could have made us such fools. Young people, I wish in the name of my Master I could say some warning, arrestive word to you. Do not you know that now you must lay the foun dation upon which all the super- i-'irtnM of vour life is doomed to stand? And you have birthrights e-rand and glorious; but almllar birth riKhts have been bartered away by men and women before you. for drink for fashion, for pleasure or for the titlllatlon of a nerve. And men and women have forfeited the great prizes that beacon and allure you tonight, even as Esau despised his birthright of old. Flippant Girls Warned. The other night I walked some of the streets of this city and looked through the open doors of the saloons. And Esau was there, shortening his life, impairing his faculties and wringing the hearts of those who loved him sec ond only to God; ho was despising the birthright. Ami somebody has got to say a word about the frivolity and flippancy of the young womanhood of this nation: how It is moving off Into noise and loud ness, as though it were ashamed of the quietude and the modesty that charac terizes the old mother. And there is many a young girl in this city tonight selling a birthright glorious aa the throne of God. And there are so many helping her to sell it that it breaks my heart to think of the few who are warning her against so doing. Well, he sold his birthright and then he grieved bitterly. Ah. Adam, it Is easy to despise the birthright and lose the garden and lose God. But tne nret night out of Eden, when the winds be gin to moan as they never moaned be fore, and the red sun plunges to its death as it never plunged before, and the stars are hidden by the clouds as thev never were hidden before, and conscience begins to thunder like Sinail within the breast, there shall be grief at night, oh, Adam, for the lost birthright! I have wondered lately why my mind has rested on the tragedy of Achan the way it has. Do you know enough about him to catch the force of the allueion? He was a brave soldier in the army of God. And the order had been given that under no means should treasure from the enemies' camp be taken. And Achan ' saw beautiful raiment' and precious metal, and he took them and hid them in his tent. Oh, the foolish ness of It! For he could not wear that raiment and he could not use that money. And dismay came upon the whole army, and in consternation they sought the reason for Israel s defeat, and Achan was proven guilty of the sin and he and all his family taken out and stoned to death. I tell you men and women, If Achan could epeak to us, he would tell us of the grief that follows the selling of the birthright. Did you ever have sym pathy for Judas? I know his crime was ghastly. I know thjat for $20 to part company with God, is astounding wickedness. But I have never yet sat wimA mvself as to the real motives that prompted him to go back to those Pharisees and say: "Here Is the money, the price of my soul"; and then to go out, hunted by the wolves of remorse, until contain himself longer he could not, so he tries to get out of God's reach. And as the noose Is adjusted about his throat, he also tells you. that gTeat is the grief that follows the loss of the birthright If some of these Esaus of Portland could tell us what has come to themselves as the result of selling the birthright, warnings dire and awful would go thundering and sobbing through this audience. I shall never forget a story a slum worker once told of a young girl who had fal tered and fallen. When this Christian worker met her, she was wringing her hands in horror. And the woman said, that when she stood within three feet of her, the girl seemed as though she could not see the friendly woman, as from her lips she hissed: "O. my God, why did I do it?" If we knew! It tooR not half -a minute to sign the name; but it will take the rest of your life to that word back. O, you may grieve through the night, till the dawn comes, but the birthright Is sold. But I have been noticing lately that often grief comes because of the effect of that sold birthright on other people. I could tell you some stories that some times make my life sad and heavy. Of a man who has been reading some book of revealing science, and has come to me and said: "Do you tell me that the result of that sin of mine is resting on my boy, and my girl?" And when, be cause I could not lie to the man, I have told him the truth; I have seen that face go ashy white, and I have heard that may say: "My God, I should never have been born." He went out with heartbreaking grief, but he did not af fect the consequence of his lost birth right any more than I should by drop ping the hand. "Esau grieved," the Book says. But lastly, the inspired record says of this man: "He found no place for re pentance." Isn't that awful? No place for repentance! There lie is with his wild, unbearable grief, but there Is no place for repentance. O. the law is so pitiless, so pitiless! You think, the preacher's lot is easy, but If you knew of the times and circumstances when the preacher sees the person in the grip of the law, and has to admit. "Yes, the law is there, and the penalty Is thus, and escape there Is none,"' you would know what makes a man's heart heavy, and a man's spirit sink. No place for re pentance! Does a man get there? Why, my friends, there are hundreds of men in Portland city tonight, who are there. There are probably men In this house listening to me. who are saying: "He is describing me." I don't know why, but this evening, as I was thinking about this sermon, my mind reverted t Hooa, the poet. And I thought about that birthday -verse of his. He sat down to think about his life, and this is what he wrote: I remember. I remember. The nous where I was born. The little window where the sun Came needing in at morn; It never came a wink too soon. Nor brought too long; a day. But now 1 often wish the night Had borne my breath away. I remember. I remember, Where I was used to swing. And thought the air must rush as fresh To swallows on the wing; My spirit flew in feathers then That Is so heavy now. And Summer oools could hardly cool The fever on ray brow. I remember. I remember. The fir trees, dark and high: I used to think their slender tops Were close against the sky. 1 was a childish Ignorance, T3ut now 'tis little joy To know I'm further off from heaven Then when I was a boy. Boyhood Hays Recalled. Tom Hood wrote that our of the bit terness of his heart. And while I am led in that direction for let me go wherever I may be led do you remem ber another of his poems? O, how Illustrative of my theme is that poem: "One more unfortunate. Weary of breath. Rashly Importunate, Gone to her death. Had she a father. Had she a mother. Had she & sister. Had she a brother: Or was there a dearer one Still, and a nearer one Yet. than all others? Yes, and do you remember how he says, she was "Mad with life's history. Glad to death's mystery. Swift to be hurled Anywhere, anywhere, out of the world. "In she oluneed boldly No matter how coldly The rough river ran Over the brink of It! victimizer Hood addresses tho fright ful lines, , "Picture it. think of it. Dissolute man! Lve In it. drink of It. Then. If you can Take her up tenderly. Lift her with care. Fashioned so slenderly. Yofng. and s fair." Now is there any place for that man to repent in? Though he weeps more drops of brine than fell raindrops in the Flood, can he bring back that" spoiled life? "He found no place for repentance." The more I read it. the more won derful does this Bible become to me. Do you know the story of Samson? Raised up by God to be the deliverer of the chosen people of Jehovah, he sold his birthright. Was there ever tragedy more ghastly than Samson? Weakened; eyes put out: grinding in the accursed Philistine mill; going round and round like a poor truck horse? Can Samson get back the light into those darkened eyes? You know he cannot No place for repentance. There is a record on your police court in this city I sup press the name "Sixty-five years of age; dead with the Jimjams;" and I don't know what heartless mortal wrote the sentence. But there is a life recorded In a sentence. Sixty-five years, years in which nen have become; in which men have done; in which men have made for them- " n Vi iov.il crnntnAMS and goodness; and the result of the life Is I Aceldama field and burst asunder. But all totaled in a miserable lino of a police court record. No place for re pentance! And sou cannot get that life back. You know Rosettl has a line in one of his poems that burns like an acid when you go talking and think ing along these lines. He makes op portunity come and say: Look in my face. My name Is Might Have Been; I am also called Too Late. No More. Farewell. Now when a man has opportunity talking thus to him. the man's name is Esau; and he finds no place for re pentance. Do you remember how Browning puts it? Blot out his name, tuen; record .one lost soul more -"Jne task more declined, one more foot path untrod; One mora devil's triumph and sorrow for angels. One wrong more to man. one more insult to God. LlfeT night begins. And when life's night begins, is there anybody can bring back the lost day? 1 read last week of a man who begged the Judge to have him hanged. He said: "I am in too much torture to boar more imprisonment. For God's sake, hang me, and let me get out of It" No place for repentance. But I have also read In this Book of a man who did hang himself, and yet did not get out of It You know the Gospel gives you the vision of a man named Judas who committed suicide, and the rone broke, and he fell there In the REAL MEANING OF "I LOVE YOU" ANALYZED Barbara Boyd Quotes Newly-Made Wife on Things Which Go to Prove Proper Affection Between Husband and Mate. "I T is easy to say 'I love you,' Isn't it?" observed the New Bride, as she and the New Bridegroom swung in the hammock in the shadowy depths of the veranda. "But what does it really mean, I wonder?" "What does it mean!" exclaimed the New Bridegroom. Why why - it means why, everybody knows what I love you' means." "But what does it mean?" persisted the New Bride. "Saying It doesn't mean anything. You have to demonstrate by proof what its meaning is. And so I wonder sometimes just what it does mean." , . ... "On that baslsT I guess it has a dif ferent meaning with almost every per son," reflected the New Bridegroom. "That's the way it strikes me.' agreed the New Bride. "I know a woman who Is always telling her husband how much she loves him and at all sorts of oppor tune and inopportune times and places is pecking him with kisses. Really, often he is quite embarrassed. But though she knows he likes a tidy house, hers Is most untidy. Though she knows he likes his meals on time, hers are always late. She seems to think, so that she caresses him enough, it is all she need do." ... . , "But I really do not think she loves him very much," objected the New Bridegroom. t . "But she sincerely believes she loves him very deeply." "Perhaps she hasn't much depth her self " "Maybe not. But you would never think that if you met her. And I know a man who scarcely says a dozen words to his wife all the time he is in the house He appears In the morning when breakfast Is ready, eats it hurriedly, reads his paper and maybe remarks he'll have another cup of coffee, or asks her If she'll have another chop. He kisses her good-Dye in an ui sort of way, as if he were kissing a parlor chair or the piano or something of that sort. At night he sits around on the piazsa or tinkers with his auto mobile till dinner is ready, at which he repeats his remarks about more meat or more coffee or more something else, and maybe he growls a bit about things in general. At 9 o'clock he goes to bed. Yet he believes he really cares a lot for his wife. He gets her most of the things she wants. And he finds a kind of satisfaction in having her about the house or In sitting in the room where she Is, like you enjoy having a dog about of which you are fond or a cat." The New Bridegroom laughed. "Well, you know, some people do find a lot of satisfaction in Just quietly sitting in a room with a person they care for. Merely having this person near gives them pleasure. But a man also finds pleasure In having his favor ite dog stretched at his feet, or a woman In having her cat purring at her side." "I guess, though. If anything hap pened to their lifemate these people would show a great deal more feeling than they do ordinarily." "Probably. But why wait for things to happen?" objected the New Bride. "If one really loves a person, why not show it whenever possible in ways that are loving? To me, lovo is the giving of good, all the time and In all ways, just lavishing good. And the more one gives the more one will have to give. I do not necessarily mean material things, but thought and atten tion and care. Such things are like sunshine, and human beings blossom out under them like flowers do in the warm sun." And as the New Bridegroom thought of the hundred and one little and big ways in which she was mindful of his wishes and comfort, he realized that her "I love you" was backed with dynamic meaning, in the Acta of the Apostles I read "He went to his own place." So there Is no escape in that way. 1 think the man Is in this house this moment who said In my hearing, "If I could go to hell and make expiation for my sin, I would gladly go to hell." But my brother, you cannot make expiation even by being damned! For the deed Is done, the birthright Is lost! Hope Raised by Christ. 18 this all? Well, this l all true. But do you notice my text is in the Old Testament? "Thus Esau despised his birthright." I want to get Into the New Testament before I let you go. Suppose somebody could go Into this hell of lost birthrights, and win back the blessing we spurned and lost. Yes, but who can do it? Suppose tho God of the birthright, who li infinite in every attribute, undertook the deliv erance of Esau! Could be accomplish it? Well, Jesus Christ went through Gothsemane, and Pilate's hall. and Herod's court and he wont up the Uttle knoll they call Calvary, and they, flung him down on two cross plecea of timber, and they nailed him to the wood, and they lifted him up. and they let that cross with its awful burden fall Into the hole that had been pie pared for It and as the shock lacerated his nall-plerced hands and feet, he said. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." It looks like a great hope, does it not? And there he hung. And the pitiless sun burned him, and the roar of the mob rose about him, until he uttered the ghastliest sen tence that ever was spoken, "My God. why hast thou forsaken me?" You see. It cost a good deal to go down after our lost birthright. But do you know how he closed? He aald, "It is finished." And before that poor head bowed on the breast, one of the sol diers breaking the legs of those cruci fied men said, "There Is no need to break his legs, for he Is dead." And the centurlau said. "No need ot breaking the legs of that prisoner, for the blood and water came out of the heart Just now when 1 pierced it." He aid, "It is finished." And that Is why I have been preaching this gos pel of the Son of God ever since he first revealed himself as my Saviour. That is why when they say, "You must not preach so much," I say, "I must preach more." I have a reputation of having only one subject and only one story. So that they say of me. "He is nothing but a preacher." Well, he is not much of a preacher, but God knows he Is nothing but a preacher; and noth ing but a preacher of this Christ who went down Into the hell of my lost birthright. And somehow by the sacrifice of Himself, He brought back to me my birthright; and He says to me I may yet become a child of God. and heir of Heaven, a priest and a king unto God. the Father. Esau, you have gold your birthright; and you havo grieved with an awful bitterness; and there is no place for repentance until you touch Christ. You know 1 thought a minute ago how some of us would have to go home tonight and we should have to mourn over these birthrights we have despised. But don't wait to get home to grlove. Just get right now with Christ and grieve there, yes. grieve there. And Jesus will look down to you, and in his eyes there will be wells of love and sympathy, and he will say. "I bore all the pain for you. Now let roe take the respon sibility of your life. Yes. let nie take the responsibility of your sin. And do you heed me. and live as I tell you. and do what l tell you, and you shall be saved In time and In eternity." 1 have felt all the day long this ser mon was to be the turning point in your destny, man! And It will be, if now under nothing that is hysterical, but under the plain statement of truths you know to be truths, you turn your poor sln-staineo soui to vjaivary, unu take Jesus as your Saviour and your Lord. The Spirit of God help you to do It for Jesus' sake. la my heart's prayer. EUGENIC MARRIAGE FAILS Courtship by Mall Ends In Divorce. Court In Alimony Suit. CLEVELAND. Aug. J. Cuyhogn County'a first eugenio marriage tailor waa recorded In Common Pleas Court, when Mrs. Josephine Sanger. If year, of 1248 Weat Sixty-seventh street ap peared before Judge Stevens i mending alimony from her huaband. Joseph Sanger, of J7 Weat Flfty-alxth atreet. with whom ahe waa able to live only a acant two weeka Mrs. Sanger on the stand told Judge Stevena ahe and her huaband not only had married aa a reault of tho belief they were eugenlcally fitted for each other, but that the whole courtahtp had been oarrled on by mall. Mr. Sanger. In his letters, ahe sera, mlarepreacnted hts physical condition. Otherwlae ahe doea not believe the eugenic marriage would have been a failure. "I have not lost faith In the theory. ' aald Mra. Sanger, "If 1 ever marry again It will be a eugenio marriage, but the next time I ahall demand more than specifications by mall. I will go the whole way and demand a physical eg-, amlnatlon." Judge Stevena awarded Mra Bangei S3 a week temporary alimony, pending the trial ot the action at the Septem ber term of court KITS BORN IN CITY HALL "Tammany" Oner Again Become Proud Mother of Six. BALTIMORE. July 10. Tammany, the City Hall cat, la once more a proud and happy mother. "Tom" Rlggin. the portly bluecoat. who patrols the corridors and keeps an eye on the liolllday-etreet entrance to the Hall, recently dlacovored half a doaen wriggling, aqulrmlng kitten hidden away in one of the rooms oc cupied by attaches of the Appeal Tax Court He Bays they "are going to be beauties." In anticipation of the daya that are to come "Tom" hunted up the old milk bottles and the pan (rem which he has been weaning Tammany'a numerous I offspring for some yeara. No one knowa what would become of I the City Hall klttena If It were not fur the humanitarian heart of "Tom' -Rlggin. although "Tom'' says be can't exactly understand why a person who( takes good care of cats and doga and horses should be called "humani tarian." He says It should be changed to "fellnttarlan" In hla eaae. Then "Tom" argues that a man who lovea a , dog ahould be railed a dogltarlan.'' $50,000 ADDED TO GIFT Anonymous Donor of $10-0,000 In creases Cornell 'it nrt. ITHACA, N. Y.. July 19. An addi tional IJO.OOO for the erection of der raltorlea at Cornell I'nlveralty la an nounced by President Jacob Gould Scharman. Tho president waa tendered the gift In New York City last Wednes day by the same anonymous donor who gave 1 thta Spring for dormito ries. The increase of the fund to 1150,000 will practically provide for the erection of the main residential hall and give the university a firm basis upon which to work In the future for the extension of the dormitory syatem. EMBROIDERY DESIGN FOR TRIMMING LITTLE GIRL'S FROCK - .. . . J 1 .I111.-T1-1-T- - - - --mm m m mm m- m m I b o n o n n Jl Zlf hr n n n n H fl V : Ho o L T I fl . ; i : i The accompanying embroidery design Is to be used to trim a little girl's dress. It is simple and at the same time ef fective on this particular model. There are two ways to apply the de sign to the material upon which it is to be worked. If your material Is sheer, such as lawn, batiste and the like, the simplest method Is to lay the material over the design and with a sharply- pointed pencil draw over each line. If your material is heavy, secure a piece of transfer or impression paper. Lay It face down upon this, then draw over each line of the paper design with a hard pencil or the point of a steel knit ting needle. Upon lifting the pattern and transfer paper you will find a neat and accurate outline of the design upon your material. ! U I 1 - : k O b c o o O o 6 o O o o O o o 0 (j QUTTQN'HOLE . SATIN, JHADIO rm.tr AND EYi.ET 3TlTCHE3 i nee - isssssnn ' 11 p i t