Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1873-12-11
A Sermon for the Times.

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JEREMIAH 29th nth.
know the thoughts that / think towards Won.
saith the Lord, thoughts of place, and not of
evil.
We are not to suppose that God acts
arbitrarily; or otherwise than for the
best of reasons. When there is seem.
ing severity, it is the severity of faith.
full love. BY his wise ordering of the
system of things evil Furnishes itself.
We are often made to infict on our
selves the need and deserved penalty.
+, The evil OF hard times came upon
the country by its own agency, and
and because it needed the hard expe.
rience. nAk
God has given this notion the OPP
portunity of greatness, but there is
danger that this greatness of oppor-
tunity may intoxicate and destroy us
that pride will lay us low as it did
Nebteaadnezzar; that luxury and cor.
ruptlon will bring decay and rotten
ness, as in case of the Roman empire.
And the greater the structure the
greater the fall, when it comes.
Here we are, planted in mid-ocean
between the ancient continents of Eu-
rope and Asia, to receive tribute from
their accUm ulated wealth aud popula-
ton. Their commerce enriches us,
their capital builds railways for us,
and shoulders large share Of our ma
tional debt; their people crowd to our
shores at the rate OF large city in q
year. One of the ablest representa-
tives TO the Evangelical Alliance from
abroad, after returning home, express
ed the opinion that America was about
to assume the supremacy of the world.
All this, though it is not quite one
hundred years since the signing of the
declaration which made us a nation.
But we are not to forget that there
there is such thing as 'rotten before
ripe" We should remember that a
nation can not be great merely by vir-
tue Of a great aggregate Of numbers
and of wealth and of the products Of
wealth. A nations greatness consists
in the intelligence, culture and char
acter of her citizens. Men who can
distinguish things that differ, who re-
gard truth and justice, who cherish re-
fined and generous sentiments, who
are loyal to their country and love
home, who stand in Gods great
strength, who are saved by the Re
deemer, who are subjects of the illu-
mination OF the Spirit--men, such men
of clear thought, conscientious integri-
ty and fidelity, noble and disinterested
aims, godly Christian living, these are
the materials of which to make state
If you have them, you may be sure
that all other things will be added in
due time. Such men were the fathers
and founders Of our nation, and they
becam g rich and prosperous on their
rugged hills and with their vigorous
climate. Such were not the founders
of Mexico, which is thriftless and poor
with genial climate, productive soil
rich mines.
we are liable to mistake the signs
of true progress, and so conclude that
we areadvancing to greatness when in
reality we are on the road to national
ruin.
1t will be deplorable if our present
costly experience of panic, loss, and
consequent suffering does not instruct
us respecting our follies and faults.
a. We should learn to set high.
er value upon commercial honesty.
The foundation of trade as of relig-
ion is falth--in the former case, faith
in God in the latter, in men. The
want of confidence between men en-
barasses and deranges business at
once. The all important question is,
whether the man is true in his inmost
nature. Will his representations con
form with the real state OF facts, or
are they artfully modified to suit his
ends? Will he keep his promises all
though 1t involves heavy loss? If you
intrust funds to his keeping, will he
remember that they are yours, not his,
and hold them as sacred trust to be
employed only according to the under.
standing between you and him. Civ
en- plenty of such men; and widespread
panic becomes nearly impossible, for
panic means distrust of men. 1t may
be of their financial ability, but this is
far less disastrous than distrust of
their integrity, the suspicion OF con-
cealed rottenness.
1t was this that aggregated fit did
not originate our troubles, that honor
ed men acted dishonerably; that trust
ed men had betrayedtheir trust by mis-
applying and appropriating to their
own use the money of others, which is
in reality nothing less tnan breaking
the great command, "Thou shalt not
steal"
Thus it came about that men doubt
ed each other, and held their funds
until there was time for sitting of
business firms, and this stopped the
wheels of industry.
1t is time for alarm when instances
Of dishonesty are disclosed 80 often
and in such unexpected quarters;
when specializing nilionaires buy leg.
islatures; when the great thief of New
Cork city can be elected to the State
Senate after his thefts have been
proved upon him, wnen the hands of
honorable Senators of the nation have
been soiled. Honesty is the best pol
icG, as is illustrated by the fact that
flour from the mill Of Gen. Washington
sold at a higher price on account Of
his lofty integrity.
But the obligations of honesty is
also chiefly based on justice and right,
the law of conscience and the COM
mand of God. Let honesty become a
watchword in business and in politics.
Let honesty be adopted as rallying
cry of reform in place of the now his.
torical word, emancipation. Let hon
esty, though nnpretending, be honored
with the favor and suffrages of the
people, and let dishonesty however
conspicuous and brilliant, receive its
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