The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-03-01
LYRIC HALL.
PRACTICAL AND IDEAL HoNEsTY-sERMoN By
THE REV. o. B. ROCKINGHAM.

PRACTICAL AND IDEAL HoNEsTY-sERMoN By
THE REV. o. B. FRoTHINaHAM.
Rev. o. B. rockingham preached yesterday
morning to q congregation somewhat thinned by
the sudden return OF the cold weather. His theme
was honesty In its bearings upon the multtiarious
phases OF life. II will be seen that his analysis OF
the commercial honesty Of tine present age shows
how the moaning OF this word has been narrowed
down from Its original significance Of truth and
virtue. aud how the ideal side Of 1t has been neg
lected. He said -
Jesus, in letter to one OF His disciples couples
honesty with goodness. At first blush they seem
to be widely apart goodness referring to the
future and honesty 10 this lie. A cody man is
one whose mind Is in heaven; an honest man Is
one whose thoughts are in Wall street. Goodness
is thought TO be so very different from honesty
that the cody man thinks he need not be honest,
ana the honest man deems himself excused from
goodness; and yet they are Identical, they secure
the same ends. Goodness Is not too grand uame
to bestOw upon honesty. The Latin dictionary de.
fines the Latin word as meaning moral beauty
and grace, and the English dictionary gives SUBJ
stantially the same oefnitious as signifying sin.
cerity, open-mindedness &C. The word honesty
took It's significance from an age OF class disttnc.
dealing. frankness and beauty OF disposition.
Every age puts different Interpretation upon
virtue.
COMMERCIAL HONESTY.
Ours, for Instance, Is commercial virtue. Ask
what man Is worth and the question refers to
MS stocks, bank account, &c. So when we speak
OF honesty we mean one who gives q fair return
for what ne has received who pays his bills. lie
may be anything, but a true and good man in the
highest sense OF the word. but II he pays every
cent he owes he passes as an honest man. He may
haggle mucn as he pleases and watt TIL the last
possible moment, but so long as he pays the world
calls him honest. Honesty, SAYS the world, Is pay
ing deD.s with money. Money is only symbol OF
a w 10 lhsary Z ma Anf and
trouble and the lie blood OF humanity.
Money is symbol OF the highest efforts and sacrl-
shelter, food, ralment, literature, art, the villa
In the country, the house IN town, social Oppor-
money Is worth Tine paper that 1t Is made OF Is OF
the rags OF toll and poverty. The gold comes out
OF the hearts OF mountains, fused by the fire, and
the stamp is SYMBOL OF the order and rule OF the
state. 30 you see paying money Is paying lile and
people OF course are not always so ready to pay
life. Hence the appreciation OF one who does pay.
PAYING DEBTS.
When money is easy. and when IL has not been
earned oy the sweat OF ones brow, there is notn-
ing in PAYING but when 1t comes hard when to
pay ones deDt We must forego the book one
wishes 70 study, the trip TO The country, or the
comforts OF the city 1t Is honor; It Is devotion
that OF the liegelord TO his king. know man
VINO IN YOUTH stirred TO the soul by the condition
NOPE enterprise; 1t Jailed, and ne came to New
York, dong the merest literary drudging until he
emerge from his obscurIty. Now that was noble ;
that was heroisn. Had ne lived IN King Arthur's
age he would nave been one OF the knights OF the
round liable, peer. and paadin.
man VINO rom carelessness or indifference
forgets or neglects 10 pay mis- DEBT bears the same
relation 10 commercial age as did the betrayal
OF lord by his vassal TO the Middle Age. Rightly
DO we class TINS man among the despicabe MEM
the whir OF the fragrant cigar IN which ne In
duges drains the heart blood OF the poor crea-
ture whose wages he neglects 10 pay When we
speak therefore. Of paving DEBTS we must remem-
Der that II touches the laws OF moral RESPONSE
blll:y AS society lives upon rrivIalitles 1t ire
m. I'm iaG .fIV ar,n tnnllv
But it should live by charity, IL should give lie
Tor lie. rake 1t IN It's most cordial relationship
relation between parent and child, lor instance.
CHILDREN's DEBTS.
We speak OF the DEBT the child owes to its
position that gnaws at Dobleness until 1t Is eaten
away. How many children can only remem-
Der their parents with "a shudder and
yet what mother would not give her
lie dozen times over for the worst and most
grateful OF chlldreny Toe Jewish books are u OF
the most exalted instances OF the love and rever-
eDce OF children Ior their parents, and the devo-
ton and sacrificing affection OF parents for their
offspring, and what noble world Of love they IN
tTOduce Us TO-
should it not be remembered also that the
father and mother owe debt to the chd2 The
child, u Is true, repdys perhaps, love by Indtrer
ence, ana set was there ever child born that
Ola not at some tune lay the parent under some
ooligationY While 1t yet lay In the womb dId not
the sky look nearer. was there not a sense OF
nearness IT liier Alter the chid mas seen the ght
the pc petual knowledge OF TINS nea sell adds
zest TO lie unknown before, ana II the iutnre may
crush all hopes stili mat memory remains, there
Is stlil the infant IN the heart, the cnild IN the
house.
DEBT TO SERVANTS.
But look at the artificial relations that society
creates-take the domestics our houses, the
ignorant crude, stupid people, VINO are an hourly
necessity 10 the richest and the most splendid
people IN the word. IA rule they are honest,
IgllWul, and they give not only their labor but
IneIr uealts, their sympathes Their lives; and
Nneh lhlnk OF tneir own degradation, how UNI
ctltiIn thelr utute Il, now little there Is In their
sgEts tuaL Us WORTHY ot being called career.
WOnuer whether we honestly pay our debts
tuMaTn them. And Lhen look al Inc lahnrnra- inc