Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1876-04-15


have done so before me, aud that
others are now doing 80 around me.
These are called the perquisites Of
taking that which does not belong to
me, but to the community, who have
honored me with their confidence and
for whom l am acting in solemn
trust.
l am teacher. find that by max
ing grand display, and by system
attic fattering of my pupils aud. their
parents, l can secure large and
profitable school aud yet know that
l am utterly falling to educate those
committed to my care. Am 1 an
honest man / am robbing parents
of their money, aud their children Of
the golden opportunities of true
education.
1 am preacher. BY eloquence in
the pulpit and a smiling sycophancy
in the parlor, make myself the pop
ular toast of the congregation. The
gospel treat as relic of the igno-
rant past. Politics and poetry,
science and sensationslism are the
characteristics Of my preaching. Men
cape with wonder at my learning
aud logic, and go home to love them
selves and sin, aud go to everlasting
ruin. Am not q thief2 When they
ask me for bread. I give them stone,
aud many soul l rob of its heavenly
inheritance. 80 --5
Thus might go on and detail case
after case, and mode after mode OF
,"the ways that are dark and tho
tricks that are vain" of those who
forsake the barrow path of strict aud
unswerving honesty. How many of
us have found ourselves photograph
| ed i'll the panorama Of characters
which has passed before us3 Many,
have no doubt. have recognised the por-
traiture of others. This is not q day for
| t. at. Have we not seen ourselves also
Ii not in the cases actually described.
do not our censcienccs tell us that In
some way we fail to come up to the
standard of perfect honesty?
| 1t may be we'll for moment just to
examine into the cause of this preva-
lent spirit of dishonesty. 1t is not
difficult to find, for it lies upon tho
very surface. With man, it is simply
All ungodly greed for gold, the love
of money, the basest and most abject
idolatry. With woman it is different.
With her it is the love of display,
the desire not only to equal but to
surpass all Others in tue luxury of
her furnitqre, the elegance of her en-
tertainments, the sumptuOusness o..
her dress. Better, far better,i ,is simple
calico, whose neat though humble
folds shall speak of honest labor aud
contented economy, than the costly
silk whose rufhes rustic with the
story of rascality.
Sod says, thou shalt not steal"
J Your own Conscience says, 'Thou
strait not steal" Human law says,
s'Thou shalt not steal" 1t is terri
BILE disgrace to. us that we have the
name of beiug q nation Of thieves.
1t is a still more terrible fact, that we
are, to SO large an extent, q nation of
thieves. Stealing in the family leads
to stealing in the couuting-room.
Stealing in the counting-room leads
to stealing in the city Offices. Steal
, ing in the city leads to stealing in the
county. Stealing in the county leads
to stealing in the state. Stealing in
the state leads to stealing in the Ha-
tion.o Thus has the leaven, of cor
ruption worked up from the very
bottom, until the the municipal Tweed
has found his counterpart in the ma
tional Belknap. '----yJ
Is there no hope? Are we to sink
. overwhelmed in the slough of pollu-
tiop3 1t ID for you, brethren, fol-
lowers of a sinless Saviour, to give
All answer. What can be done Much
can aud must be done. 1st. Each one
of us, not only from patriotic i'm
pulse and personal pride, but from
true christian principle, eau set an
example of scrupulous honesty and,
rs essential to this, of rigid economy.
End. Each one of us, sovereigns of
this nation, can refuse to give our in-
tluepce or our countenance to any
/. man, no matter what his party stand
ing may be, whose character is not
above suspicion. 3rd. Each one Of
us, believers in the grace of An over
. ruling Providence, can pray our
Heavenly Father for a general bap-
tism of pure aud uudetiled religion,
, that we may be converted from
worshipers of gold to worshipers of
God, from selfish graspers after gain
, to the close followers OF Jesus.
have been painfully impressed
j with the truth that SO far to-day, We
. have been dealing with that which is,
. to large degree, "of the earth,
earthly" Would that, with clear
haNO oCOh ASAS"S-
5 ed from the dread responsibility. But
I cannot consent to dismiss the SUBJ
, iect without briefly attempting to
| lift your thoughts upward. There is
an important sense III which arraign
US all as guilty of breaking the eighth
$ commandment. We owe to God, our
S Father, our penitemce, love, trust and
8 obedience. Who of us has given
these in the measure which He not
: only demands. but deserves? Ispeak
5 TO honest men and true women here
! to-day just and faithful in all your
relations with your feliowmen; whom
| no temptation aud 10 suffering would
/ ever swerve from the strictest probi.
[ ty;and who yet fail to give to God tha,
which is rightly HIS. My friends,
/, will you not to-day, as you see an in
} finite. Saviour dying on your behalf,
yield to Him your hearts warmesi
love aud deepest trust2
Some idea of what n nice eOft place