The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-02-02

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"THoU SHALT Nor STEAL."-Rev. VIM. E.
Baker delivered the third sermon of his series
of discourses on the social evils Of the day,
on last Sunday night to large and interested
audience. His subject was Stealing" his
text from the twentieth chapter of Exodus 18th
verse, "Thou shalt not steal" The speaker
began his remarks by promising that he
thought it unlikely that any who listened to
the sound of his voice was guilty in fact of
this sin under the ordinary Interpretation of
the text that to steal, as We usually think of
it, is crime so low, SO debasing, so humili-
ating that those who practice it are seldom
found among the people who frequent the
house of God, or sit under the sound of the
gospel.
He proceeded to prove that there are other
forms of theft besides those of shop-lifting, of
highway robbery, or such wholesale swindling
as becomes amenable to the penalties of the
law. There are certain subtle forms of palter-
ing with ones conscience in the way of brib-
cry, political corruption, assumption of the
honors and dignities belonging to others, and
that yilest robbery of all, maliciously stealing
anothers good name through motives of spite
envy or malevolence.
These infractions of the commandment are
not usually classified as thetts, but Mr.. Baker
proved very logically that many so-called
christians who would shrink in horror from
The touch of penitentiary convict or a mem
Der Of chan-gang, could not, if honestly
called before the bar OF clean conscience
but plead guilty to more than one count in
such an Indictment
The text, Thou shalt not steal" is fitly
supplemented under the new dispensation by
the obligation. "Owe no man anything, but to
love one another" He who honestly pays
every debt, moral social, individual, and full.
fills his obligations in the spirit of charity,
loving kindness and genuine sense of Justice,
has fulfilled the whole law-Mosaic and
Christian for this commandment IN Its wide
application seems to cover the whole expanse
of duty toward our fellow creatures.
The lecturer gave gravely humorous re-
buke to those who fancied themselves cheating
both God and the Devil by certain pretensione
to charity. The dropping of perforated dimes
into the contribution box, for instance, when
the same had been refused by their, tobacco
mist or shoe-black; their Jealous attendance
upon the forms of religious worship, while
their weekday endeavors all conferred in the
effort to realize the biggest return from the
smalles outlay in the way of stock jobbing, or
otherwise profting by the painful necessities
of Others.
The worst feature of such professions is
that men who practise them are not conscious
ly dishOnest,-they are sef.swindlers, and
their consciences become like blurred mirrors
that give back only distorted images of even
fair and spotless things that pass before them.
The whole discourse was marked by its
practical ability and close application to the
needs Of all classes
Mr.. Baker will continue his series of special
sermons by discourse on "The evils of novel
roaming and theatre going" next Sunday even
ing at the First Presbyterian Church.