Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-02-09
MEMPHIS APPEAL
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 0, 1888
THE GREAT SIN OF the DAY.


Every newspaper reader finds. wear by
year, Legislatures spending time and effort
TO Pass new laws, drawn up with all the
skill ability and experience can produce
to check dishonesty in its various forms:
from the direct attacks of highwsymen and
burglars to the cunning and beguiIipy Of
blackmailerS, gamblers OF various sorts,
and the sly roguery Of bank presidents and
Cashiers and public oficeholders. Year by
year new enactments are made, bnt year
by year the villainy goes on. The law
that is made 10 check one mode of disbop-
esty contains some flaw or defect that oives
opportunity Tor another. The fact is tn at
the great cause Of dishonesty il not the
deficiencies or imperfections of the law
but the want OF 6rmer moral principle.
without personal integrity, the restraints of
law are weak. In the words of cotsm.
porary: Public sentiment is not properly
educated. There is insufficient training
gwen the moral man. The people generally
Indulge IN immoral habits, that are nothing
less than the seeds OF crime" When there
is fire, we look TO the firemen; when there ia
epidemic, we look 10 the medical faculty.
Now there Is a widespread deviation from
honesty, where must we look to? To the
Church. LIS servants are the conservators Of
public morals, and the question arises: With
so many teachers, and with an importa ut
portion OF our population receiving weekly
instruction from them, how is il that
there should be no much corrup.
tion where 30 essential virtue
Is honesty is concerned? The prevalent
dishonesty is not confined to the ignorant or
irreligious. Persons whose devotion to their
churches and their Sunday schools has been
proved by years OF steady attendance in the
enc and toll in the other-such persons are
to-dsy inmates OF penitentiaries, wearing the
striped garment of the convict. This very
week we read, among the daily kilograms, Of
p the case of reverend minister 10 Rhode
Island, now dead, whose estate proved TO
amount TO more than 100000, and who
during his life had paid tax on only $10,-
600. Teaching morals. bat living life Of
habitual dishonesty; every year making a
return OF his property that was a lie; yet at
: tenliye 10 his devotional duties and to The
requirements Of his position as a minister.
Two leading faults appear to induce
the want of integrity go frequently dis
Played at the present day; one is
the Substitution OF devotion for religion,
the other is the universal struggle for the
possession Of money. The frenzy, for
such it is, is confined to no csss
or station, or position in lie. II
nsutrslizes the usefulness OF the very
church itself. There are edi6ces raised
to the service OF Him who boosted, if he
ever did boast, that The poor had the gospel
preached TO them, into whose luxurious
pews no poor, no worn shawl, no out-st-el-
bow coat, finds entrance. The religious pa
pers abound with appeals for money; souls
cannot be saved nor pagans converted with
out money. If money is such necessity in
the church, what is it outside OF il? When
the golden earrings were given fer relg-
ious purpose, golden calf was the result.
The frenzy for money is the great melting
cause OF the prevalent dishonesty. The
author Of cur faith denounced and warned
sgainst no one fault or vice as he did
against the fatal snare OF riches, the
prevalent foe Today of Christiani-
ty, for it seduces her disciples and
misleads her teachers. Let the Church
reiterate those warnings, make its followers
drsQd riches, set the example Of simplicity
Ia the way of living, and make them content
with the stale that is neither poverty nor
riches.". Only go can the Church perm ate
society with higher aims, and Undue it with
stronger principle, and communicate per-
caption OF the fact that no zsal in devotion
will compensate for the absence Of common
honesty, honesty as citizens, and honesty in
business and in private life.