The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-08-01

CIRCUMSTANCES
haps, under the same temptation, you migiN
have fallen. The reason some men do not ste&
two hundred thousand dollars is because they
do not get q chance! Have righteous
indignation. you must about that mans
conduct, but temper it with mercys
But you say: 81 am so sorry thar ths
innocent should suffer" Yes, / am too--sorrf
for the widows and orphans. who lost their al
by that defalcation. | am sorry, also, fcR
the business men, who have had thele
affairs all crippled by that defalcation
am sorry for the venerable bank president.
to whom the credit of that bank was matter 81
PRIDE. Yes. am sorry, also, for that man whe
brought all the distress sorry that he sacrificed
body. mind soul, reputation. heaven, and wens
into the blackness of darkness forever.
You defanty say: II could not be tempted
In that way" Perhaps you may be tested after
awhile. God has very good memory. and ha
sometimes seems TO say: This man feels so
strong in his innate power and goodness
he shall be tested; he is so full OK
bitter invective against the unfortunate 1t shall
be shown now whether he has the power tor
stand" Fifteen years go by. The wheel of for
ture turns several times, and you are IN crisis
that you never could have anticipated.
NOW. all the powers OF dark
ness come around, and they chuckle
the old fellow who was so proud Of his
integrity, and who Dragged he couldn't be
overthrown by temptation, and was up
roarlous in his demonstrations of indigna-
Let US see." God let's the man 60 God,
who had kept the man under his protecting
care, lets the man go, and try for himself the
majesty OF his integrity. God letting the man
go, the powers of darkners pounce upon him.
see you some day in your Office in great excite.
ment
Be honest and be pauperized, and have your
children brought home from school, your family
dethroned in social influence The other thing
is, you can step little aside from that which Ia
right you can only just go half an inch out Of
the proper path you can only take a little risk,
and then you lave Ell your finances fair and
right You have a arge property. You can
leave a fortune for ySdr children, and erdow q
college, and build public library in your native
town. You halt and wait. and halt and wait
until your lips get white You decide to risk IT,
Only few strokes of the pen now Bnf
oh, how your hand trembles how dreadfully 1t
trembes! The die is cast. BY the strangest
and most awful conjunction of circumstances
any one could have imagined you are Frustrated.
bankruptcy, commercial Rnnihilatlon, exposure,
crime. Good men mourn and desils hold car.
nival, and you see your own name at the head
of the newspaper column in whole congress OF
exclamation points; and while you are reading
the anathema in the reportorial and editorial
paragraph it occurs to you how much this story
is like that of the defacation fifteen years ago.
and clap of thunder shakes the window-sil,
saying: with what measure ye mete it shall be
measured to you againW
In the study of society have come to this
be good, but they do not exactly know how to
make it out They make enough of good reso-
lutions to lift them into aDgelhood. The vast
majority of people who fall are the victims OF
circumstances; they are captured By ambuscade,
If their temptations should come out in regi.
ment and Eight them in fair field. they would
go out in the strength and triumph of David
against Goliah. But they do not see the
giants, and they do not see the regiment
Suppose temptation should come up to a
man and say: "Here is alcohol; take three
tablespoonfuls of 1t day until you get depend
ent upon it, then after that take half glass
three times day until you get dependent upon
that amount; then go on increasing the amount
until you are saturated from morning until night
and from night until morning Do you suppose
any man would become drunkard in that wayy
Oh, mol Temptation comes and says: Take
these bitters, take this nervine, take this aid to
digestion, take this night-cap." The vast ma
jority of men and women who are destroyed by
opium and by rum first take them as medicines
In making up your dish OF criticism In regard 20
them. take from the caster the cruet of sweet oil
and not the cruet of cayene pepper Be easy on
them.
Do you know how that physician, that lawyer.
that journalist became the victim of dissipatonf
Why, the physician was kept up night by night
on professional duty. Life and death lowered
in the balance. His nervous system was ex-
hausted. There came time of epidemic, and
whole families were Frustrated and his nervous
strength was gone He was all worn out In the
service of the public Now he must brace him
self up Now he stimulates. The life of this
mother, the life of this child the life Of this fa
Their, the life of this whole family must be
saved, and Of all these families must be
saved and he stimulates, and he does
it again and again You may criti-
else his Judgment, but remember the
process. It was not a selfish process by which
he went down. 1t was magnificent generosity
through which he fell That attorney at the bar
for weeks has been standing in poorly venti-
lated courtroom, listening to the testimony and
contesting in the dry technicalities OF the law,
and now the time has come for him to wind up,
and his nervous system Is all gone. If he fails
in that speech his client perlshes. If he have
eloquence enough In that hour his client is saved.
He stimulates He must keep up He says: IT
must keep up" Having a large practice you
Judgment. but remember the process. Do not be
hard. That journalist has had exhausting mid.
night work. He has had to report speeches and
orations that keep him up till very late hour.
He has gone with much exposure working up
some case of crime in company with detective.
He sits down at midnight to write out bis notes
from a memorandum scrawled on a pad under
unfavorable circumstances His strength ia
gone. Fidelity to the public intelligence, fdel-
ity to his own livelihood demand that he keep up.
He must keep up. Ho stimulates. Again and
again he does that, and he goes down. You may
criticise his Judgment in the matter, out have
mercy. Remember the process Do aot bG
hard.
My friends, this text will come to fulflment
in some cases in this world. The huntsman in
Farmsteen shot by some unknown person.
Twenty years after the son of the huntsman was
in the same forest, and he accidentally shot
man. and the man in dying said fsGod is just;
shot your father just here twenty years ago. A
bishop said to Louis XI of France Make an
iron cage for all those who do not think as wa
do-an iron cage in which the captive can neither
lie down stand straight up" It was fash
toned, the awful instrument of punishment.
After awhile the bishop offended Louis XII, and
for fourteen years he was in that same cage, and
could neither lie down nor stand up. It is
poor rule that will not work both ways. with
what measure ye mete. it shall be measured to
you again"
Oh, my friends, let rs be resolved to scold less
and pray more! That which in the Bible Is used
as the symbol of all gracious influAneaa ia the