The Brookhaven leader., 1889-03-21
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Wrong Uses of Money" and
the Danger Therein.
the SIN OF the Hour the Diversions of
Money from its Legitimate Uses to
tHannkls Of Corrupt, Dishonest
and tIcIoJS Expenditures

sermon ut the brooklyn IdDeI hoSlc' 'OOH
for his sdujcct the "Wrong Uses OF
EaTey." from wltieh he evolved the fol-
lowing pdii.ts5 ftshGurse. His text was:
They that will be rich iaff 'UtS temptation
and a snare and into many foolish and F-rtfrl
lusts, which drown men in destruction and pc:.
sition.-[I Timothy, vi, 81
That Is the Niagara Falls, over which
fish multitude N souls. namely, the do
termination To have money adfbt'w, right
or wrong Tt1I me how a man gets Dis
money and what he Dies With IL, and I
will tell you his character aud What Will
be his destiny in this world and the next
l propose to speak this morning about
some of the ruinous modes Of getting
ti6ney.
We recently passed through National
election. IN which il has been estimated
that thirty million dollars were expend-
ed. think about twenty million dollars
of it were spent in out and-ou bribery
Both parties raised all they could for this
purpose, But that was only on large
scale what has been done on a smaller
scale for fifty years and in oil depart
mentsi
Politics, from being The science of good
government, has often been bedraggled
into the synonym for truculency and
turpltGdc, A monster sin, plausible, po-
tent, pestiferous, hds gone forth to do
its dreadful work in all ages. Its two
hands are rotten with leprosy. 1t keeps
its fight hand hidden in n deep pocket.
The left hand 10 clenched, aud with its
ichorous knuckle it taps at the door of the
courtroom, the legislative hall, the Con-
Fress and the Parliament. The door
swinss 6ten and the monster enters and
a.. ,lf
chamber as softly as q sfi5pefed page.
and then it takes its right hand froEi fts
deep pocket and offers it to judge or legis .
lator. If that hand be taken and the palm
nf the intruder crosses the palm of the
official; the lcprosy crosses from palm to
palm in a round biotch, round as a gold
eagle, and the virus spreads, and the
doom is fixed, and the victim pCItshes,
Let bribery, accursed Of God and man,
stand up for trial.
The Bible arraigns it again and again.
Samuel says Of his two sons who became
judges: "They took bribes and perverted
Judgment" David says of some OF his
pursuers: "Their right hand Is full of
bribes." Amos says of some men in his
day: 'They take bribe and turn aside
the poor in the gate" Eliphaz foretells
the crushing blows of Gods indignation,
declaring: "Fire shall consume the tab
ernacles of bribery"
"Oh," says some one, there's no need
of talking against bribery by promise or
by dollars, because every man has his
price" do not believe it. Even heathen-
ism and the Dark Ages have furnished
specimens of incorruptibility. A cadi of
Smyrna had a case brought before him on
trial. A man gave him five hundred ducats
in bribery. The case came on. The briber
had many witnesses. The poor man on
the other had no witnesses. AT the close
of the case the cadi said:
"rhis poor man has no witnesses, he
thinks; l shall produce in his behalf five
hundred witnesses against the other
side"
And then pulling out the bag of ducats
from under the ottoman, he dashed it
down at the feet of the briber, saying:
II give my decision against you"
Epaminondas, offered bribe, said
81 will do this thing if it be right, and II
it be wrong all your goods can not per-
suade me-"
Fabricius, of the Roman Senate, was
offered bribe by Pyrrhus of MacedOn.
Fabricius answered:
what an example this would be to the
Roman people; you keep your riches and
l will keep my poverty and reputation"
The President of the American Con-
gress, during the American revolution,
General Reed, was offered ten thousand
gripcas by foreign commissioners If he
would betry this country. He replied:
"Gentlemen, am very poor man, but
tell your King he is not rich enough to
buy me-"
But why go so far, when you and l, II
we move in honorable society, know men
and women who by all the concentrated
force of earth and hell could not be
bribed. They would no more be bribed
than you would think of tempting an angel
of light to exchange Heaven for the pit.
To offer bribe is villainy, but it is very
poor compliment to the man to W HON it
Is offered.
Ihave not much faith in those people
who go about Dragging how much they
could get if they would only sell out.
Those women who claim that they are
very often insulted need to understand
that there is something in their carriage
to invite insult. There are men at AL
hany and at Harrisburg and at Washing
ton who would no more be approached by
a bribe than pirate boat with few cut
lasses would dare to attack British
man -of-war with two banks of guns on
each side loaded to the touch hole. They
are incorruptible men, and they are the
few men who are to save the city
and save the land. Meanwhile, my ad-
vice is to all people to keep out Of
politics unless you are invulnerable to
this style Of temptations. Indeed, if you
are naturally stOng, you need religious
buttressing. Nothing but the grace Of
God can sustain our pubic men and make
them what we wish. Iwish that there
might come an oldfashioued revival of
religion, that it might break out in Con-
gress and in the Legislatures and bring
many of the leading Republicans and
Democrats down on the anxious seat of
repentance That day will come or some-
thing better, for the Bible declares that
kings and queens shall become nursing
fathers and mothers to the church, and if
the greater in authority, then certainly
the less.
My charge, also, to parents is, remem-
Der that this evil of bribery often begins
in the home circle and in the nursery. Do
not bribe your children. Teach them to
do that which is right, and not because of
ten cents or the orange you will give
them. There is a great difference between
rewarding virture and making the profits
thereof the impeling motive. That man
who is honest merely because "hones ty
is the best policy" is already a moral
bankrupt.
NV charge is to you, in all departments
of life, steer clear of bribery, all of you.
Every man and woman at some time will
ma tamntet to do wrong for compensation.