Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-03-20
A EAUTTFUL INCIDENT SET no
Music.
DR. TALMAeE's SERMON SUNDAY, MARCH 10.
DRooKLYN, March 10.-At the Taber.
Dnacle this morning six thousand voices
supported by organ and cornell, rolled
out the bymn beginning:

supported by organ and cornell, rolled
out the hymn beginning:
Meier think the victory won,
Nor once at ease sit down;
Thine arduous work will not be done
Till thou hast got thy crown.
The Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D. d.
preached the sermon. His subject was,
Wrong Uses Of Money" and his text, l,
into tenn ptation and a snare, ard into many
foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men
in destruction and perdition."
That is the Niagara Falls over which rush
a multitude of souls-namely, the determi-
nation to have money anyhow, right or
wrong. Tell me how a man gets bis money
and what he does with it, and l will tell
you his character, and what will be his des-
tiny in this world and the next. | propose
to speak this morning about some of the
ruinOus modes of getting money.
We recently passed through a national
election in which it has been estimated that
thirty million dollars were expended. I
think about twenty millions of 1t were
spent in out and out bribery. Both parties
raised all they could for this purpose. But
that was only on large scale what has
been done on smaller scale for fifty years,
and in all departments.
Politics from being the science of good
government has often been bedraggled into
che synonym for truculency and turpitude.
A monster sin, plausible, potent, pestifar-
GUS, has gone forth to do its dreadful work
in all ages. Its two hands are rotton with
leprosy. 1t keeps its right baud hidden in
deep pocket The left hand is clenohed,
and with its icherous knuckle it taps at the
door of the curt room, the Legislative ball,
the congress and the parliament. The door
swings open and the monster enters, and
gldes through tho aisle of the council
chamber as softly as slippered page, and
then it takes it's right hand from it's deep
pocket and offers it IN salutation to judge
or legislator. If that hand be taken, and
the palm of the intruder cross the palm of
the official, the leprosy crosses from palm
to palm in a round botch, round as gold
eagle, and the virus spreads, and the doom
is fixed. and the victim perishes. Let bri-
berry, accursed of God and map, stand up
for trial.
The Bible arraigns it again and again.
Samuel says of his two sons who became
judges, 'sThey 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" Eliphas foretells the
crush ing blows of Gods indignation, de.
claring, "Fire shall consume the taber.
nacles of bribery"
1t is no light TEN otation. The mightiest
have fallen under 1T. Sir Frauois Bacon,
Lord Chancellor of England, founder of oul
modern philosophy, author of ';Novum
Orgauum," and whole library of books.
the leading thinker of his century, 80 pre-
cocious that when little child he was ask.
ed by Queen Elizabeth, ''How old are
you9" he responded, 81 am two yea,i
younger than your Majesty's happy reign
of whose oratory Ben. johnson wrote,
''The fear of every man that heard him
was lest he should make an end;'' having
an income which you would suppose would
have put him beyond the temptation ot
bribery-thirty-six thousand dollars year
and Twickenham court gift. and priucel5
estates in Hertfordshire and Gorhambury-
yet under this TEN ptation to bribery falling
fat into ruin, anu on his confession of TAX
ing bribes, giving as excuse that all hi
predecessors took them, he was tiued tBt
hundred thousand dollars, or W hat CORES
ponds with our two hundred thou sand del
lars, and imprisoned in Loudon tower. Sc
also Lord Chapcellt.r Macclesfield fill; 81
also Lord Chancellor Waterbury peris'hed
The black chapter in English, Irish, Fre.act
and American politics is the chapter of bri-
berry. Some of you remember the Pacific
Mail subsidies. Most of you remember the
awful tragedy of the Credit MobilIer. Un-
der the temptation to bribery Benedict
Arnold sold the fort in the Highlands for
$31, ,575. For this sin GoIgey betrayed
Hungary, Ahithopbel forsook David and
Judas kissed Christ. When see so many
of the illustrous going down under this
temptation, it makes me think of the red
dragon spoken of in Revelation, with seven
heads and ten horns aud seven crowns,
drawing third part of the stars of heaven
down after him. The lobbies of the Legs
| latures of this country control the country.
The land is drunk with bribery
sOh," says some one, 'tthere's no need
of talking against bribery by promise or by
dollars, because every man has his price,
I do not believe it. Even heathenism and
the dark ages have furnished specimens Of
incorruptibilIty. A cadi of Smyrna had a
case brought before him on trial. A mau
gave him five hundred ducats in bribery.
The case came on. The briber had many
witnesses. The poor man on the other side
had no witnesses. At the close of the case
the cadi said: 'sThis poor man has no wit
nesses, he thinks; shall produce in his be
half five hundred witnesses against the
other side." Aud then pulling out the bag
of ducats from under the ottoman, he dash
ed it down at the feet of the briber, saying
81 give my decision against you." Epami
l.. cos1 4