Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-03-29
FALMAGE'S SEkMON.
The Weekly DisoOurSss of the Great
BROOKLYN Preacher.
Subject: Wrong Uses of
Money"


IN destruction and perditioa. III Timothy
vi, q
That is the Niagara Falls over which rush
q multitude of souls, namely the determine
tion to have money anyhow right or wrong
Tell me how a man gets his money and what
be does with it, and ] will tell you his char
aoter and what will be- his destiny in this
world and tine next. Iproposa to speak this
morning a out 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 Think
about twenty million of it were spent in out
and out bribery. Both parties raised all
they could for this purpose. But that was
only on a large scale what has been done on
a smaller scale for fifty years and in all de-
partments.
Politics from being the science of good
government has often been bedragEled into
the synonym for truculency and turpitude.
A monster sim plausible, potent pe,tlterous,
has gone forth to do its dreadful work in
all ages It's two hands are rotten with
leprosy. 1t keeps its right hand hidden in a
deep pocket The left hand is cenched, and
with its ichorous knuckle it taps at the door
of the court room, the legislative hall, the
congress and the parliament. Inc
door swings open and the monster
enters and ghdes through the aisle of the
council ohamber as softly as sppered page,
and then it takes its right hand from It's
deep pocket and offers it in sautatlon to
Judge or legislator If that hand he taken,
and the palm of the intruder cross the palm
of the official, the leprosy crosses from palm
TO palm in a round blotCh, round as gold
eagle, and the virus spreads, and the doom is
fixed, and the victim pershes Let bribery,
accused of God and man, stand up for trial.
The Bible arraigns it again and again.
EaulYtpI saws Of his two sons who became
judges: "1hey took brides and perverted
Judgment" David says of some of his pur-
surers: "Their right hand is full OF brides"
Amos SAYS of some men in his day: 'Ihey
take bride and turn aside the poor In the
gate" Eliphaz fortelis the crushing blows
of Gods indignation, declaring! Fire shall
consume the ttbernables of bribery"
1t is no light temptation. The mighttest
have fallen under ii. Sir Francis Bacon,
Lord Chancellor of England, founder OF our
modern philosophy, author of "Novum
Organum" and whole library of books,
the leading thinker of his century, SO
precocious that when little child he was
asked by Queen Elizabeth: How old
are your he responded, 81 am two years
younger than your Majestys happy
reign" of whose oratory Ben. johnson
wrote: "The fear of every man that heard
him was lest he should make an end" hav-
ing an income which you would suppose
would have put him beyond the temptation
of Undergraduates thousand dollars a
year, and Twickenham court a gift, and
Princely estates in Hertfordshire and Cor
hamburg yet under this temptation
to bribery falling flat into ruin,
and on his confession of taking
bribes, giving as excuse that all
his predecessors took them; he was fined
two hundred thousand dollars. or what cor
responds with our two hundred thousand
dollars, and imprisoned in London tower.
So also Lord Chancellor Maccesfeld fell; so
also Lord ChancellorW Waterbury persisted. The
black chapter in English, Irish, French and
American politics is the chapter of bribery
Some Of you remember the Pacific Mail
subsidies. Most of you remember the awful
tragedy of the Credit Mohilier Under
the temptation to bribery Benedict Arnold
sold the fort in the Highlands for
SS1,575 For this sin Gorgey betrayed
Hungary, Ahithophel forsook David and
Judas kissed Christ When | see so many
of the ilustrious going down under this
temptation, it makes me think of the red
dragon spoken of in Revelation, with seven
heads and ten horns and seven crowns,
drawing third part of the stars of heaven
down after him. The lobbies of the legisla-
lures of this country control the country.
The land is drunk with bribery.
"Oh," says some one, there's no need OF
talking against bribery by promise or by
OOlhTb, DeCduSe every man nus HlS price.
do not believe it, Even heathenism and the
dark ages have furnished specimens of in
compatibility. A cad of Smyrna had 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 side had no witnesses. AT
the close Of the case the cadi said: "This
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 otto
man, he dashed it down at the feet
of the briber, saying: 81 give my
decision against you" e, "EPam-
this thing if it be right and if it be wrong
all your goods cannot persuade me-
Fabricius of the Roman senate was offered G
bride by Pyrrhus of Macedon. Fabriciui
answered: what an example this would bt
to the Roman people: you keep your riches
and will keep my poverty and reputation.
The President Of the American Congress
during the American Revolution, Genera
Reed, was offered ten thousand guineas by
foreign commissioners If he would betray
thi country. He piled: Gentlemen, an
very poor man, but tell your King he i
not rich enough to buv me-" But whv or
SO rar when you and L, If we move il
honorable society, know men and women Wit
hell could not be bribed. They would n,
more be bribed than you would think o
tempting an angel of light to exchange HEAVIER
for the pit. To offer bride is villany, bu
1t Is very poor compliment to the man t.
whom it is offered.
l have not much faith in those people VIII,
60 about Dragging how much they could ge
If they would only sell out. Those womel
who complain that they are very often in
su ted need to understand that there is some
thing in their carriage to invite insult
There are men in Albany and at Har
rishurg and at Washington who would n
more be approached by bride than pirat
boat with few cutlasSes would dare to al
tack British man-of-war with two banks G
guns on each size loaded to the touch hole
They are incorruptible men, and they ar
the few men who are to save the city an
save the tAnd. Meanwhile, my &C
vice is to all people to keep out of polite
unless you are invulnerable to this style c
p temptation. Indeed, if you are NATURAL
strong, you need religious buttressint
Nothing but the grace of God can sustai
our public men and make them what W
wish. | wish that there might come a
old fashioned revival of religion, tina
1t might break out in Congress and
the Legislatures and bring many of the leac
ing Republicans and Democrats down on tt
anxious seat of repentance That day wi
come, or something better for the Bib d.
clares that Kings and Queens shall becon
nursing fathers and mothers to the church
and if the greater in authority, then certain
ly the less
My charge also to parents IS, remembe
that this evil of bribery often begins in til
home circle and in the nursery. Do NJ
bride your children. Teach them to do thG
which Is right and not because of the te
cents or the orange you will give then
There is q greatdifference between rewardin
virtue and making the profits thereof th
impelling motive. That man who is hone
merely because honesty is the best policy
is already moral bankrupt.
My charge is to you, In al departments {
life, steer clear of bribery, all of you. Ever
man and woman at some time will
tempted to do wrong for compensation. tt
bride may not be offered in monay II ma