Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-06
HONESTY.
The Subject Upon Which Mr.. Williams
Preached Last Night-HiS Sermon.
The Individual Who Claims to be Christian
Should See That His Life and Pro-
fession Conform.

Evangelist williams continues to draw
the people TO his pulpit. His exegesis of
the Bible, With which he barbs his de-
nunciations of the sins of this world, and
by which to renew the sway of morality,
seems to be popular.
The Baptist church was well filled last
night to hear his sermon on honesty.
After the hymnal music was rendered by
Professor and Mrs. Town er, Dixon VIII
liams asked several of those who had
made professions of faith before him to
give testimony thereof. MIR. Phillips
DR.. Field, Messrs. Henry Field, Z.
C. Drake, Edward Mason and
Mr.. Beck expressed their sbid-
ing faith in the efficacy of the
Christian religion to make them bette T
men. Pertinent to these testimonials OF
the quality of the regene ration OF the
Christian religion, MIR. Williams quoted
from l. John sentence, the substance
of which is, he that makes a profession
of faith to abide II Him ought to walk
even as He walked, or the safety of the
godly is in their abiding of the faith.
The evangelist said that the individual
who lays claim to being Christian should
certainly see that his life conformed to
his profession of faith; that the world
has suffered greatly in spiritual sense
from the sins of commission and the IN
constituencies of Christians. The churcn
must bear them, but at the same
tins it should not be made to
bear them. 1t does not argue that
the grand system Of Christianity is a
nillity because the sins of the flesh ana
the temptations of the devil bring those
who were once its adherents into disre-
pute. The pure principles of good that
inhere in the system are vitiated II
not sustained by the once penitent, but
the cause is hurt.
Now, said he, l would like TO call your
attention to the practical application of
q Christian life. TO live religtously, to
seek the Lord God as the Saviour and
Redeemer of the world, and as pre-
requisite to your uplifting, is necessary to
keep away the extraneOus influences that
surround the man of trade. What the
church needs is wave Of honesty, and
the greatest burden that the pastor has
to bear is dishonesty. Just as sure as
certain business methods of the world
are promulgated and continued,
prevail and antagonism exits. You
should give to man what belongs to man,
to "Cesar what belongs to Caesar, - aud
the man vino fails to do thus in business
is not fit for the kingdom of God nor will
he ever put his foot there. Take for
that thing which you propose to sell,
fair and just compensation, but beyond
! that, let me assure you the principles
| of God deuounce. The evangelist
| referred to hi 8 own experience in the
! bauking business. He said that your
ensployer would tell you that y" had
| made a good record when you had taken
| as many pounds of flesh and as much
usury , not too fragrant, and had swelled
| the dividends at the end OF the year.
| He spoke of the more direct con-
prevention Of the moral law,
namely, not paying your debts.
! He said that the most valuable heritage
handed down to your boy is the legacy of
| honesty. He referred again to his own
| life. He admitted that be had owned a
race horse upon whose speed he had
| gambled, but with the exception of that
| gained from the pool boxes he had
| paid dollar for dollar, and with
! the rate OF interest added.
| You might consider me a crank said he,
but if you had gene with me to the hut
of a widow woman, with whose husband
| had won money on horse race, and
would have seen the p inChed and pallid
faces Of the children in want, and heard
the woman say as he refunded the
money, she didn't know where the
bread for Tomorrow was coming from,
the sweet experience of the righting Of Il
wrong could be seen. If you clean up
your back record and pay your back
debts you will be surprised to find so
much money that you have spent belong
ing TO other people. He said that there
were people of this kind also that brought
shame onto the church, and illustrated
it with an individual who once walked
into q bank.
HWhat kind Of O man is he?" asked
someone of the bank president as the ln-
dividual walked out.
"Well - said the banker, she can
pray loud at prayer meeting, is prolific
with Biblical quotations, but notwith-
standing his god-like sense he hash t got
the manhood sense.
From which inference might be drawn
that he did not pay his debts.
In closing his sermon he said that 1t
was an easy thing to make profession
in the church, but the main thing was to
stand by 1t. He asked if there was any
thing in the life of Christ, the history of
the church, or in the life of q conse-
Grated Christian, which you need be
ashamed Off