Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-10-03
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Crooked Things
Subject: Crooked Things


overflow annually obliterated the landmarks
and the restoration of these landmarks made |
such a science necessary--I say geometry |
ever since then has been busy with lines,
straight lines, curved lines lines in angles
and cones and spheres, but has never been
able to evolve any beauty from a line that
was merely crooked. The circle and the
square wns always considered admirable.
Isaiah recognizes the circle and says "Ths
Lord sits upon the circle OF the earth" The
altar Of the ancient tabernacle was flour
square" and the breast plate OF the priests
-four square, and heaven, according to st.
John, is -four square" But the Bible has no
admiration for lines that are merely crooked.
Indeed my text in prophesying the worlds
complete rectification declares, "The crooked
shall be made straight"
There have been so many moral earth
Quakes that many things have got into q tar.
rible twist-crooked laws, crooked Govern
ments crooked fortunes, crooked dispositions
and many Of the efforts to straighten
things have only made them more crooked.
And some good people sit down in despair
and become pessimistic, and give up life, and
the church and the world as dead failures.
With such lachrymose behavior I have no
sympathy. 1t is promise Of the Lord AL
mighty, "The crooked shall be made
straight propose. as I may be divinely
nelped, TO mention some Of the crooked
things that are going to be Strengthened.
Much Of the wealth Of the world Is In the
hands Of the prohgate, while many Of the
best people are subjected to distressing pri-
vation, and there is going to be a redistri-
button ofproperty. II 1t were possible ID
would be a bad thing to have things divided
equally. Some men are able to endure more
success than others, and prosperity that
might not unbalance you might destroy me.
The Declaration Of American Independence
declares that all men are born equal, but the
opposite Is the truth, for they are born un-
equal. In no respect Is this more evident
than In their capacity to endure success,
financial or social. have seen men by the
acquisition of $50, 600 made arrogant and
over erbeariug, and have known others with
their millions of dollars childlike and unas
suming and Christian. We would all be
sffiuent but the Lord cannot trust US. am
glad there are those He can trust.
Much Is said against capitalists, but the
world would be very shaky world without
them. Who built the great railroads which,
while they give such facilities Of travel, em-
ploy tens Of thousands Of laborers, supporting
them and their familiest Capitalists. Who
built great ships that stir the rivers and
! bridge the ocean, Capitalists. Who reared
the thousands of factories all over the land
In which hundreds of thousands Of employees
earn their daily bread' Capitalists. Who
endowed your colleges and opened free II.
braries and built asylums for the orphan, the
crippled and the insane' Capitalists But
for them there would not be an academy Of
music, or picture gallery, or free library,
or steamboat, or a railroad in America.
Who put the world on seventy five years be-
yond what it would have been In enterprise,
IN comforts, in educational advantage, in
good things without numberI Capitalists.
The more money man gets the better, IL
it comes honestly and il employed righteous
ly. Nevertheless we all see that there needs
TO he redistribution Of property. Com
munism proposes to make that distribution
by torch and dagger and dynamite. Throw
the midnight express train or the track and
put the factory into confagration. Disrupt
society, burglarize. assassinate. Such peo-
ole believe neither In God nor man nor wo-
man, and they know how to make things
worse, but never have made and never can
make anything better
tell you how there will come a redistri,
button Of property. Under the divine bless.
ing good people will get more alertness and
acumen and assiduity. Many good people
are kept In straitened circumstances because
they have been indolent or lacked courage tc
take honest advantage Of circumstances, and
were too stupid to get on. With the very
same surroundings others went on to com
peteucy. In the better days to come good
men will have their faculties wakened, anC
8 will In consequence rise 10 larger share o.
. prosperity. On the other hand, estates
wrongfully accumulated will dissolve. II no
D the sons then the grandsons will make th'
money fly, aud it will gradually scatter ii
their hands and become part OF the genera
wealth.
Then, as to vast properties righteousl.
: gathered-and there are thousands OF then
o such estates will contribute toward help
ing the unfortunate, not more by charitie
3 than by helping struggling people into lucra
- tive business and the man who has amasse'
enough and a surplus will say! There Is
t Young merchant without any capital; WI
start him on Fulton street, and There is
u Young mechanic who has no means o. III
X own, and will put him on career OF pro-
perity:n and "There is farmer with too bi
u mortgage on his land, aud | will help hir
n Ift the encumbrance. The fact is that
the kindliness and generosity manifested
10 tnoneyed men toward tho struggling durin
,, the last fifty years increases in the same rat
b" for the next fifty years there will he cond
|. ton Of society paradisiac. we arc going
have MULTIPLICATION OF William Z. Dodg
( and Peter Coopers and James Lcnoxes al
% ueorre peabodys. 80 Will come redistrib
ton, and the crooked will he made ssraigb
III Mind this: God never yet undertook ia
n IRE. The old book, which is worth all 9th
books put together, makes it plain that y,
10 has undertaken to regulate this world
10 gospel influences, andil He has the power
y will do what He says He Will, and no 0
10 who amounts to anything will deny /
"A power God has sand a hundred times
~ will" but never once has scid " canno
". We NAV with our tack hammers pound aw
irving to mend and improve and straight
no the financial condition OF the world, and
disappointed in the result, because our al
is foo weak and the hammer wo WELD
small: but tho most defiant difficulty Y
nd datten and disappear when God with a ma
mer made OF summer thunderbolts strl
la' II. saying, "Ihe crooked snail DO m'
90 straight"
GO In your butiness concerns there are ini
H. ences perplcxing. Your affairs may sc
no all right TO outsiders, for business firms
10 not advertise their private troubles;
b. where one firm has everything tust as
W, wants IL there are hundred firms at tf
TN wits end what to do with that partner "
Nh draws more than his share OF the profits.
with that stockholder who comes IN Just OF
no enough to upset things, or with that dis
nearance OF funds which you cannot acco
'so for. although you have suspicious you c
list not mention; or with that investment VIII
was made contrary to your Judgment
Inc cause there was determination to push
no through, or because you are going beh
mouth by month, without any prospect
ast extrication. The trouble is putting wrir
10 on your forehead that ought not to apr
-"' there for ten years yet, AMI you Will be e
40; years old when you ought TO be only I'M
oil or sixty when you ou ht to be only hftl
seventy when you. ought to be only 81
3D. Stop worrying; either by the dissolution
:. that firm OF by readjusting matters you
lc- be brought safely through IL you put
Get trust in God
When commercial houses fail the sus
er- sion Is advertised but Of the tens OF tn
ies ands of men who ara every day extricate
public mention Is made. Yesterday was
'ial urday, and warrant that at the wind
ro of banks, and In counting rooms OF sd
nS and on every street OF every city God
csc peared for the deliverance OF good me