Sharp County record., 1890-10-09
"CROOKED THINGS"
roa of the Crooked Things that
4 re Going to be Strengthened.
T. Dewitt Talmage Takes UP the
knbject of CroOltedness and En-
Jeayors to Take Some of the
Kinks TherefrOm.

he following discourse on CROOKED
nos" was delivered by Rev. l.
gNitt Talmage in the Brooklyn Acad-
.uy of Music, from the text
4 u crooked shall be made straight
H1|ah xi,
Ceometry, from the time it was discov-
- on the banks of the Nile, which,
Lis overflow annually obliterated the
lcudmarks, and the restorations OF
fhose landmarks made such science
necessary-I say geometry every
since then has been busy with llnes'
etraigh, lines, curved lines, lines IN
,neles and cones and spheres, but mas
never been able to evolve any beauty
from line that was merely crooked
The circle and the square were always
considered admirable. Isaiah recog,
nizes the circle and says: The Loru
sits upon the circle of the earth Inc
altar of the ancient tabernacle was
sfour square," and the breastplate ol
the priests -four square" and Heaven,
and st. John, is -four square" But the
Bible has no admiration for lines thal
are merely crooked. indeed, my text
in prophesying the worlds complete
ratification declares: "The crooked
shall be made straight"
There have been somany moral earth
quakes that many thing have got into
~ = terribie twist-crooked laws, crooked
eoyernments, crooked fortunes, crooked
<a7iapositions-and many of the efforts to
sEraighten things have only made them
more crooked. And somo good people
. sit down in despair and become pessi'
\ mistic and give up life and the
church as dead failures. With such
lachrymose behavior l have no SYM
pathy. 1t is a promise of the Lord
Almighty. 1.-THE crooked snail be made
straight" l propose, as l may be di'
; vinely helped, to mention some of the
crooked things that are going to be
straightened.
Much of the wealth of the world is in
the hands of the profigate, while many
ol he best people are subjected to dis
tressing privation; and thore is going
TO be redistribution Of property. If il
were possible, it would be a bad thing
70 lave things divided equally. Some
men are able to endure more success
than others, and prosperity that might
/. n0t'unbanncs you might destroy me
Tho Declaration of American Independ
onc8 declares that all men are borr
equal, but the opposite is the truth, fol
they are born unequal, In no respect il
1h|tnore evident than in their capacity
to81dure success financial or social.
h87t seen men by the acquisi
tio1 of $4,000 made arrogan
anl overbearing, and l have
3 &14Fn others with their mill
of dollars childlike and unassum
n i4 and Christian. We would all be
a "a bnt but the Lord can not trust US
b
4n is said against capitalists, but the
QE would be a very shaly world with.
I gA1them. Who built the great rail
!o14 which, while they give such
k1o|Ilties of travel, employ tens Of
tn9qsands of laborers, supporting them
a1Q their families? Capitalists. Who
hat u+. ln al,
Sn4 bridge the ocean? Capitalists
Wn0reared the thousands of factorie!
\ elL 0fer the land in which hundreds O
1ooQ1ands OF employees earn their daily
Qfead? Capitalists. Who endowed
yourcolleges, and opened free librarie es
~ ana built asylums for the orphan, thu
orlppled and the insane? Capitalists
nut 1or them there would not be ar
eoaqemy OF music, or picture gal
Aer{1or free library or a steamboat
K " Eailroad in America. Who put the
n on seventy-fvo years beyont
n1v ~ would have been in enterprise
X '' N v4nforts, in eductional advantage. /,
o'4 thlngs without number? Capital
! no more money man gets thu
NJ 4<7f II it come honestly and is en-
Ra.!oy9Q righteously. Nevertheless WI
~ ;. e.' !..s - that there needs to be a redis
's'oeton OF property. Communism
Q'oposes to make that distribution b,
Y nnd dagger and dynamite Throw
no u-n
and put the factory into conflagra
Disrupt society. Burglarizc.
n1a.7slnate' Such people believe
'ner IN God, nor man nor woman
sno they know how to make thing,
wossQ put never have made and never
osI ne IKE any thing better.
n you how thero will come 70
Rutlon OF property, Under tho Di
\. 'essing good people will get more
ess and accumen and assiduitv
good people are kept in straiph
I 'rcumstances because they are in
s's S2's't$or ~ lacked courage to take homes,
Y .' !Foge OF circumstances, and werc
+. PA to get on. With tho YER,
snrroundings others went on te
< Ia ency' In the better days to come
!. pen will have their facultie,
!. :. -. PED, and will in consequence
41 larger share OF prosperity
sne other hand, estates wrong
accumulated will dissolve. Il
" 'he sons then the grand
n, ~ make tho money fly, md /,
"'' Hmdually scatter in their hand,