The Red Cloud chief., 1890-10-03
CROOKED THINGS
The Subject Of . Late eerrnon NJ
d.. Talma0a

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Rubject Of . late sermon 1t Broot..
lyns-JRev. 7. Do witt Talmaee vas:
Crooked Things." Text Isaiah II. 4:
Tho crooked shall be made straight"
Oh. Talmage said:
Geometry, from the time it vss dis-
covered on the banks Of the Nile, which.
by it's overflow annually obliterated the
landmarks, and the restoration OF these
landmarks made such . science neces.
.mry[l say, geometry, I've 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 . line that was
merely crooked. The circle and the
square were always considered admir-
able Isaiah recognizes the circle. and
says: "Tbe Lord sits upon the circle Of
the earth" The altar Of ancient tab.
ernacle was 'four square" and Heaven,
according to John. il ''four suuaro."
But the Bible has no admiration for
line that are merely crooked. Indeed,
my text in prophesying the worlds COM
plete notification. declares: sThe
crooked shall be made strsaght."
There have been SO many moral
earthquakes that many thin9s have got
into a terrible twist-crooked laws,
crooked governmental. crooked fortunes,
crooked d'spositions-and many Of the
efforts to straighten things have only
mace them moro crooked. And some
good people cit down In despair and be-
come pessimistic and give up life and
the church and the world as dead fail
ures With such lachrymose behavior I
have no sympathy. 1t is q promise Of
the Lord Almighty: 1.-The crooked shall
be made straight" propose, Is I may
be divinely helped. to mention some of
the crooked things that are going 10 be
Strengthened.
Much of the wealth Of the world 10 in
the hands of the profigate, while many
OF tho best people are subjected to dis
tressing privatiOn; and there is going to
be a redistribution OF property. II it
were possible it would be . 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 borne equal,
but tho opposite is the truth,
for they arc born unequal. In
no respect is this moro evident than in
their capacity 10 endure success, fnan-
cial or social. / nave seen men, by the
acquisition Of $4,000. made arrogant
and ~overbearing. and j have known
others with their millions of dollars
childlikc and unassuming and Christian.
We would all he ~af'luent but tho Lord
"a nOt trust us. l Am glad there are
those lie can trust Much is said against
capitalists, but the world would be q
very Shaky world without them. Who
built the great railroads which, while
they give such facilities Of travel. I'M
plOy e of thousands Of labOrers, sup
porting them and their families? Capt.
talists Who built great ships that stir
the rivers and bridge the ocean? Capt.
talists. Who reared the thousands Of
factories all over the lane in which
hundreds OF thousands Of employees
earn their daily bread? Capitalists.
Who endowed your C colleges. and opened
free libraries, and built asylums for the
nOrphen. the crippled and the insane?
9falists. But for them there would
h be an academy OF music,
or a picture gallery, or a free
library, or a steamboat, or q rail-
road in America. Who putthe world on
scventy-five years beyond what it would
have been in enterprise, in comforts, In
educational advantage. in good things
without number? Capitalists! The
more money a man gets tho better, il 1t
come honestly and is employed right
eOusly. Nevertheless We all see that
there needs to be a redistribution OF
property. Communism proposes to make
that distribution by torch and dagger
and dynamite. Throw the midnight ex-
press train of the track and put the
factory into cOn1agration. Disrupt So
ciety. l;urglar;ze. Assassinate. Such
people believe neither in (;Od nor man
nor and they know how to make
things worse, but never have made and
never car make any thing better.
tell YOU how there will come q re-
distribution of property. Under the di-
vine blessing good people will get more
alertncss and acumen and assiduity.
Many good people are kept in strait
cned circumstances because they have
been indolent or lacked tho courage TO
take honest advantage of c~.rcunstanccs
and were too stupid to get on. With
the very same surroundings others
went on to competency. In the
better days TO come good men will
have their faculties wakened and will
in consequence rise to larger shares Of
prosperity. On She other hand Estates
wrongfully accumulated will dissolve.
If not the sons, then the grandsOns, will
make the money fly and 1t will gradually
scatter in their hands and become q part
of tho general wealth. Then. - 70 vast
properties righteously, ga~thered-and
there are thousands Of thcm such o.
tates will contribute toward helping tho
unfortunate. not Tor by charities than
by helping struggling people into lu-
crative business, and the man who has
amassed enough and . surplus will say:
ssThcre is a young merchant without
any capital. I will start him on Fulton
street" and "there is \ young mechanic
who has no means OF his own. and I will
put him on a career Of prosperity" and
''there is a farmer with too big a mort
gage on his land, and l will help him
lift the incumbrance." The fact is that
If the kindness and generosity mani
tested by moneycd men toward the
struggling during the last fifty years,
increases in the same ratio for the next
fifty years. there will be . condition of
society paradisaic.
Mind this: God never yet undertook
Q failure. The old book. which IL worth
ali other books put together, makes it
PLAIN that God has undertaken to regu-
late this world by Gospel influences and
II He has the power He will do what
lie says He will, and NO n who
>~oc,utc 20 onv fhfmO ~,il1 Aonu HE