Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-03-23
THE PLAGUE OF LIES.
FIFTH SERMON IN The SERIES on
The CUYS PLAQUES.

DR.. Tstnaxs Fre>ehes = Rerexsis Dts-
sssrss wsiss wiz Apply Equally Well
IN C.snrry sad Clyde mail Not Sure
~ Die." s.saa Told Eve. .sd He LED
NEW Yosx, March .2-'Ths Plague Of
Iies" was selected by Or. 1sinsee for the
subject Of tas ffth Of bis dsscou-ses On
The Plaques 81 These Three Cites which
he preached today. BctA AZ the morning
servios il B4ooklyn AID at the evealng
ssrTiee under the auspices OF The Christian
Herald Ia New York the vast buildings
were not lArys enough 70 held mere Tia a
oae-half the crowd who came 70 hear the
sermon- His text was Genesis III. A. '.Ye
shall not surely die.
That WA a poiat blank lie. Satan told
il 10 Eve 70 induce her 70 put her ssnaiclr-
Gle Of white, beautiful teeth into forbid
den apricos or plum or peach or apple.
He practically said TO her. '-Oh. Eve, Just
take bite Of this and you win De omnIpo-
tent and emniscient You shall be as
gods" Just opposite was the result IL
was the first lie that was ever told In eur
world IL opened the gate for ali the false
hoods that lave ever alighted on this
planet IL introduced plague that covers
ali nations, ths plague of lies. Far worse
than the plaques Of Egypt. for they were
on the banks Of the Nile, but this on the
banks OF the Hudson. on the banks OF the
East river, on the banks OF the Ohio. and
the Mississippi. and the Thames. aud the
Rhine. and the Tiher and on both sides OF
all rivers. The Egyptian plaques lasted
only few weeks, but for six thousand
years has ragged this plague Of lies.
There are hundred ways of telling a
lie. mans entire life may be false
hood. while with his lips he may not once
directly falsify. There are those who state
what is positively untrue, but aftervard
say may De" softly. These departures
from the truth are called white les" but
there is really no such thing as a white lie.
LIE MAY BE TOLD IL MANY WAYS.
The whitest lie that was ever told was as
black as periition. No inventory of pub
Lie crimes will be sufficient that omits this
gigantic abomisation- There are men
high in church and state actually useful,
self denying and honest in many things,
who, upon certain subjects and in certain
spheres, are not at all TO be depended upon
for veracity. Indeed, there are many men
and women who have their notions OF
truthfulness so thoroughly perverted that
they do not know when they are lying
With many 1t is a cultivated sin; with
some it seems = natural infirmity. / have
known people who seemed TO have been
born liars The falsehoods of their lives
extended from cradle to grave. Prevari-
cations, Misrepresentation and dishonesty
of speech appeared in their first utter
ances, and were as natural TO them as any
OF their infantile diseases, and were a sort
OF moral Group or spiritual scarlatina
But many have been placed In circum-
stances where this tendency has day by
day and hour by hour been called to
larger development. They have gone from
attainment TO attainment and from class
to class until they lave become regularly
graduated liars.
The air OF the city Is filed with false
hoods. They hang pendent from the
chandeliers Of our finest residences; they
crowd the shelves OF some Of our merchant
princes, they ell the sidewalk from curb
stone TO brown stone facing; they cluster
around the mechanics hammer. and BIOS
som from tie end of the merchants yard
stick. and sit in the doors of churches.
Some call them fiction" Some style them
fabrication" You might say that they
were subserfuge, disguised, delusion, ro-
nance, evasion. pretense, fable, deception,
misrepresentation; but, as / am ignorant
Of any thing to be gained by the hiding of
a God defying outrage under a lexicog-
rapher's blanket, shall call them what
my father taught me 10 call them-lies.
VARIOUS SORTS OF LIES.
shall divide them into agricultural,
mercantile, mechanical, ecclesiastical and
social lies.
First, then, will speak of those that are
more particularly agricultural. There is
something in the perpetual presence OF
natural objects to make a man pure. The
trees never issue false stock" Wheat
fields are always honest. Rye and oats
never move out in the night, not paying
for the place they have occupied. Corn
shocks never make false Assignments
Mountain brooks are always current"
The gold on the grain is never counterfeit.
The sunrise never faunts in false colors.
The dew sports only genuine diamonds.
Taking farmers "a q class, 1 believe they
are truthful and fair in dealing and kind
hearted But the regions surrounding our
cities do not always send this sort Of men
to our markets. Day by day there creak
7, through our streets and about the mar ket
houses farm wagons that have not an
honest spoke in their wheels or truthful
rivct from tongue to tailboard.
During the last few years there have
been times when domestic economy has
fouudercd on the farmers firkin. Neither
high taxes, nor tho high price of dry goods,
nor the exorbitancy of labor. could ex-
cuse much that the city has witnessed in
the behavior of tho yeomanry. BY the
quiet fre>ides ia Westchester and Orange
counties I hope there may be seasons OF
deep reflection and hearty repentance.
| Rural districts arc accustomed to rail at
great cities as given up to fraud and every
I form Of unrighteou.oc~s, but our cities do
not absorb all the denominations. Our citi-
/ xens have learned the importance OF not
always trusting 70 the size and style Of APP
| pies in the top of a farmers barrel A. an
/ indication Of what may be found farther
/ down Many OF our people are accustomed
/ to watch and sec how correctly a tusbel OF
beess Is measured, and there are not many
/ honest milk cans
Decepsinns do not all cluster round city
I halla When ocr cities sit down and weep
/ over their sins, all the surrounding conn
/ tries ought TO come in and weep with them.
/ There il often hostility on the part Of pro
ducers against traders, a. though the man
7 who raises the corn was necessarily more
/ boncrable than the grain desler vino pours
I L. into hfs mammoth bin. There ought 70
+ be no such hostility. Yet producers often
1 think it no wrong "a snatch away from the
/ trader. and they say to the bargain maker,
lyon get your money easy" Do shsy get
4 if easy' Les those who in the gutet feld
and barn &C. their living exchange places
wish those vho stand today amid The er-
I cis-rnents Of commercial life and see II
( they find Is - very easy.