The Penn's Grove record., 1891-04-03
RET. DR.. lALNAGES SERMON.
rhs Brookln Divinsfs Sunday
Sermon,
Subject The Plague of Lies"
TEXT. ~. lsail not ,sr.,y as."-1sn.is

TEXT, "Ys Isall not sursly di&H-Ganssis
ILL.,,
That was q point blank lie. Satan told u
to Eve to induce her to put her ssmicircle OF
white, beautiful teeth into q forbidden
apricot or plum or peach or apple. He prac-
tically said to her, tOh, Eve, just take . bite
omniscient. You shall be as gods" just
opposite was the result. 1t was the first lie
that was ever told In our world. It opened
the gate for all the falsehoods that have ever
alighted on this planet. 1t introduced q
plague that covers all nations, the plague Of
les. Far worse than the plaques Of Egypt
for they were on the banks of tho 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, n
the Rhine, and the Tiber, and on both hides
Of all rivers. The Egyptian plaques lasted
only a few weeks, but for SIX thousand years
has ragged this plague Of lies.
There are o hundred ways OF telling
lie. A mans entire life may be a ~falsahood,
while with his lips he may not oncs directly
falsify. There are those who state what is
positively untrue. but afterward say may
be- softly. These departures from the truth
are called white lies;;n but there Is really no
such thing as q white lie.
The whitest lie chat was ever told was as
q ~ pct y ANS
crimes will be sufficient that omits this gi-
gantic a~bomination. There are men high in
church and state actually useful self-denying
and honest In many things who, upon cer-
tain subjects n in certain spheres, are not
At all to be depended upon for veracity. In
have their notions Of t~ruthfulness 90 thor
oughly perverted that they do not know
when they are lying. With many it Is a cul.
tivated sin; with some It seems q natural In
trinity. I "a known people VINO seemed
to ave been born liars. The faisehoods OF.
their lives extended from cradle to grave.
Presentations, misrepresentation and dis
honesty OF speech appeared in their first ut
terances, and were as natural to them as any
of their lnfantile diseases, and we're a sort Of
moral Group or spiritual scarlatina. But
many have been placed in circumstances
where this tendency has day by day n
hour by hour been 1lled to larger develop
ment. They have gone from attainment 70
attainment and from class to class until they
have become regularly graduated liars.
The air Of the city Is filed with falsehoods.
They hang psndent from the chandeliers OF
our finest residences; they crowd the shelves
of some our merchant princes; they NIL the
sidewalk from curbstone to brown stone
facing; they cluster around the mechanics
hammer, and blossom from the end OF thu
merchants yardstics, and sit in the doors OF
churches. Some call them fiction" Some
style them fabrication" You might say
that they were subterfuge, disguised, deiu-
sion, romance, evasion, pretense, fable, decep.
ton, Misrepresentation, but, as / am igno-
rant of anything to hs gained BY the hiding
OF a God defying outrage under a lexico-
grapher's blanket Ishali call them what my
father taught me to call them lies
I shall divide them into agricultural, mer.
camille, mechanical, ecclesiastical, and social
lies.
First, then. I will speak OF those that are
more particularly agricultural. There Is
something in the perpetual presence OF
natural objects to make . man pure. Tns
trees never issue '.talss stock" Wheat fields
are always honest. Rye and oats never more
out In the night not paying for the plaza
they, havs occupied. Corn shocks never
make false assignments. Mountain brooks
are always current Thsg gold on the grain
y never counterfsit. The sunrise never
genuine diamonds. Taking farmers as a
class, I believe they are truthful and fair in
dealing and kind hsarssd. But tbs regions
surrounding our cities do not always send
this sort Of men to our markets. Day by day
there creak through q streets about
the market houses farm ~ssons that have
not an honest spoke In their wheels Or Q truth.
ful rivst from tongue to tailboard
During the last few years thae have bssn
times when domestic economy aas foun-
dered on the farmers frkin. Neither high
taxe1 nor the high price Of dry goods nor
the exorbitancy Of labor, could excuse much
that the city has witnessed in the behavior
q W. sas Sss@ ana Orange re csantiss ] hope
there may b seasons Of deep retsction and
hearty repentance. Rural districts are ac-
custoned to rail at great cities As given up
to fraud and every form OF unrighteousness,
but our cities do not absorb all the
lions. Our citizens have learned the import
ancs Of not always trusting to the size and
STYLE Of apples in the top OF q farmers bar.
rel as an indication of what may be found
farther down. Many of our people are &C.
,ustomed to watch and see how correctly a
bushei Of beets 10 measured, and there are
not many honest milk cans.
Deceptiors do not all cluster round city
halls. When u cities sit down and
weep over their sins, all the surrounding
countries ought to come in and weep with
them. There Is often hostility on the part OF
producers against traders as though the
nan who raises the corn was necessarily
more honorable than the grain dealer who
pours II into his mammoth bin inere ought
to DO no such hostility. Yet producers oreeii
think 1t no wrong to snatch away tom the
trader; and they say to the bargain naser,
sYor get your money easy Do they get
IL easyf Let those who In tho quiet tsid
and barn get their living exchange places
with those who stand to-day amid the ex-
elements of commercial Life and see II they
find so Is very easy.
While the farmer goes to sleep with the
assurance that bis corn and barley Will be
growing all the night moment by
adding 70 his revenue, this merchant IS 10
90 to sleep conscious that that momsut his
cargo may be broken on the rocks or dam
aged by the wave that sweeps Gear across
the hurricane osck, or that reckless sp:cu-
larors may that very hour b plotting some
monetary revolution. or the burglars be
prying open his safe, or bis doctors hsaiug
The town. or bis Landlord raising the rent or
the fires kindlirg N the block that contains
all his estate. Easyl Is ief God help
the merchants Il il hard to have the PAINS
OF the hands blistersd with outdoor work,
but a more dreadful process when through
mercantile anxistiss the brain 10 consumed.
In the next place We notice mercantile
lies, those before tho counter q behind toe
counter, will mot attennPt 70 specify the
different ferns Of commercial talsshood.
There are merchants who excuse themselves
for deviation from r~ruthtulness because Of
what they call commsrcial custom. In other
words, the multiplication and universally
of a sin turns II into q virtus. There have
been large fortunes gathered where there
was MOI one drop Of ~unrequited toll In rns
VINE: not one spark OF bad temper flashing
from the rome bracket; not ons crop OF
needle woman's heart bloot In tae crlulso9
plush, while there are other great establish
ments in which there is not one door knoo,
not one brick, not one trinket. not one thread
of lace but has upon it the marx OF dishonor.
What wonder If, some day, q hand Of toll
that had been wrung and worn out and bis
tered Until the skim came of should be placed
against the elegant wall paper, leaving its
OF blooi-four fingers and a thuulo-
or that some day, walking tho halls, there
should be q voice sccosting toe o~ccupant,
saying, six cents for making a shirt" and,
dying the room, another voice 8 ould say,
Twelve cents Ior an army blanket" and
The man saould trv to sleep at night but
ever and anon 10 rouse nul getting up
on one elbow. ,,e should shrek our WHO'S
there"
one Sabbath night In the vsstibuls OF my
rhurch aftey service, g woman fell In convui
iiouS o. '.or said she needed medicine
,ot 50 much as something to eat. As she
began to rsviv. in her delirium- she said,
r~aspinely, Eight Genital Eight centst
Eicht centsi I wish ] could get it done; Ian
20 tiredi I wish ! 4ould get some sleep but
must get It donel Eight cents! Eigee
centsf We found out aftsrward aha
was making garment, for eighs
cents apiece and that she could maks
inf thread them in q davt TE 60 times