, 1891-11-28
THOU sHA T NOT STEAL.

A Year Old Sermon which Contains
Truths AS Applicable Today ss Then.
About one year ago Rev. F. C. Ingle-
hart, pastor of the Central Methodist
Episcopal church of Newark, N. j., de-
hvered an interesting address, taking az
his text the Eighth commandment,
"Thou shalt not steal"
He gave the definition of the word de-
falcate as to lop or cut off.
There are several, +" said the minister,
"who have been cutting off n piece in
municipal, county, state and federal de-
partments, and the papers have told the
story of their wrongdoing. If our con-
sciences are too dull to be stung with in
dignation at official misconduct, If We
are so busy with Office, or shop, or store,
or task that we will not cry out against
a betrayal of public trust, we become
silent partners in the theft. We need
reyivals of religion to spiritualize the
people, but we need now more than any
thing else a revival of common honesty.
IAN opinion prevails that public vice
is an attendant or rather an offspring OF
political life, that it starts and grows
and blossoms and bears fruit within the
boundary of public life, that the springs
of vice are opened and that a foul pool i:
opened-a Dead sea in a fertile plain.
The tree whose vile top reaches into pub
lie life stretches down far beneath the
surface and has its roots in the soil Of
private life; the foul lake is fed by
springs that grow from the individual
heart. In a republican form of govern
ment the officers represent the people in
character as well as service. They are
the mirror in which the face of the peo-
pie can be seen. There are many noble
men in office today who are pure as gold
and rue as steel, who would scorn q
bride as they would a scorpion. We
would expect to find such men to repre-
sent the large element Of patriotic, vir-
tuous citizens that move in private life.
We are not surprised to find corrupt
politicians who represent the many
wrongdoings in private life. The rea-
son why there are so many thieves in
office is that there are so many thieves
out of Office.
II went to New York the other day.
l rode on the street car line that had
stolen its way along Broadway. I
passed Wall street, where there are SO
many honorable and dishonorable trans
actions. 1 rode by the city buildings,
every inch Of which is inscribed with
fraud. Ipassed by the B. and o. depot,
and thought of one little man, of only
moderately good digestion, who took
down thousands of miles of wires and
poles and electrical instruments at one
swallow, and looked as if he felt better
who had presently opened his mouth
and taken down engines, passenger
trains, freight trains, bridges and depots
and swallowed them with ease.
II passed by the Stewart building and
thought of the crafty lawyer that put it
and ever so much more in his pocket.
Oh, what a parody on worldly success,
after ALL One day shaking the world
of trade by his tread, and in a day or
two more his bones dangled in a sack at
night and never found-his marble
palace left to the moths and spiders and
his estate absorbed by his confidential
friend and attorney.
THE millions of lies that are told in
trade in one day ought to blister the
tongue. From such a sowing a crop of
public liars and thieves is the inevitable
harvest. The people are to blame.
What is the cure? Let the suspicious
be investigated, let the guilty be pun
ished, let the parties offer their best men
and let the people defeat any lsan who
has a blot on him"