Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1891-03-28
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A PLAGUE OF LIES THE FIFTH OF THE
SERIES OF THE CURSES OF GREAT
CITIES.
Little "whlte Lies" as BLACK as Big Ones.


BROOKLYN, N. Y, March 23-"Ihe
Plague OF Lies" was selected by Dr.
Talmage for the subject OF the filth OF
his discourses on"The Plaques OF These
Three Cities" which he preached yes
terday. His text was Genesis, iii, Il
"Ye shall not surely die" He said;
That was point blank lie. Satan
told it to Eve to induce her TO put her
semi-circle OF white, beautiful teeth
into forbidden apricot, or plum, OF
peach, or apple. He practically SAID 10
her: 20, Eve! Just take bite oil TINS
and you will be omnipotent and omnl-
scient. You shall be as gods just
opposite was the result. 1t was the
first lie that was ever told in our world.
1t opened the way for all the talsehoods
that have ever alighted on this planet.
1t introduced plague that covers all
nations, the 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, and the Rhine, and the T1ber,
and on both sides OF all rivers. The
Egyptian plague lasted only few
weeks, but for 5000 years has ragged
this Plague Of Lies.
There are hundred ways OF telling a
lie. A 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
afterward say may be" softly. These
departures from the truth are called
white lies" but there is really no such
thing as a white lie. The whitest lie
that was ever told was as black as per-
dition. No inventory of public crimes
will be sufficient that omits this gigan-
tic abomination. There are men, high
in church and state, actually useful,
self-denying and honest in many things,
who, upon certain subjects and in GER
tain spheres, are not at all to be de-
pended 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
it is cultivated sin; with some it seems
a natural infrmity.
l have known people who seemed to
have been born liars. The falsehoods
Of their lives extended from cradle to
grave. Prevarications, misrepresenta-
ton and dishonesty of speech appeared
in their first utterances, and was as nat
ural to them as any OF their infantile
Diseases, and were sort OF moral Group
or spiritual scarlatina. But many have
been placed in circumstances where
this tendency has, day by day
been called to larger development. They
have gone from class to class, until
they have become regularly graduated
liars,
The air OF the city is filed with false
hoods. They hang pendant from the
c andeliers OF our finest residences;
they crowd the shelves Of some OF our
merchant princes; they fill the sidewalk
from curbstone to brownstone facing.
They cluster around the mechanics
hammer and blossom from the end OF
the merchants yardstick and sit in the
doors OF the churches. Some call them
fiction" Some style them 'fabrica-
ton" You might say they were sub
terfuge, disguise, delusion, romance,
evasion, pretence, fable, deception, mis-
representation; but, as l am. ignorant OF
anything to be gained by the hiding OF
q God defying outrage under a lexi-
cographer's blanket, shall chiefly call
them what my father taught me to call
them-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 flaunts in false colors. |
The dew sports only genuine diamonds.
Taking farmers as a class, believe |
they are truthful and fair in dealing
and kind hearted, But the regions sur |
rounding our cities do not always send
this sort OF men to our markets. Day
by day there creak through our streets
and about our market houses farm wag-
ons that have not an honest spoke in
their wheels, or truthful rivet from
tongue to tailboard. During the last
few years there have been times when
domestic economy has foundered on the
farmers frkin. Rural districts are &C
customed to rail at great cities
as given up to fraud and
every form Of unrighteous-
ness; but our cities do dot absorb all
the admonitions. Our citizens have
learned the Importance Of not always
trusting to the size and style Of apples
On the ton of n farmers barrel. a. An In