Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-23
THE PLAGUE OF LIES
Chosen as the Subject of the Fifth of
Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage's
SERMONS on THE EVILS OF CITIES
a Habit Which the Tempter Originated in
the Garden of Eden.
MERCHANTS CAN Be WHOLLY HONEST
-rrEc1AL TELEGRAM TO THE p1sPArcH.i

rsPEcIAI TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATcH.i
NEW YORK, March 22-"The Plague of
Lies" was selected by DR.. Talmage for the
subject of the 9th of his discourses on
'The Plaques of These Three Cities, F." which
he preached to-day. Both at the morning
service in Brooklyn and at the evening SER
vice in New York, the vast buildings were
not large enough to hold more than one-half
the crowd who came to hear the sermon.
His text was Genesis ill, 4: 'Ye shall not
surely die"
That was point blank lie. Satan told it to
Eve TO induce her to put her semi-clrcle of
white, beautiful teeth into forbidden apricot,
or plum, or peach, or apple. He practically
said to her: "Oh Eve! Just take bite of this
and you will be omnipotent and omniscent
You shall be as gods" Just opposite was the
result 1t was the first lie that was ever told in
"ur world. 1t opened the gate for all the false
hOoGs that have ever alghted on this planet
1t introduced plague that covers all nations,
the prague of lies. Far worse than the plaques
of Egypt, for they were on the banks of the
Eile but this is on the banks of theH uCson, on
the banks Of the East river. on the banks of the
Ohio, and the Mississippi, and Thames. and the
Rhine. ard the 1lber and on both sides of all
Iivers. The Egyptian plaques lasted only a few
weeks, but for 6,OOO years has ragged this plague
OF lies.
4DeGe are nunQreQ ways OF Lelllng lle A
mans entire life may be falsehood, while
with his lips he may not once directly falsify.
There are those who state what is positively
untrue, but afuerward say may be," softly.
These departures from the truth are called
''whIie les; but there is really no such thing
as a white lie. The whiteSt lie that was ever
told was as black as perclltion- No inventory of
public crimes VIII lie sufficient that omits this
gigantic ahOminaIiOn. There men, high in
Church and State, actually useful self-deny-
iaG and honest in many things, who, upon cer-
u .YA1ff
al to be depended upon for veracity. Indeed.
there are many men and women who have their
notions of tTUshfulness so thoroughly per-
vertec, that they do not know when they are
lying. With many II is a cultivated sin; with
some 1t seems natural inhrmity
People Who Are Born Liars
have known people vino seemed to have
been born liars. The falsehoods of their lives
extended from cradle to grave Prevarications,
misrepresentation, and dishonesty of speech,
appeared in their first utterances and were as
natural to them as any of their infantie dis
eases, and were sort of moral Group spir-
i-ual scarlauna. But many have been placed in
circumstances where this tendency has day by
day, and hour by hour, been called to larger
development. They have gone from attain
meHt to attainment and from class to class,
until they have become regularly graduated
liars.
The air of the city is filled with falsehoods.
They hang pendant from the chandeliers Of
our finest residences; they crowd the shelves
OF some of our merchant princes: they fill the
sidewalk from curbstone TO Drownstone facing.
They cluster around the mechanics hammer
and blossom from the end of the merchants
yard-stick, and sit in the doors of churches
Some call them "fctiOn." Some STYLE them
fabrication" You might say that they were
subtertuge, disguise, delusiOn, romance,
sion, Dretense. fable, deception, misrepresenta-
tIon: but, as am ignorant of anything to be
gained by the hiding of God-defring outrage
under a photographers blanket. l shall chiefly
call them what my father taught me to call
them-lies.
I shall divide them into agricultural mercan-
tile, mechanical ecclesiastical and social lies.
First, then, l speak of those that are more
particularly agricultural. There is something
in the perpetual presence of nat -ral 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 occ !pied. Corn
shocks never make false assignments. Noun
tain brooks are always current" The gold
the grain is never counterfeit. The sunrise
never tauntS IN false colors. The dew sports
only genuine diamonds. Taking farmers as a
class. I believe they are truthful and fair in
dealing. and kInd-hearted. Bur the regions
surrounding our cities do not always send this
Sort OF men to our markets. Day by day there
creak through our streets, and about the mar
Bet houses, farm wagons that have not an
honest spoke in their wheels, or a truthful
rivet from tongue to tailbOarG. During the
last few years there have been times when
domestic economy has foundered on the
farmers hrkin.
The Country Not Entirely Innocent.
Neither high taxes, nor the high price of
drygoods. nor the exorbitancy of labor, could
excuse much that the city has witnessed in the
behavior Of the yeomanry. BY the quiet fire.
sides in Westcbestcr and Orange counties
hope there may he seasons OF deep reflection
and hearty repentance. Rural districts are ac-
customed to rail at great cities as gwen up to
fraud and every form of unrighteousnesS; but
Our cities do not absorb all the denominations
Our citizens have learned the Importance of
not always trusting TO the size and style of ap-
pies in the top of farmers barrel, as an ind-
cation Of what may be found farther down.
Many OF our people are accustomed to watch
and see how correctly bushel of beets is
measured; and there are not many honest milk
cans.
Decepticns do not all cluster round city halls
When our cities sit down and weep over their
sins, all the surrounding countries ought 10
come in and weep with them. There is often
hostility on the part of producers against
traders, as though the man who raises the corn
was necessarily more honorable than the grain
dealer, who pOurs it into his mammoth bin.
There ought 10 be no such hostility. Yet pro-
oucers ottenthink i no wrong to snatch away
from the trader; and they say to the bargain
maker, You get your money easy" Do they
get il easy Let those who in the quiet field
and barn get their living exchange places with
those who stand to-day amid the excitements
OF commercial life and see if they find it SO
very easy. While the farmer goes to sleep with
the assurance that his corn and barley will be
growing all the night. moment by moment add
aug 10 his revenue. the merchant tries to go to
sleep. conscious that that moment his cargo
may be broken the rocks, or damaged by
the wave that sweeps clear across the hurri-
cane deck: or that reckless spectators NAV,
that very hour, be plotting some mOmentary
revolution, OF the burglars be prying open his
safe, or his debtors fleeing tile town or his
landlord raising the rent. or the fires kindling
the block that contains all his estates
Easyi Is it God help the merchants! IL is
hard TO have the palms of the hands blIstered
with outdoor work; but more dreadful pro-
cess when, through mercantile anxietIes, the
brain Is consumed.
In the next place notice mercantile lies
those before the counter and behind tina
counter. l will not attempt to specify the diff
1erenL forms of commercial falsehoud. There
are merchants VINO excuse themselves for de-
Walton from truThfulness because OF what they
call commercial custom. IN other words the
multiplication and universality of a sin turps
IL INTO vlrtue. There have been large for
tunes gathered where there was not one drop
of unreQuited toll in the wine; rot one spark of
bad temper flashing from the bronze bracket;
not one drop of needle woman's heart-blood in
the crimson plush; while there are other great
knob, not one brick, not one triuket not one
thread of lace, but has upon it the mark of dis
honor.
Can Re Thoroughly Honest.
There are thousands of fortunes made in
commercial spheres that are throughout right
eOus. God will let his favor rest upon every
scroll. every pictured wall, every traceried win
dow; and 5he joy that flashes from the lights
and showers from the music and dances in the
chlldren's quick feet patUering through the
hall, will utter the congratulaIion OF men and
the approval Of God.
A merchant can to the last item be thorough
ly honest There is never any need of false
hood. ct how many will. day by day hour
by hour. utter what they know to be wrong