The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-03-26
TABERN AGILE PULPIT.
Continued from First Page

] In Water street or in Eighth street O,
| in State street, or Mrs So-and-sf
keeping house on Beacon street or OF
Madison avenue or Rittenhouse SQUARE
or Brooklyn heights or Brooklyn Hill,
told one falsehood You may con.
slider it Insignificant, because relating
| TO an Insignificant purchase. You would
desaise the man who would faIsify in
regard to some great matter In which,
the city or the whole country was con
cerned; but this is only a box of but
tons, or a row of pins, or case OF
needles. Be not deceived. The article
purchased may be so small you can put
| it in your vest pocket, but the sin was
bigger than the Pyramids and the echo
of the dishonor will reverberate through
| all the mountains of eternity.
You throw on your counter some
specimens of handkerchiefs. Your Gus
| toner asks: rs this all silk? No cot
ton in iti" You answer, st is all
silk" Was it all silk? If so, all right.
But was it partly cotton? Then you
have falsified. Moreover. you lost by
the falsehood The customer, though
he may live at Lynn or Doylestown or
Poughkeepsie, will find out that you
have defrauded him, and next spring
when he again comes shopping he will
look at your sign and say: II will not
try there. That is the place where |
got that handkerchief. So that by
that one dishonest bargain you picked
your own pocket and insulted the AL
mighty.
Would you dare to make ali estimate
of how many falsehoods in trade were
yesterday told Ly hardware men and
clothiers and fruit dealers and dry
goods establishments and importers and
jewelers. and lumbermen and coal mer-
chants and stationers and tobacconists2
Lies about saddles, about buckles,
about ribbons, about carpets, about
gloves, about coats, about shoes, about
hats, about watches, about carriages.
about books-about everything. In
the name of the Lord Almighty I ar
ralgn commercial falsehoods as one of
the greatest plaques in city and town.
THE LIES OF THE ARTISANS.
In the next place I notice mechanical
lies. There is no class of men who adj
minister more to the welfare of the CITY
than artisans To their hand we must
look for the building that shelters us,
Tor the garments that clothe US, for the
car that carries us. They WELD wide
spread influence. There is much de-
rision of what is called Muscular
Christianity but in the latter day of
the worlds prosperity I think that the
Christian viii be muscular We have
right to expect of those stalwart men
of toll the highest possible integrity.
Many of them answer all our expecta-
tons, and stand at the front of relig-
ious and plilanthropic enterprises. But
this class, like the others that I have
named, has in it those who lack in the
element of veracity. They cannot all
be trusted. In times when the demand
for labor is great it is impossible to
meet the demands of the public OF do
work with that promptness and perfec-
ton that would at other times be posi-
BILE.
But there are mechanics whose word
cannot be trusted at any time. No
man has u right to promise more work
than he can do. There are mechanics
who say that they will come on Mon
day, but they do not come until We'd
nesday. You put work il their hands
that they tell you shall be completed
in ten days, but it is thirty. There
have been houses built of which it
might be said that every nail driven,
every foot of plastering put on, every
yard of pipe laid, every shingle ham
mered, every brick mortared, could tell
of falsehood connected herewith.
There are men attempting to do ten or
fifteen pieces of work who have not the
time or strength to do more than five
or six pieces, but by promises never
fulfilled keep all the undertakings
within their own grasp. This is what
they call nursing" the job.
How much wrong to his soul and in
suit to God mechanic would save if
he promised only SO much as he expect
ed to be able to do. Society has no
right to ask of you impossibilities. You
cannot always calculate correctly, and
you may fail because you cannot get
the help that you anticipate But now
am speaking OF the willful making of
promises that you know you cannot
keep. Did you say that that shoe
should be mended, that coat repaired,
those bricks laid, that harness sewed,
that door grained, that spout fixed, or
that window glazed, by Saturday,
knowing that you would neither be
able to do it yourself nor get any one
else to do its Then, before God and
man, you are a liar. You may say that
it makes no particular difference, and
that if you had told the truth you
would have lost the job, and that |
people expect to be disappointed But
that excuse will not answer. There is
a voice of thunder rolling among the |
drills and planes and shoe lasts and |
shears, which says, "An liars shall
have their part in the lake that burn.
eth with fire and brimstone..
MEASUREMENTS ABOUT CHURCHES.
next notice ecclesiastical lies-that |
Is, falsehoods told for the purpose of |
advancing churches and sects, or for |
the purpose of depicting them. There
is no use in asking many Calvinist |
what an ArIninian believes, for he will |
be apt to tell you that the Arninian
believes that man can convert him
self; or to ask the Arnlinian what the
Caivinist believes, for he will tell YOU
that the Calvinist believes that God
made some men just to damn them. |
There is no need of asking a pado-
Baptist what Baptist believes, for he
will be apt to say that the Baptist be-
lieves immersion to be positively neces-
sary to salvation 1t is almost limos