Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-11-04
ACOOMAC G. H. VA. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1898

tnat you are all aware Of, that the break
ing Of one commandment makes it the
more easy to break all of them, and the
philosophy is plain. Any kind of sin
weakens the conscience, and if the con-
science is weakened that opens the door
for all kinds of transgression. If, for In
stance, man go into this political cam
paign welding scurriity as his chief
weapon, and he believes everything bad
about man and believes nothing good,
how long before that man himself will
get over the moral depression? Neither
in time nor eternity.
If 1 utter O falsehood In regard to o
man, ! may damage him, but Iget for
myself tenfold more damage. That is a
gun that kicks. If, for instance, man
be profane, under provocation he will
commit any crime. say under provo
cation. For if man willmaltreat the
Lord Almighty, would he not maltreat
his fellow man2 If man be guilty of
malfeasance in Office, he will, under
proyocation, commit any sin. He who
will steal will lie, and he who will lie
will steal.
If, for instance, q man be impure, it
opens the door for all other iniquity, for
in that one iniquity be commits theft of
the worse kind, and covetousness Of the
worst kind, and MISUNDERSTANDING
to be decent when he is not-and mall
treats his parents by disgracing their
name if they were good. Be careful,
therefore, how you charge that sin
against any man either in high place or
low place, either in Office or out of Office,
because when you make that charge
against o man you charge him with all
villainies, with all disgusting propensi-
ties, with all rottennoss.
A libertinc is a beast lower than the
vermin that crawl over summer car
cass-lower than the swine, for the swine
has no intelligence to sin against. Be
careful, then. how you charge that
against any man. You must be SO GER
tain that mathematical demonstration
is doubtful as compared with it.
NO TAMPERlNG WITH THE LAW.
And then, when you investigate man
on such subjects you must 60 to the
whole length of investigation and find
out whether or not he has repented. He
may have been on his knees before God
and implored the divine forgiveness,
and he may have implored the forgive:
ness of society and the forgiveness of the
world. Although if a man commit that
sin at 30 or 35 years of age, there is not
one case out of a thousand where he ever
repents. You must in your investigation
see if it is possible that the one case in
vestigated may not have been the excep-
ton. But do not chopof the seventh
commandment to suit the case. Do not
change Fairbanks scale to suit what you
are weighing with it. Do not cut off q
yardstick to. suit the dry goods you are
measuring. Let the law stand and new
er tamper with it.
Above all, charge you do not join in
the cry that have heard-for is, 2Oyears
l have heard it-that there is no such
thing as purity. If you make that charge,
you are foul mouthed scandaler of the
human race. You are leper. Make
room for that leperi When man, by
pen or type or tongue utters such a
SANDER on the human race that there is
mo such thing as purity, 1 know right
away that that man himself is walking
lazaretto, reeking ulcer, and IS fit for
no society better than that of devils
damned. We may enlarge our charities
in such a case, but in no such case let us
shave off the Ten Commandments. Let
them stand as the everlasting defense Of
society and of the church of God.
The committing of one sin opens the
door for the commission of other sins.
You see it every day. Those cmbezzlers,
those bank cashiers absconding as soon
as they are brought to justice, develop
the fact that they were in all kinds of
sin. No exception to the rule. They all
kept bad company; they nearly all gam
bled; they all went to places where they
ought not. Why2 The commission of
the one sin opened the gate for all the
other sins. Sins go in -focks, In droves
and in herds. You open the door for one
sin-that invites in all the miserable seq
regation.
Some Of the campaign orators this au-
tumn, some of Misunderstanding the
suffering candidates all the week, will
think no wrong in Sabbath breaking. AL
the week hurting The eighth command
ment at one candidate, the seventh COM
mandment at another candidate, and the
ninth commandment at still another,
what are they doing with the fourth
commandments Remember the Sab
bath day to keep it holyf" Breaking it.
Is not the fourth commandment as i'm
portant as the eighth, as the seventh,
as the ninth?
Some of these political campaign Or
ators, as have seen them reported in
other years, and as I have heard it in
regard to them, bombarding the suffer-
ing candidates all the week, yet tossing
the name of God from their lips reck-
lessly, guilty of profanity-what are
they doing with the third command
ment2 Is not the third commandment,
which says, "Thou shalt not take the
name of the Lord thy God in vain,
for the Lord will not hold him guilt
less that taketh his name in vain"-
is not the third commandment sim
portant as the other severn Oh, yes, we
find in all departments men are hurting
their Indignation against sins perhaps to
which they are not especially tempted
hurting it against iniquity toward which
they are not particularly drawn.
TRIED BY TIE DEcALoGUE.
] have this book for my authority
when say that the man who swears or
the man who breaks the Sabbath is as
culpable before God as those candidates
who break other commandments. What
right have you and to select which
commandment we will keep and which
,re will hreak2 BETTER not try to meas