Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1893-06-09
Honesty.
By j. l.. LODGE, d. d.

"This worlds cheat, and he's fool who
has no hand in it." "Mr Blank, you and
represent the only two classes of men-the
sharps and flats: belong to the sharps.'
There spoke out two souls, voicng indi'
vidual sentiment, and expressing the cher
ished motto OF common men. Intellectual
| philosophy teaches that lie may be so per-
sistently repeated that the deceiver shall
finally come actually to believe it true. II
this were the only or even the create t in.
| jury inflicted upon morals, the evil being re-
stricted to isolated and specially depraved
persons, human benevolence, while deplor
ing the degradation and loss of few, might
console itself with the preservation OF the
many But, unhappily, through process
embodying influence strongly resembling in
features heredity, the deception and its
effects extend to every generation. Vice
differs from virtue first of all in this, that II
requires no training in any of its hydra
shapes, tendencies awaking with self con
seriousness, and growing with its growth.
In all forms, tdciIiS est descenSuS do6rns. And
| from extreme youth education into this error
| is insensibe. In general, the young child
| believes that what it's father thinks is true,
and that what he does is correct, By sim
| pie absorption most hurtiul beliefs, most per-
nicious ideas, form the character and habits
of youth, and make him sharper before
he is man. Eradication of such false i'm
pressons, so entirely consonant with desire,
and, apparently confirmed by transltory
successes, presents task OF EXTREMIST dltfi
Guilty to moralists and lovers of their kind
But duty, inclination, and some hope impel
| 10 the trial. Effort may be made along
several lines
| Dishonesty is acknowledged To- The con:
4 as7fae. f.a-a nein
benefit to men. From il no moment of real
pleasure, no season of comfort, no matter of
profit, has ever accrued. Even resort to
wrong methods to procure laudible ends
results always in injury and failure. Every
fault adds one more drop of poison to the
already too bitter chaice pressed to the lips
of men. Sin puts death into the draught.
Before a man can become thief the sense
of God must be banished from his breast.
Regard for himself must be quenched, Re.
spect for the rights of others must be blotted
out. He comes, inevitably, to that hard and
pitiless state in which the detection and
punishment of fellow criminal increases
fiendish Indifference so that, perverting
the sentiment of assured innocence, he can
say, Let the CALLED jade vince, 0'T withers
are unwrung,' Up TO certain point, till
induFation destroys sensibility, till treacher-
Gus conceits of questionable means, or the
shameless sophistry which commends OPP
portunity, have united to wrench and drift
original views OF probity from their safe
moorings, such propositions will weigh with
the more hopeful class. When once the
adept in dishonesty has committed himself
to tortuous courses, another passage in Ham
let presents the status
Hdm-"llas this fellow no feeling of his
busnessY he sings at grave digging" H0r--
Custom hath made it IN him property of
easiness"
Object lessons commonly possess exem-
plary utility. Take one, then another, ex.
ample, and let the argument proceed in
ductively. That riches take to themselves
wings, no matter what the method of their
acquisition, is palpable. But this law may
be regarded as positively fixed, that while
honest accumulatlons may be lost, through
acknowledgement or misfortune, corrupt gains
nlust fall out of the possession OF their own
ers TO satisfy retributive justice. Every
generation sees ruined, poverty stricken
posterity renquishing into the hands of
strangers the unrghteously acquired prop
erty of dishonest ancestors. Every upright
mind quietly approves and rejoices in this
result. 1t quickens faith TO mark that while
the Just. Ruler long forbeaTs, he never once
forgets While it would be wicked to tri
umph over the calamities Of even our yiest
enemy, it requires just such examples to
sustain conviction of the truth OF Him who
said "Vengeance is mine: | will repay"
Sometimes these PrOvidential adiudlca-
tons surprise their subjects and the casual
observer, because sufficient cause Is not
evident. The standard of honesty among
men In general is not so high us with their
Maker To take advantage of necessity is
not considered dishonest. To double the
profit on goods in stock, because since their
purchase the price has risen, is regarded rs
fortunate opportunity to make money.
When the manufacturer pays for raw mate
rial what the producer can get, and then
sells the product Of his mill or factory for AS
much us he can compel the consumer to
pay, his is one of the tricks regarded as fair
as those other tricks of love and war. Pos
sbly, these men consider themselves honest
More probably, they know full well that
they are dishonest. A man offered a city
lot for 5000. The offer not being accepted
$500 was added to the price, in a few days.
IL had been ascertained that the proposing
purchaser must have II, at almost any price.
The seller was a deacon. lie was also II
rogue
One of the strongest moral aphorlsms is,
that the best way TO destroy vice is 10 plant
virtue; to overcome the influence Of evil
with the power of good. This veritabe
dictum has It's explanation in nature itself.
Nothing is so absolute and irrelragable as
the testimony of the eyes. Hence preoc
cupation of the vision with healthful percep
tons is not merely advantageous but the
greatest of all desiderata 1t Is true what
Pope says:
Vice is monster Of 50 frightful men,
As TO be hated needs but " be SEEM
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
As il is impossible TO conceal the monstrous,
thrusting itself forward as IL does into the
humblest and the highest walks Of life con
trast, reinforcing didactic instruction. makes
a most effective weapon. IL is no way dill
cult TO show that an honest man-hOne5t in
every relation and circumstance in life, in
every form by which character maniiesis
itseli-is the crownng glory 81 creation.
He Is moral force conspicuous from lone
illness; AZ the dizzy mountain height draws
off attention from trilles at IL. base When
he changes spheres his bricier existence
abides influential, in the records and re-
membraDce of
A combination, and form, indeed,
Where every god did seem 10 set his seal,
To give the world assurance of man
D'Alembert says, there are two things
that can reach the top Of a pyramid, the
eagle and the reptile Voltaire Attempted
10 co mbine the methods, but ignoby failed.
The PAGES are too unequal Cunning crawl
honesty scars