The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-02-01
FIVE GIGANTIC SOCIAL INIQUIrIEs.
BY DIR. JAMES H. CARLISLE.
Christian Adrocatc.

BY DIR. JAMES H. CARLISLE.
Christian Adr0catc.
A few weeks ago, at gathering of
English ministers, Rev. Hugh Price
Hughes said that society 10 England is
threatened by "6ve gigantic and intoler'
able social iniquities drunkenness,
gambling, impurity, war and mammon'
ism." AS these evils are not bounded
by State lines or ocean lines, they
threaten American society no less
than they do our brethren Of the old
world.
Let US look for moment at the first
and last in the black list, drunkenness
and mammonism. They are alike in
some respects, while differing in others.
Neither one seems st first view to break
the letter of any one of the ten command
ments. Mammonism and covetOusness
are not exactly the same. We may i'm
agine man IS loving too we'll the mon-
ey which is honestly his own, while be
may not covet the money belonging to an
other. The New Testament says covet-
business is idolatry. In this view, Of
course, it breaks q leading command
ment.
1t is not easy for man to confess
himself drunkard. 1t is not easy for
q man to confess that be was drunk on
any given occasion. There is something
very deceptive in this vice; it 80 bluntH
the intellectual powers that the victim
does not always seem conscious of e1.
cess. If he is, there Is still more de-
ceptive influence on the moral instincts,
80 that, knowing his error, be is still will.
ing, even anxious. to deny it with all
solemnity. John Keble encouraged bis
people to confess freely to him as their
spiritual adviser. But of two hundred
who professed to lay before him their be.
setting sins, he could recall only Two
who confessed dangerous love of mon
ey. 1t seems that one hundred profess
ors of religion only one may be ex-
pected to confess this easily besetting
sin. The "ninety-and pine," with fatal
ease, take 1t for granted, without debate
or self examination, that in so far as this
great cardinal sin is concerned, they are
"safe in tho fold" Who knows Of case
where church member was tried for
mammonism? At what "love feast" OF
Testimony meeting" has brother per
sistently bewaied his sinful love of mon
ey9 Drunkenness is palpable, provable
and can be made the basis of trial
Perhaps trials of this kind should be
more numerous than they are.
Drunkenness tells on man more
plainly than mammonism. In crowd
the lover of liquor may often be singled
out at glance. This sin writes its in
dictments in characters easily read. II
is not 30 with the lover Of money. The
drunkard, in his enfeebled state of biz
intellect, may babble like an infant. The
shrewd worshipper of mammon grows
keener and more powerful in all thai
part of his mind that touches money
The moral effect Of one of these sius In
hardening, impoverishing, destroying
moral instincts and capacities may be as
sad as that Of the other.
Drunkenness is connected with times
and places. a prudent man can avoid
them. He can stay away from places
where he knows temptations will abound
If be has found it dangerous for him te
20 down one side of the street, he Car
cross over in time and take the Other
pavement. lie can entirely abstain. The
lover of money cannot do this to the same
extent. He must handle money and
moneys worth, or else he must needs 60
olt Of the world.
Mammonism is of spiritual origin. Il
has it's springs in our spiritual nature
Love Of liquor is at once a spiritual and
feshy sin, having its deep springs II
both parts of our mysterious nature
Public opinion is largely responsible fol
the prevalence of both sins. When
man climbs up in any to certain bell
on the hill of mammon, there is often s
disposition to forget the manner in which
the fortune was made and give undue
| importance to the fortune itself. This
of course, must lead men to aim, by al
possible ways, to take the nearest road tt
material success. And society treats
with too much indulgence many usagei
ges which lead Immediately to drunken
ness.
Love of strong drink seems to link it
self nc nysteriously with the laws of de-
scent and to reappear in descendants
Perhaps something similar may be th'
case with q passion for money.
Gambling partakes of the nature o
both the vices we have been considering
1t is in part love of money and it is alst
love Of strong excitement. TIE exten
of this evil just now over Cbristendom j:
phenomenal. A late writer says tha
more than ninety per cent. of all tht
business done in "Wall Street" and ir
the "New York Produce Market" il
pure fictitious, having no material base
"Surely this must be gross exaggera-
tion," is the instructive cry OF the unin
ituated reader. The same writer sayl
that the aggregate sum of all stakes pu1
up on race cour4es in 1892 was about fiv'
millions, but the entire sum that was los
~ oon hv hato m theaa races