The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-07-20
MONEY AND RELIGION
REV. THOMAS DlxoNs THIRD SERMON
ON THE SUBJECT.

Black Friday Was and the Present Panic Ia
the Result of Violating Gods Revealed
ceed In wall street2
CAPE CHARLES, Va. July 1G.-Rev.
Thomas Dixon, Jr., preached the third
sermon in the series on 1.-THE Question
Of Money and the Gospel Of Christ" in
the Methodist church ON Cobbs island
today. The text chosen was, "The stars
in their courses fought against Sisera"
Judges v, 20).
In no way does money show its ire
mendous power so clearly as in the want
of It. Man never fully realizes the power
of money until he is absolutely without
It, It is this shadow that oppresses in
these daye our own great nation. 1t is
the shadow of the panic. 1t is the ghost
of the commercial world that forever
haunts even the prosperous. It is the
skeleton in the closet Of the nation whose
treasury groans with countless millions
The darkest days of the history of our
nation have not been the days of war,
They have been days of money panic.
They have been days in which thousands
hung breathless over the brink of ruin,
and bound mp with them were countless
other thousands whose lives were in
volved.
The days of our real trial are these
days when the black shadows hang over
l,n % 81
when cunning fends lurk in every dark
corner ready to spring upon the throat
OF the helpless and kill and destroy with
out mercy. This is speaking on large
scale of the problem which confronts the
poor in their daily life. Wall street in
New York and State street in Boston
and the centers of commerce in our great
western cities have their Black Fridays,
but they come on rare occasions and at
long intervals, and it is blessed relief
to the world that they do come thus
rarely. But it is sad fact that Black
Friday is q day with which the great
masses of our people are only too IA
miliar.
One of the direst curses Of our age is
L Il
do not mean respectable poverty. /
mean a want that cuts. One of the chief
causes of the poverty Of our age is un-
questionably found in the results of the
day of darkness and panic in the finan-
cial world. This black Friday is not a
thing that comes by chance. 1t is the
evidence of vital disease-a disease that
strikes to the very heart of the body
polite. The old prophet told us that
the stars in their courses fought against
Sisera. Sisera was the captain of the
hosts of Jabin, the oppressor of Israel.
He encamped in the plains with his mag
nifcent army, preparing to make his
final assault. But the river rose and
overwhelmed his chariots, and woman
slew Sisera, driving n nail through his
sleeping head. The river did the work
that is to say, the prophet would teach
US that the forces Of mature are IN league
scith the eternal principles Of truth and
Righteousness, and together they are
working. ont the salvation of the world
Evil by its own nature exhGusts and
destroysfGself. Good increases and must
ultimately triumph. Its principle is
germinal. Individuals, principles, ,sys-
TENS that clash with truth and right,
have gone down and must continue te go
down. Let us lift high above our heads
as q cleaning lantern these facts and
explore the depths Of this Black Friday
of poverty, and we will find both the
cause of our failures and the promise of
something better.
We touch the heart of this difficulty
when we ash the question, Can true
Christian, as a Christian, be a successful
business man of today? If not, then we
will find in the clash of the principles of
the modern commercial world with
Christianity the true cause for the days
of commercial darkness. To get at the
truth of the matter we must have basis
of comparison. We ask therefore:
First-What is it to be a true Chris
tian?
Christianity means sacrifice. IL you
would understand a principle of, Chris
tianity, you must look to the life of
Christ in the concrete. His life was
thrown away. 1t was lost. 1t was
dismal failure. He was despised man
of despised nation. Heneither sought
or gained professional influence. He
antagonized the powers that We're estab-
hshed. He failed to organize his follow
ers into compact machine. The COM
mon people heard him gladly, and yet he
did not seek to utilize his power over
them for hisself aggrandizement. They
pressed about him at the gates of the
city. They tore off the roofs of houses
even that they might place their sick be-
fore him. He fed them when they were
hungry, and yet he so conducted himself
that at the last they deserted him,and
cried, "Crucify him" He laid, up no
money on the earth. He had no home.
He exercised no immediate influence on
literature. He formulated no system of
philosophy. He did not write a book.
He founded no family to perpetuate his
authority or his name. He died pre-
mature and ignominious death. He lit
orally threw his life away. He lost it.
There were no great men to attend his
funeral. His very tomb was the loan OF
charity. Yet, though his death was moi
mourned by the great of earth, the sun
veiled his face in tears and nature wept
at his tomb. He died in ignominy, and
yet his legacy is glory. He founded no
family, and yet his name is the corner
stone of the family. Literature and
philosophy he did not seek-they are all
his today. The common people deserted
him, and he is lifting the common people
from the depths to the heights, and now
the eyes of humanity are on the under