Democratic messenger., 1893-11-04

no more To- I've excused than Il small sin
ner. DO not charge illustrious detection
to eccentricity or chop off the Ten Com
mandments to suit especial cases. The
right is everlastingly right, and the
wrong is everlastingly wrong. If any
man nominated for any office in this city
or state differs from the Decalogue. do
not fix up the Dccaloyue. but fix him up.
The law must stand whatever else may
fall
i call Your attention also to the fact
that 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 transgrcssion. If. for in
stance, Il man go into this political CAM
paign welding scurrflity as his chief
weapon, AMI he believes everything bad
about n man and believes nothing good,
how long before that man himself will
get over the moral ieprcssion2 Neither
i'll time nor eternity.
IL / utter II falschood in regard to n
man, may damage him, but get for
myself tcnfold more damage. That is n
gun that kicks. If, for instance, man
be profane. under p-ovocation he will
commit any crime. ] say under provo
cation. For if II man will maltreat the
Lord Almighty. would he not maltreat
his fellow man? If man be guilty of
malfeasance in Office. he will. under
provocation, commit any sin. He who
will steal will lie. and hc who will lie
will steal.
If. for instance. n man bc impure, it
opens the door for all other iniquity, for
in that one iniquity he commits theft of
the worse kind. and covetousness of the
worst kind. and falsehood-pretending
to be decent when he is not-and NAL
treats his parents by disgracing their
name if they We're good. Be careful,
therefore. how you charge that sin
against any man either in high place or
low place. either i'm Office or out of Office,
because when you make that charge
against man you charge him with all
villainies. with all disgusting prOpensi-
ties, with all rottcnness.
a libertine is beast lower than the
vermin that crawl over u 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 he SO GER
tain that mathematical demonstration
is doubtful as compared with it.
NO TAMPERlSG WITH THE LAW.
And then. when you investigate man
on such subjects You must go to the
whole length of investigation and find
ont whether or not lie 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 II man commit that
sin at 50 or ~ years Of age, there is not
one case out Of II thousand where he ever
repents. You must in your investigation
see if it is possible that the one case in
vestigatcd may not have been the excep-
tion. But do not chop off the seventh
commandment to suit the case. Do not
change Fairbanks scale tn suit what you
are weighing with 1t. Do not cut off q
yardstick To suit the dry goods you are
measuring. Let the law stand and new
er tampcr with it.
Above all. ! charge you do not Join in
the cry that have hcard-for Is. 20years
| have heard it-that there is no such
thing rs purity. If you make that charge,
you are foul mouthcd scandaler of the
human race. You are lcpcr. Make
room for that leper. When man, by
pen or type or tongue utters such a
slandcr ON the human race that there is
no such thing as purity. know right
away that that man himself is u walking
laZarctto. Il rccking ulcer. and is fit for
no society better than that of devils
damned. We may enlarge our charities
in such case. hut 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 enbezzlcrs,
those bank cashiers abscondiny as soon
rs 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. Why? The commission of
the one sin opened the gate for all the
other sins. Sins go in fiocks. in droves
and in herds. You open the door for one
sin-that invites IN all the miserable seq
rcgation.
Some of the campaign orators this au-
| 49, I,,r tl,n
suffering candidates all the week. will
think no wrong in Sabbath breaking. All
the week hurling the eighth command
ment mt one candidate, the seventh com
mandment ut another candidate. and the
ninth commandment at still another.
what are they doing with the fourth
Remember the Sab
bath day to keep it holyy' 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
ment? 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 as i'm
portant as the other seven! Oh, yes, we
find in all departments men are hurling
their indignation against sins perhaps to
which they are not especially tempted
hurling it against iniquity toward which
they are not particularly drawn.
TRIED EY THE pECALoGUE.
have this book for my authority
when ] say that the man who swears or
the man who breaks the Sabbath is as
culpablc before God Us those candidates
who break other commandments. What