The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-04-24
A SKELETON SERMON.

nSlOus and H1stOrfcNl-''ln the
Sweat of Thy Face Shalt Thou
Eat Brend"-Chnptcr 3, 10Th Verse.
To the Editor:
The disciples of Tom Paine or Voltaire-
do not include those OF that literary p-
rate, that peddler of blasphemoiis rant and
sentimental slop. Bob Ingersoll--need pass
this by, as I shall advance nothing but
what has been proved true in the history
OF every nation that ever existed. Namely,
that nature demands an equivalent in some
kind of labor from every human being for
the privilege of crossing this planet into
the unknown.
1t is a fixed and inevitable law, and, like
all natural laws, punishment is sure to
follow its violation, and if totally ignored,
either by the individual or nation. destruc-
ton. 1t matters not in what manner this
universal law is evaded the end is, the
same. Laziness, whether of the rich or
the poor, Furnishes the Individual, extreme
wealth and extreme poverty, and they have
always existed together, destroy ration
The truth of this has been voiced by philos-
ophers and statesmen in all ages of the
worlds history. 1t runs through the Bible
from back to back. "Woe unto them that
decree unrighteous decrees'-that is, class
l"gislation-'to turn aside the needy from
Judgment and to take away the right from
The poor of my people, says Isaiah, the
prophet "Woe unto him that builletll his
house by upright aousncss That usetn his
neighbours service without wages, and civ
eth him not for mis- WORK" says Jeremiah.
Thou hast taken uSu:y and increase, and
thou hast greedily aimed Of thy neigh
bors by extortion And I VIII scatter ttee
among the heather, and disrerse, thee in the
countries, says Ezekiel. How literally
that has been fulfilled. 'Woe unto you
that are rich" says Christ Himself Not
eternal woe alone for lie afterwards fore
tells the destruction of tie Israelites a
nation in the destruction of Jerusalem.
8ut why 'woe to the rich?" The reader
may ask, is it crime 70 be rich? \ care
full study of the Jewish laws will show
hat they were formed So that. if obey ed,
was impossible TO set very rich without
raud or oppression, GU: quotn .iols
how 1 could increase them if it was nee
,ssary, but 1 am only writing a skele' on
,crrnon to be filled in Ivy the reader, vic
IAN easily make every line into page.
And woe to Mr.. Skcptic, although you
nay deny the divine origin of my QUOTA
ions. 1 think you will not deny their Truth
they teach the same lesson that prnfcne
history teaches. 1 shall Of necessity be
;rief, as my library and my books of- ref
crence are scattered m,ng our million
Tres or at least the money to buy them
With is, for l am oae of ",:od's ]s1or peo
De who has been kept poor by ''unr.;, hit
Nous decrees:"' your treldinss is upon the
}oor and we have taken from him burdens
+ wheat" Amos, 5th chapter, verse II,
xplans it. False weights, under grazing
:xorbitant freight rates and the American
shipping laws have been the means used
( will now leave the Bible, with ali it's Of
ters of reward for obedience to divine law
md it's threats of punishment for Gisobedi-
ence.
The Israelites' cup of bitterness was flied
800 years ago a nation. AS d people
they suffer still. Ancient Greece followed
he same course and suffered the same
fate. "All extremes are Vicious says one
Of her philosophers but that did not pre-
vent the rich from depressing the poor I'M
til the rich becoming effeminate, idle and
vicious and the poor made desperate by
suffering and injustice, by extreme poverty,
| they fell to cutting one anOther's Threats,
when, weakened by internal strife, the Ro-
| mans invaded Greece and extinguished it
| as an Independent nation. 1t would seem
as if the Romans, paganS as they were,
would have taken lessons Of their fallen
| foes the Greeks and the Israelites: but no:
| they even learned their habits of luxurious
Incidence after becoming rich by 'unright-
eousness," eating bread in the sweat of the
| faces of the poor of Gods people" They
| even got too effeminate to fight their own
| IA hired substitutes. know. who
finally wiped them out of existence, and
| with them almost swept civilization from
| he face Of the earth. Will our Indian and
| negro soldiers be the Goths and Vandals
of the United States. helped by the starv-
| ing slum rats of our large cities?
| There was no need of going to ancient
| history for our illustration, any farther
| than to prove the universal truth of our
| text, for every modern nation has had its
| warnings and punishments. not excepting
| our own. We have paid dearly for every
| hours work that we ever stole from the
| Southern slaves, not only in the wages OF
| sin-death-in the civil war. but in hard
cash. The French nobility only reaped in
| the Reign of Terror, what they had sowr
| before. Charles Dickens puts the whole
| case in a nutshell in his Tale of Two
| Cities" The beginning of the end is showr
where Monsieur la Marques cries: "Take
that id brat out of my way" after his
horses had trampled the poor mans chile
| to death in a by-street of Paris; indiffer
| ence to the sufferings of the poor. The
| end is where the father of the chile
plunges his dagger into the heart of Mon.
| sieur la Marquess; that was the "Woe unto
| them that decree unrighteOus DEGREES
| 'And take away the right from the pool
| of my people,"
Here is Dickens again: Look out, all w
| Barnacles, young and old, for the rats; fol
before God they are eating away oul
| foundations. and will bring the roofs or
| utilita riansm does not take a wolfsh turr
and destroy you" Hard Times Mum
berless other writer's express the same sen
timent in different forms. The Grand Ole
| Man says: 1.-THE aim of all government:
should be to make it easy to do right, anc
hard to do wrong" How very hard it IL
lVSor the very rich. or the very poor, to de
right Happiness can only be found il
virtue; virtue cannot exist without lib
erty, and the seat of liberty is good laws.
Jane Porter iii fares the land to hasten
ing ills prey, where wealth accumulate
and wealth decay" Goldsmith. "Wher
ever there is a class of people that is t.
be made contented, to be plundered of it
rights there is always an abundance o
fiddling and other amusements, public AM
private furnished Them Harriet Beeche
Stowe. No one knew better than Mrs
Stowe that in the end the plunderers safe
more than the plundered God show
| what he thinks of money by the peopl
| He gives it to-" "After all, our so-calle
civilization is only silken glove draw
over a savage paw" says her brother
H. w. Beecher. What would Daniel Web
ster say if he was alive now. We will quot
l