The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-03-22
BROrHEB gOB1rAN,s CAsE.

BROTHER GORM4N'S CASE.
Thomas German, of Seattle, Washing
ton, has raised an interesting question.
He is an iron molder by trade, and dur
ing his leisure hours he has nodded some
counterfeit money. Nobody suspected
that he was anything but simple AND
an honest iron molder, and he might
have passed for such all his life if the
Salvation Army had not visited Sc
attic. But it did visit Seattle and
it's war cry smote the ears of Brother
German in such way as to make him
bark to hear what would come next.
Hearing he became interested and final
ly became convicted of sin. He was so
powerfully convicted that he was will
ing to do anything to get rid of his bur-
den. He told the officers of the Army
that he had been a counterfeiter, and
he asked them what he should do to be
saved. They told him that he should
confess and forsake his sins, and they
told him that in their opinion proper
confession in his case would include a
confession to the United States district
attorney as well as to God. He thought
so too and told the attorney that he had
been a counterfeiter, but having become
a Christian he wanted to pay his debt
to the law. The attorney thought the
legal debt should be paid and Brother
German is now in Jail waiting to be
tried next June, He says he is happy.
Now has Brother German done the
best thing? He has certainly done an
unusual thing. Many people are con-
verified who have committed crimes for
which they ought to be punished. They
don't tell anybody but God about them
and perhaps they wouldn't tell him if
they didn't know that he knows all
about it without any telling. There are
many highly respectable and stable
church pillars who have never made
confession to anybody but God and
who have made restitution to nobody.
They have argued the matter with
themselves and they have decided that
it would do the world more harm to
know just how bad they are than to
go along in a state of blissful and trust
full ignorance. They have convinced
themselves that their duty to the world.
to their families, to their friends and
to themselves is to keep still and let
the surprise come in the great day
when all shall be revealed. They have
persuaded themselves that God is
God of conmon-sense, and that it isn't
sense to make spectacle of
themselves and destroy their useful
ness, and they believe that God, being
a God of common-sense, feels just as
they do about the matter. So they at
tain peace of mind and know that it
would be ridiculous for them to fully
expose themselves to their fellow men,
the officers of the law.
LolOlA4C1 1Olllui llo0 III 1lCu IlllIloSlL
inside out, before God and before men.
He has not only confessed that he has
but he has furnished specifica- |
tons. He has shaken himself clear of |
his burden. He will not have to sur
prise anybody at the judgment day. |
He is in Jail, but he is happy. Has he |
shown himself possessed Of common |
sense or has he shown himself pos
sessed of a. kind of sense which, though |
uncommon, is Of a higher kind than
that which is common? There can, we
suppose, be no doubt that it is better
to be in jail before death than in hell
after death, but could hot Brother
5orman have escaped both Jail and
nell without telling people all he
knew about himself? And couldn't he
have done more good in the world by
Iuietly being highly respectable
Christian than by openly being a con-
yerted ex-counterfeiter?