St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-23
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only Interchangeable and permanent vir-
tue. The text is from a record that
tells how fraud once stole the features
OF genuineness and tried to get a de-
sired result in a dishonest way-to
get something for nothing.
The shrewd attainment of any val
ues is wicked in proportion to the diff
ference between their actual worth
ana what you adroitly manage to get
them for. You may smile and say,
That's not business" No, but it is
righteousness, and ought to be bust
ness. The negation of the Golden
Rule in everyday life is the chief
cause of the misfortunes which break
out as great running sores in our civ
1lization. And until the spirit of cupid
ity is burdened with the miseries it
has caused since it entered and Vita
ted the mutual relations of men, load
ed with the Scorn, hatred meanness
and poverty of which it is the horrible
source and hurled back into the black
ness whence it sprang, we will not
feadliy heal the sores of our humanity
which SO many kind-hearted econo-
mists are forever poulticing with new
nostrums and do not cure
1t may be true that the full realiza-
ton may lie far ahead of us, to come
only when our race has been boiled in
its own tears, and that our best will
but approximate that which is real
and genuine. Nevertheless, it be-
hooVes each to do what in him lies to
hasten that day, and strive to become
genuine himself q do not use the
masculine pronoun for the purpose of
excluding women from either the pow
er or duty to become genuine)
BY genuineness L mean not simply
that common honesty which will not
steal salt, make overcharges in bills,
or rob banks, but the reliable, invaria-
bic and universal honesty which
Jesus Christ eXemplified and commend
ed-the honesty which would not and
could not take undue advantage in
anything, not even in an argument
The honesty that would relieve the
lawyers, for example, from the ne
cessity Of maintaining a schedule of
rates to protect themselves from one
another, and make it necessary to
keep before any lawyers eyes the fear
Of being disbarred in order to prevent
him from undermining the business
of his brother. The honesty that would
enable physicians to discard their tar
if for the regulation of fees without
running afoul of the sort of competi-
ton which sometimes causes Compel
ing railways to carry passengers for
next to nottingham is, have some
tice, or some new physician to build
up his by curing everybody for moth
lng-aS they do the preachers in my
country. The honesty that would en-
able the preachers themselves to re-
joice in a brothers, success without
spreading over their faces a sickly pal
Tor or giving their hearts a secret
twinge. The honesty that would keep
any kind of workman from doing
scamp work when not under his en-
ployer'S eye, or because he might be
able to pass it off as thorough and sin
cere. The honesty that will always
give due value for what it gets.
| am afraid our common practice is
far different. There is popular word
used to describe what is thought to
be the ordinary habit of men in their
mutual dealings. 1t is not a nice word;
1t is, indeed, a coarse and vulgar, but
exceedingly expressive word. We say
of one who tries to get things for less
than their value or less than a fixed
price that he tries to Jew you. I
plead for a genuineness which will
make men give up trying to Jew"
the world, and make it impossible for
them ever to try to Jew God-tO
get them to give them Himself for less
than his worth, or take them at more
than theirs.
The text describes an effort to Jew
God. When the early Christians sold
all their possessions and made a COM
mon store for the common benefit,
there were two people who tried to
buy the credit of such exemplary piety
and voluntary poverty without paying
full price. It cost the others all they
had. Anonias and Sapphire sold their
possessions, brought some of the mon
ey to the Apostle Peter for the fund,
and kept back part of the price"
Ihere was a certain honor attached to
the sacrifice the others were making,
and these two wanted to buy the cred
it of it for less than the others paid.
They handed in portion of the mon
ely they received from the sale. and
meant it to be taken for all of it. A
mean and stingy man is usually known
to be such by his neighbors The
Apostle John, who had realty in Je-
rusalem, and knew the value of prop
erty there, and who may have known
the character of Ananias saw that
the sleek hypocrite was practicing a
lie. Some less discreet brother present
may have greeted the implied declara-
ton of the shining scoundrel with a
soft whistle. At any rate it came out
that the poor wretch was practicing a
fraud on his brethren, and Peter de-
nounced it is an attempt to practice
q fraud on God.
We SdhllOl iioDc " get GOu 10 take us at
more than our worth. He places the high
est value upon moral and spiritual charac-
ter. and that you cannot buy under cost.
Yet men are forever trying to induce God to
take appearance for reality and to lower the
cost of character. You can neither deceive
Him nor get Him to come down in price.
The cost of character has been and still is
penitence for sin, contact with God, purpose
to become increasingly like him, persistent
application of the spirit and principle of Je-
sus Christ, growth in grace Kindness gen
erosity nobility. patience, honesty, capaci-
ty for self-sacrifee. and the surrender of
what is lower and gross to what is higher and
spiritual To gain spiritual character you
must do and get all these things, and by
gaining such character you will gain God.
All the labor and pain sacrifice and suf-
fering which condition moral growth must
be done and endured by every one before the
supreme moral values can come to be his.
For there are no auction sales OF bankrupt
stocks of moral virtues where a man can
supply himself under cost. All bankrupt
stocks are bankrupt in character as well as
in cost.
must go to work to win character; character
go genuine as not to fear divine scrutiny.
Stop dreaming of@what you would do IT only
you knew all the truth. You know. more. and
better than you -dos yet you sit and peer into
the distance waiting to know what is on the
other side of the river. You. were wise to
prepare for the journey, for you Will soon
go over to see. Don't try 1t in a paper boat,
and don't expect to be passengers without
duties or responsibilities, lo1ling. about in
cushioned seats. You may loll your way to
the devil. although 1 have always found him
an exacting fmaster-but you can't Toll your
way to God.
Righteousness is genuneness. There is but
Dne way TO get it. Keep back no part of the
price, buy it with all you. are and have.
Nothing less will win it. Touch God in Jesus
Christ, and under the spur of the Spirit move
On to the heights where God and all who are
His shall forever dwell.
Copyright, 1896, Newspaper Sermon Asso-
niation Boston Mass The right of publica-