The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1896-03-12


belong to ~ em, see them and rejoice IN
them, so they do not take the vices that
belong to them. They see the sins of
others--not their own. Christian carried
his pack in very convenient place--on
his back, where he could not see A., and
that is where most men carry theirs
we 80 walk as to see easily the burden
on another, and not TO see the burden on
our own. 1t is curious and it is sad
the effect of sin in binding the eyes of
men. A man gives himself TO making
r. Jney. He begins with some generous
emotions, some liberal thoughts and
feelings, but as he goes ON he loses his
liberal impulses and at last does not
even comprehend what generosity
means. A New England thrifty man
said 81 believe in systematic giving.
always give 81 to every cause that pre-
sents itself. " And he did not see the
grim humor Of it. That is the sadness.
How many men in Christian congrega-
tions would be astonished if they could
put the account of their own giving
alongside of what their Master expects
of them They have no conception Of
what liberality means, because they have
lived so long the life of acquisition that
the capacity to perform generously they
have lost. The spendthrift can read you
a homily on the vices Of the miser, but
it never occurs to him that there is any
vice in the life he is leading; the miser
will read you an eloquent sermon on the
vices Of the spendthrift, but it never oc-
ours TO him that there is no sin in clutch
ing dollar until it cries. How quick
are we TO see the vices of our neighbors;
how slow TO turn our eyes upon our
own Do you think AIN preaching to
you? am preaching to myself This is
the subtle temptation Of the minister,
who in his pulpit tells men their sins
and thinks himself virtuous because lie
sees them. But it does not take much
virtue to see another mans sin, nor
much even to tell him about it, if one
only tells men in great audiences and
not one by one.
We disguise our vices. We give them
false names we dress them up as vir-
tues and call them such and really think
they are. This man who is living
life, however he may try to conceal it
from himself, is to get all he can and
keep all he gets, with some little regard
for the opinion Of others, labels it
thrift. And this young man who never
has earned dollar in his life by solid,
honest industry takes the money that
his father has earned by hard industry
and throws it freely, hither and yon,
among his fellows, and calls it generos-
ity and thinks it is. He does not know
that it is mean to spend in lavish living
what another has toiled to acquire; nor
this other man that money is but to be
spent, not to be piled up like noun
tains and left for others to spend after
we are dead Oh, if we could but see
ourselves with the mask taken away I
relGe lber, when l was boy, going to
see the Ravels play in a pantomime.
| There was one scene in which the whole
stage represented a gorgeous ballroom,
with pillars Of marble and pOrphyry and
! precious stones, and rich, rare dresses
and exquisite music and feasting and
bacChanalian joy, and then, suddenly,
at the blast Of the magic trumpet, in
stantly all was changed The ball dresses
were whisked off, every pillar turned to
q gravestoue, and every man and woman
drinking and dancing to a ghost or a
! skeleton. And l have sometimes thought
when that great trumpet sounds and all
the disguises of life are taken away, we
! shall wonder to find what we were in
this masked ballroom we call life.
Old Sins. but New Forms.
We change the form of our sin and
then think we are done with it, We
think that sin consists in the shape
it assumes; we do not know that
it consists in the evil heart that
beats within. We read our Ten Com
mandments over and say to ourselves,
Thou shalt not kill " Thank God
we do not live in a numbering age,
when men go forth to slay and kill. 1"
Thou shalt not steal. Thank God
there are no robber barons left that raw
age the land and leave it desOlate. +"
Thou shalt not commit adultery. 1"
ave are in America, and we will have
no polygamy under our flag" And still
the cry of the children goes up from the
slums and the polluted air squeezes the
! life out Of the little ones, and they die
three times as fast as they would in
healthy atmosphere, because greed walks
the earth. No robber barons, but, by
forms innumerable, sometimes disrepu-
table and sometimes reputable, we strive
to get our hand into our neighbor's S
pocket and take something out without
paying an equivalent, and whoever does
| that violates the spirit if not the letter
of the law, We will have no polygamy
not we-but we will have divorce
laws so easy, at least in some of our
states, that judge shall breathe upon
the wedding ring and it shall be dis
solved almost as soon as put upon the
finger. We will make our vows, for bet
ter for worse, for richer, for poorer, till
death us do part-and dissolve the bond
before the honeymoon is over Lust
there, as in polygamy. CoveteOusness
there, as in Tobber barons. Murder there,
rs in unsheathed swords. We have not
ceased to sin because we have changed
the form of our SHINING
And when we can no longer disguise
from ourselves that we are doing wrong
we hide behind all manner of excuses.
We do as Adam did, What hast thou
done?" 1.-THE woman thou gavest me,
gave it to me to eat. " We toss the cul-
pability lightly off upon another, as
Saul did-"I have obeyed the Lord 5
command, the people have brought the
cattle home. We say, "Yes, l admit