The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1897-10-30
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Agricultural, Commercial, Mechan"
ical and Ecclesiastical Lies.
A Pointed Discourse on the Sins OF the
Acknowledgements Ations and Pre-
varfcstjons In siness-So-
ciAl FAlsehoodS

lowing sermon, gives vivid classical |
ton Of the vices CT speech, and pleads |
for honesty in all that is said and done. |
The text is:
certain man named Ananias, with Sap
phira, his wife, SOLD a possessi on, etc--Acts,
w., lilo
well-matched pair, alike in a1nbi-
ton and in falsehood, Ananias and
Sapphira- They wauted q reputation
for great benefcence and they sold all
their property, pretending to put the
entire proceeds in the charity fund,
while they put much Of it in their own
pocket. There was no necessity that
they give all their property away, but
they wanted the reputation of SO do
ing. Ananias FIRST lied about it and
dropped down dead. Then Sapphire
lied about it, and she dropped down
dead. The two fatalities a warning to
al ages of the danger Of sacrificing
the truth.
There are thousands Of ways Of tell
ing lie. A mans whole life may be
falsehood and yet never with his lips
may he falsify once. There is a way
of uttering falsehood by look, by man
ner, as well as by lip. There are per-
sons who are guilty of dishonesty OF
speech and then afterwards say may
be-" calling it a white lie, when no lie
Is that color. The whitest lie ever told
was as black as perdition. There are
those SO given to dishonesty Of speech
that they do not know when they are
lying. With some it is an acquired sin,
and with others it is natural in
trinity. There are those whom you
will recognize as born liars. Their
whole life, from cradle to grave, is
filed up with vice of speech. Misrep-
reservations and prevarication are as
natural to them as the infantile
disease, and are q sort of moral
Group or spiritual scarlatina- Then
there are those who in after life have
opportunities of developing this evil,
and they go from deception to decep-
ton, and from class to class, until they
are regularly graduated liars. At
times the air in our cities is filed with
falsehood and lies cluster around the
mechanics hammer, blossom on the
merchants yardsticlS, and sometimes
sit in the door of churches. They are
called by some fabrica ton, and they
eze called by some fiction, You might
call them subterfuge or deceit, or ro-
nance, or fable, or misrepresentation
or delusion; but as l know nothing to
be gained by covering up a God-defy-
ing sin with a photographers blanket,
/ shall call them in plainest vernacu-
lar, lies. They may be divided into
agricultural, commercial, mechanical,
social and ecclesiastical.
First of all, speak of agricultural
falsehoods. There Is something in the
presence of natural objects that has q
tendency to make one pure. The trees
never issue false stock. The wheat
fields are always honest Rye and oats
never move out in the night, not pay
ing for the place they occupy. Corn
shocks never make false assignment.
Mountain brooks are always current.
The gold of the wheat fields is never
counterfeit But while the ten
dency of agricultural life is to
make one honest, honesty is
not the characteristic of all who
come to the city markets from the
country districts. You hear the
crcaking of the dishonest farm wagon