Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-10-30

unat Will lie about nothing else will lie
about picture. On small income we
want the world to believe we are afflu-
ent, and society today is struck through
with cheat and counterfeit and sham.
How few people are natural! Frigid-
ity sails around, iceberg grinding
against iceberg You INST not laugh
outright; that is vulgar. You must
smile You must not dash quickly
across the room; that is vulgar You
must glide. Much of society is round
of bows and grins and grimaces and
obs and abs and he, he, hes and SIM
perings and namby pambyism, whole
world of which is not worth one good
honest round of laughter From such a
hollow scene the tortured guest retires
at the close of the evening, assuring the
host that he has enjoyed himself So
ciety is become SO contorted and deform-
ed in this respect that mountain cabin
where the rustics gather at a quilting
or an apple pairing has in it more good
cheer than all the frescoed refrigerators
Of the metropolis.
The Church Lie.
I pass on to speak of ecclesiastical
lies, those which are told for the adj
yancement or retarding of a church OR
sect It is hardly worth your while to
ask an extreme Calvinist what an Ar
minian believes He will tell you that
an Arlninian believes that man can
save himself. An Arminian believes no
such thing 1t is hardly worth your
while to ask an extreme Arminian what
Calvinist believes He will tell you
that Calvinist believes that God made
some men just to damn them. A Cal
whist believes no such thing. 1t is hard
ly worth your while to ask a Pedo- Bap-
fist what a Baptist believes. He will
tell you Baptist believes that INNER
sion is necessary for salvation. A Bap-
fist does not believe any such thing. 1t
is hardly worth your while to ask man
who very much hates Presbyterians
what Presbyterian believes He will
tell You that Presbyterian believes
that there are infants in hell span
long and that very phraseology has
come down from generation to genera
ton in the Christian church There
never was a Presbyterian who believed
that. "Oh, you say, 81 heard some
Presbyterian minister 90 years ago say
sol" You did not There never was a
man who believed that, there never
will be Il man who will believe that
and yet from boyhood have heard that
particular SANDER against Christian
church going down through the COM
munity.
Then how often it is that there are
misrepresentation on tho part Of indi-
vidual churches in regard to other
churches-cspecially if a church comes
to great prosperity. AS long as a church
is in poverty, and the singing is poor,
and all tho surroundings are decrepit
and the congregation are so hardly
bestcad in life that their pastor goes with
elbows out. then there will always be
Christian people in churches who say,
"What Il pity. what pity !" But let
the day of prosperity come to Chris
tian church, and let tIe music be tri-
umphant and let there be vast assem-
blages, and then there will be even min
listers of the gospel critical and depun-
ciatory and full OF misrepresentation
and Justification, giving the impression
to the outside world that they do not
like the corn because it is not ground
in their mill Oh, my friends, let us in
all departments of life stand back from
deception.
But some one says, 1.-The deception
that l practice is so small that it don't
amount to anything" All, my friends,
it does amount to great deall You
say, ''When | deceive, it is only about
a case of needles or box of buttons or
q row of pins. F" But the article may be
so small you can put it in your vest
pocket, but the sin is as big as the pyra-
mids, and the echo of your dishonor
will reverberate through the mountains
of eternity There is no such thing as a
small sin They are all vast and stu
pendous because they will all have to
come under inspection in the day of
Judgment You may boast yourself of
having made a fine bargain, a sharp
bargain You may carry out what the
Bible says in regard to that man who
vent in to make a purchase and depre-
ciated the value Of the goods and then
after he had got away boosted of the
splendid bargain he had made. "1t is
naught, it is naught, saith the buyer,
but when he is gone his way, then he
boasteth. +" 1t may seem to the world a
sharp bargain, but the recording angel
wrote down in the ponderous tonnes OF
eternity. Mr. So-ands doing business
on Pennsylvania avenue, or Broadway,
or Chestnut street. or State street, told
one lie. "
The Masquerade.
May God extirpate from society all
the ecclesiastical lies, and all the social
lies and all the mechanical lies, and
all the commercial lies, and all the ag-
ricultural lies, and make every man to
speak the truth of his neighbor My
friends, lct us make our life correspond
to what we are Let US Danish all de-
ception from our behavior Let us re-
member that the time comes when God
will demonstrate before an assembled
universe just what we are. The secret
will come out. We may hide it while
we live, but we cannot hide it when
we die. To many life is masquerade
ball AS at such entertainment gentle
men and ladies appear in garb of kings
or queeus or mountain bandits or clowns
and then ut the close of the dance put
off their disguise, so many all through
life are in mask. The masquerade ball
goes on, and gemmed hand clasps gem
med hand, ard dancing feet respond to