Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-10-29
ALL LIES ARE BLACK
REV. OR. TALMAGE SAYS THERE ARE
NO WHITE ONES.
He Refers Specially to a Variety Of Liars
and In Closing Draws Remarkably
Graphic Picture of a Masquerade Ball.

He Refers Specially to a Variety Of Liars
and In Closing Draws a Remarkably
Graphic Picture of Masquerade Ball.
[Ccpyrignt. 1897. by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
WASHINGTON, Oct 24.-Dr. Talmage
in this discourse gives vivid classified
ton Of the vices of speech and pleads
for honesty in all that is said and done.
His text is Acts V, l-l0, "a certain
man named Ananias, with Sapphira his
wife, sold a possession, " etc.
A we'll matched pair, alike in ambi-
ton and in falsehood, Ananias and
Sapphiral They wanted a reputation
for great beneficence, 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 doing.
Ananias first lied about it and dropped
down dead Then Sapphira lied about
it, and she dropped down dead-the
two fatalities a warning to all ages OF
the danger of sacrificing the truth.
There are thousands Of ways Of tell
ing a lie. A man $ whole life may be a
falsehood and yet never with his lips
may he falsify once. There is way of
uttering falsehood by look, by manner
as well as by lip. There are persons
who are guilty Of dishonesty of speech
and then afterward say may be, " call
ing 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 a natural infrmity There
are those whom you will recognize as
born liars. Their whole life, from era
die to grave, is filled up with vice OF
speech. misrepresentation and preyari-
cation are as natural to them as the in
fantile diseases and are sort Of moral
Group or spiritual scarlatina.
Then there are those who in after
life have opportunities Of developing
this evil. and they 60 from decep.
ton to deception and from class tc
class until they are regularly graduated
liars. At times the air in our cities il
filled with falsehood and lies cluster
around the mechanics hammer, bios
som on the merchants yardstick anc
sometimes sit in the doors Of churches
They are called by some fabrication
and they are called by some fiction
You might call them subterfuge or de
ceit or romance or fable or misrepre
sentation or delusiOn, but as ] know
nothing to be gained by covering up
God defying sin with a photographer
blanket | shall call them in PLANES
vernacular lies. They may be divided
into agricultural, commercial, mechan
ical, social and ecclesiastical
The Lying Farmer.
First of all, speak Of agriculture
falsehoods. There is something in TN
presence Of natural objects that has
tendency to make one pure The tree
never issue false stock The wheattield
are always honest Rye and oats neye
move out iii the night, not paying 10
the place they occupy. Corn shock
never make false assignment Mountain
brooks are always current The gold o
the wheatfelds is never counterfeit, Du
while the tendency Of agricultural lif
is to make one honest, honesty Is no
the characteristic of all who come t
the city markets from the country DIS
tricts. You hear the creaking OF tn
dishonest farm wagon in almost ever
street of our great cities-a farm wagol
in which there is not one honest spok
: or one truthful rivet, from tongue t
tailboard. Again and again has domeS
tic economy in our great cities founder
ed on the farmers firkin. When NeN
York and Washington sit down an
weep over their sins let Westcheste
r county and the neighborhoods aroun
b this capital sit down and weep owe
: theirs.
d The tendency in all rural districts
to suppose that sins and transgresslon
cluster in our great cities, but citizen
, and merchants long ago learned tnat
is not safe to calculate from the chara'
r ter of the apples on the topof the farm
er's barrel what is the character OF tn
apples all the way down toward tn
bottom. Many of our citizens and mel
d chants have learned that it is alway
e safe to see the farmer measure th
barrel of beets. Milk cans are not a
WAYS honest There are those who
country life seem to think they have
right to overreach grain dealers an
/ merchants of all styles They think
5 is more honorable to raise corn than
I deal in corn. The producer sometime
: practically SAYS 10 the merchant, fc
f get your money easily anyhow. " Do
, he get it easilyY While the farm'
sleeps-and he may 20 TO sleep COZ
scious of the fact that his corn and r,
IL are all the time progressing and ad'
r ing TO his fortune or his livelihood-tl
merchant tries to sleep, while consclo'
of the fact that at that moment the sh
r may be driving On the rock or wa
Y sweeping over the hurricane deck spoi
. ing his goods, or the spectators may
y plotting monetary revolution, or q
e burglars may be at that moment at h
money safe, or the fire may have XII
died on the very block where his sto
< stands.
N Easy. is it? Let those who get the
's living in the quiet farm and barn ta
Of the place of one of our city merchan
IN and see whether it is so easy. 1t is ha
enough to have the hands blister
with outdoor work, but it is hard
with mental anxieties to have the bra
consumed. God help the merchant
u and do not let those who live in cou
try life come to the conclusion that
N the dishonesties belong to city life
The Lying Merchant.
Ipass ON to consider commercial li'
u There are those who apologize for
I'd viations from the right and for prac
cal deception by saying 1t is CONNIE
cial custom. In other words, lie
: multiplication becomes a virtue. Thl