Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-10-29

gave it to their grandfather People
that will lie about nothing else Will lie
about a picture On small income we
want the world TO believe we are affiu-
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 D
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
hollow scene the tortured guest retires
at the close of the evening, assuring the
host that he has enjoyed himself So
ciety is become 50 contorted and deform-
ed in this respect that a mountain cabin
where the rustics gather at quilting
or an apple pairing has IN it more good
cheer than all the frescoed refrigerators
Of the metropolis
The Church Lie.
pass on to speak Of ecclesiastical
lies, those which are told for the ad-
yancement or retarding of a church or
sect 1t is hardly worth your while to
ask an extreme Calvinist what an Ar
minian believes He will tell you that
an Arminian believes that man can
save himself An Arminian believes no
such thing 1t is hardly worth your
while to ask an extreme Arminian what
a Calvinist believes He will tell you
that a Calyinist 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 q Pedo- Bap-
tist what a Baptist believes He will
tell you a Baptist believes that INNER
sion is necessary for salvation A Bap-
tist 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 a Presbyterian believes
that there are infants in hell span
long, and that very phraseology has
come down from generation TO genera (
tion in the Christian church There |
never was Presbyterian who believed .
that "Oh. you say, ." heard some
Presbyterian minister 20 years ago say
sol" You did not. There never was
man who believed that. there never
will be a man who will believe that
and yet from boyhood have heard that
particular slander against Christian
church going down through the COM B
munity.
Then how often it is that there are
misrepresentation on the part Of indl-
vidual churches in regard to other
churches-espeOially if a church comes
to great prosperity As long as a church
is in poverty, and the singing is poor,
and all the surroundings are decrepit
and the congregation are so hardly
bestead in life that their pastor goeswith
elbows out. then there will always be
Christian people in churches who say
"What pity. what PITY But let
the day of prosperity come 20 Chris
tiau church, and let the music be trl-
umphant and let there be vast assem-
blages, and then there will be even min
listers Of the gospel critical and deDun-
ciatory and full of misrepresentation
and Justification, giving the impression
10 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, "The deception
that practice is so small that 1t don't
amount to anything All, my friends,
it does amount to great deall You
saw. when | deceive, it is only about
a case of needles or a box Of buttons or
a row of pins 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
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 VINO
went in to make a purchase and depre-
ciated the value of the goods and then
after .e-& Tregot away boasted OF the
spl SocietJaet.iin he had made. 1T is
nauIht. it is naught, saith the buyer
but when he is gone his way, then he
boasteth " 1t may seem TO the world
sharp bargain. but the recording angel
wrote down in the ponderous tones OF
eternity. "Mr. So-and-so, doing, business
ON Pennsylvania avenue, or Broadway,
or Chestnut street, or State street, told
one lie. "
The Masquerade
NAV 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 az
ricultural lies and make every man to
speak the truth Of his neighbor MY
friends let us make our life correspond
70 what we are Let us banlsh all de-
oeption from our behavior Let US re-
member that the time comes when Goe
will demonstrate before an assembled
universe Just what we are. The secret
will come out We may hide 1t wniie
we live. but we cannot hide 1t when
we die To many life is masquerade
ball As at such entertainment gentle
men and ladies appear in garb OF kings
ar oueeus or mountain bandits or clowns
and then at the close Of the dance put
off their disguise. so many all through
life are in mask. The masquerade Dali
goes ON, and gemmed hand clasps gem
med hand, and dancing feet respond e
: dancing feet, and cleaning brow bendi
, to cleaning brow, and the masquerade
ball goes bravely on. but after awhile
languor comes and blurs the sight
, Lights lower. Floor hollow with sepui
: chral echo. Music saddens into wall
= Lights lower. Now the masquerade L
!. hardly seen The fragrance is exchange
!. for the sickening odor Of garlands tina