The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-09-15

nHo" Aeh anu women VINO by all the
forces OF earth and hell could not be
brlbed. They would no more be bribed
than you would think of tempting ar
angel of light to exchange Heaven for
the pit. To offer bribe is villainv,
but 1t Is very poor compliment to the
man to whom it is offered.
l have not much faith in those people
who go about brag gging how much they
could get if they would only sell out.
Those women who complain that they
are very often insulted need to under.
stand that there is something in their
carriage to invite insult. There are
men at albany, and at Harrisburg, and
at Washington. who would no more be
approached by bribe than pirate
boat with few cutlasses would dare
to attack Il British man-of-war with
two banks of guns on each side loaded
to the touch-hole. They are incor-
ruptible men, and they are the few
men who are to save the city and save
the land
Meanwhile, my advice is, keep out of
politics unless you are invulnerablc to
this style of temptation. Indeed, if
even you are naturally strong, you
need religious buttressing. Nothing
but the grace Of God can sustain our
public men, and make them what we
wish. l wish that there might come
an old-fashioned revival of religion,
that it might break out in congress
and the legislatures, and bring many
OF the leading republicans and demo
Gratis down on the anxious seat of re-
pentance. That day will come, or
something better, for the Bible de-
clares that kings and queens shall be-
come nursing fathers and mothers to
the church, and if the greater in
authority, then certainly the less
My charge also to parents is, remem-
Der that this evil of bribery often be-
gins in the home circle, and in the
nursery. Do not bribe your children
Teach them>to do that which is right,
and not because of the ten cents or the
orange which you will give them
There is a great difference between re-
warding virtue and making the profits
thereof the impelling move That
man who is honest nercI v because hon
esty is the best policy" is already a
moral bankrupt.
My charge is to you, in all depart
ments of life, steer clear of bribery all
of you. Every man and woman at
some time will be tempted to do wrong
for compensation. The bribe may not
be offered in money. 1t may be offered
in social position. Let us remember
that there is ii day coming when the
most secret transactions of private life,
and Of public life, will come up for
public apprehension.
We can not bribe death, we can not
bribe sickness. we can not bribe the
grave, we can not bribe the judgments
OF that God who thunders against this
sin. "Fie!" said Cardinal Beaufort,
"tie. Can't death be bribed? Is money
nothing? Must die. and so rich? If
the owning Of the whole realm would
save me, l could get it by policy or by
purchase-by money" No, death
would not be bribed then; he will not
be bribed now. Men Of the world often
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money here when they go away from
the world. You can tell from what
they say in their last hours that one
of their chief sorrows is that they
have to leave their money. l break
that delusion. | tell that bribetaker
that he will take his money with him.
God will wrap it up in your
or put it in the palm of your
hand in resurrection, and there it will
lie, not the cool, bright, shining gold
as it was on the day when you sold
your vote and your moral principle,
but there it will lie. a hot metal, burn
ing and consuming your hand forever.
Or, if there be enough of it for IL chain,
then it will fall over the wrist, clank-
ing the fettcrs of an eternal captivity.
The bribe is an everlasting possession.
You take it for time, you take it for
eternity. Some day in the next world,
when you are longing for sympat THY,
you will feel on your cheek a kiss.
Looking up, you will find it to be Ju-
das, who took thirty pieces of silver as
4 bribe, and finished the bargain by
putting an Infamous kiss on the pure
cheek Of his Divine Master.
Another wrong use of money is seen
in the abuse of trust funds. Nearly
every man during the course of his
life, on a larger or smaller scale, has
the property of others committed to
his keeping. He is, SO far, safety de-
posit, he is an administrator, and holds
in his hand the interest of the family
Of deceased friend. Or he is an at
torney, and through his custody goes
The payment from door to creditor, or
he is the collector for a business house,
which compensates him for the re-
or he is treasurer for
institution. and he holds
aims contributed for the suffering; or
ne is an official Of the city or the state
Or the nation, and taxes and subsidies
md salaries and supplies are in his
keeping.
1t is as solemn trust as God can
make it. 1t Is concentrated and multi
olied condolences. On that man de-
bends the support of bereft house
loid, or the morals of dependents, or
.he right movement Of thousand
wheels of social mechanism. A man
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