Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-05-02


and wrong. You say to some one about
Il merchant, lis he honest?'' "Oh,
yes, +" the man says, The is honest, but
he grinds the faces of his clerks. He is
honest, but he exaggerates the value OF
his goods. He is honest, but he loans
money on bond and mortgage with the
understanding that the mortgage can
lie quiet for ten years, but as soon as
be gets the mortgage he records it and
begins foreclosure suit, and the sher-
ifs writ comes down, and the day of
Eale arrives, and away goes the home
stead, and the creditor buys it in at
half price,. Honest? When he loaned
the money, he knew that he would get
the homestead at half price. Honest?
But he goes to the insurance Office to get
a policy on his life and tells the doctor
that he is we'll when he knows that for
ten years he has had but one lung.
Honest? Though he sells property by the
map, forgetting to tell the purchaser
that the ground is all under water but
it is generous in him to do that, for he
throws the water into the bargain.
Standard of Right and Wrong.
All, my friends, there is but one
standard of the everlasting right and Of
the everlastingly wrong, and that is
the Bible, and when that principle
shall get its pry under our commercial
houses I believe that one half of them
will go over. The ruin will begin at
one end of the street, and it will be
crash, crash, crash all the way down
to the docks "What is the matter?
Has there been fall in gold?'' ooh,
no." tHas there been a new tariff?''
mo" elias there been a failure in
crops?' emo" "Has there been an I'M
accountable panic?' "No." This is the
secret: The Lord God has set up his
throne of Judgment in the exchange.
He has summoned the righteous and
the wicked to come before him. What
was 1887? A day of judgment. What
was 1857? A day of judgment. What
was the extreme depression of two years
ago? A day of judgment Do you think
that God is going to wait until he has
burned the world up before he rights
these wrongs? I tell you, nay. Every
day is day of judgment.
The fraudulent man piles up his
gains, bond above bond, United States
security above United States security,
emolument above emolument until his
property has become a great pyramid,
and as he stands looking at it he thinks
it can never be destroyed, but the Lord
God comes, and with his little finger
pushes it all over.
You build house, and you put into
it a rotten beam. A mechanic standing
by says, cit will never do to put that
beam in; it will ruin your whole build
ing. But you put it in. The house is
completed. Soon it begins to rock. You
call in the mechanic and ask, "What is
the matter with this door? What is the
matter with this wall? Everything
seems to be giving out Says the
mechanic, "You put rotten beam into
that structure, and the whole thing has
got to come down." Here is an estate
that seems to be all right now. 1t has
been building great many years. But
% years ago there was a dishonest
transaction in that commercial house.
That one dishonest transaction will
keep on working ruin in the whole
structure until down the estate will
come in wreck and ruin about the pos
SCISSORS ears-one dishonest dollar in
the estate demolishing all his posses
sions. I have seen it again and again,
and so have you.
Here is your money safe. The manu-
facturer and yourself only know how it
can be opened. You have the key. You
touch the lock, and the ponderous door
swings back But let me tell you that
however firmly barred and bolted your
Sofn hn
God out. He will come, some day, into
your counting room, and he will de-
mand: "Where did that note of hand
come from? How do you account for
this security? Where did you get that
mortgage from? What does this mean?"
If it is all right, God will say: "Well
done, good and faithful servant. Be
prospered in this world. Be happy in
the world to come.'' If it is all wrong
he will say: depart, ye cursed. Be
miserable for your iniquities in this
life, and then go down and spend your
eternity with thieves and horse jockeys
and pickpockets .
You have an old photograph of the
signs on your street. Why have those
signs nearly all changed within the
last 90 years? Does the passing away of
a generation account for it? Oh, no.
Does the fact that there are hundreds of
honest men who go down every year &C.
count for it? Oh, no. This is the secret:
The Lord God has been walking through
the commercial streets of our great
cities, and he has been adjusting things
according to the principles of eternal
rectitude.
The time will come when, through
the revolutionary power of this gospel
falsehood instead of being called ex-
aggeration, equivocation or evasion
will be branded lie, and stealings
that now sometimes go under the head