The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-08-17
BE THOU HONEST.
DR.. Talmage breaches on Various
Methods OF Getting Money.
ITS POWER IN POLITICS.
Its Use Is Fruitful Source Of Cor
ruption. Bribery is Villa!ny.
Violation o! Solemn Trust
Unpardonabie OTense.

raignS the varioUS MODES Dy Whlcn some
peoDe set money that does not belong
to them and commcuds the far dealing
that succeeds best at last; text. Tim
othy vi. 9. They that will be rich fall
into temptation aud 4 snare, and into
many foolish and hurtTul lusts, which
drown men in destruction and perdi-
ton. That is tn Niagara falls over
which rush multitude OF souls
namely, the determination to have
the money anyhow, right or wrong.
Tell me how man gets his money and
what he does with it and | will tell You
his character and what will be his destl-
ny in this world andithe next. | pro
pose to speak today about the rulnou>
modes of getting money.
In all our city state and national clec-
tions large sums of money are used IN
in bribery. Politics. from being the
science Of good government, has often
been bedragsie>S into the synonym for
turbulency and turpitudc. \ monster
sin, plausible, potent, peStlterouS: mas q,
gone forth to do its dreadful work IN all
ages. Its two hands are rotten with
leprosy. 1t keeps its right hand hid
den in deep pocket The left hand is
clinched, and with Its icherous knucklc
it taps at the door Of the courtroom, the
legislative hall. the congress and the
parliament. The door swings open and
the monster enters and glides through
the aisles of the council chamber softly
as slippered page, and then 1t takes Its
right hand from its deep pocket and OF
fers it in salutation to judge or lesisla-
tor. # that hand be taken and the
palm of the intruder cross the palm OF
the official, the leprosy crosses from
palm to palm in round blotch, round
as gold eagle, and the virus spreads,
and the doom is fixed, and the victim
perishes. Let bribery, accursed OF
God and man, stand up for trial.
The Bible arraigns it again and
again. Samuel says Of his two sons,
who became judges, ''They took bribes
and perverted judgment. David says
of some of his pursuers, Their right
hand is full of bribes. Amos says OF
some men in his day, They take a
bribe and turn aside the poor IN the
gate" Eliphaz foretells the crushing
blows of Gods indignation, declaring,
Sire shall consume the tabernacles OF
bribery"
The president of the American con-
gress during the American Revolution,
General Reed was offered 10000 gul-
meas by foreign commissioners If he
would betray this country. He replied,
Gentlemen, am very poor man, but
tell your king he is not rich enough to
buy me-" But why go so far when
you and l, if we move in honorable So
ciety, know men and women who by all
the forces of earth and hell could not
be bribed. They would no more be
bribed than you would think Of tempt
ing an angel of light to exchange heaven
for the pit. To offer bribe is villainy,
but it is a very poor compliment to the
man to whom it is offered.
have not much faith in those peo-
pie who 60 about Dragging how much
they could get if they would only sell
out. Those women who complain that
they are very often insulted need to un-
derstand 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 a pirate
boat with few cutlasses would dare to
attack British man-of-war with two
banks of gans on each side loaded to
the touchhole. They are incorruptible
men, and they are the few men W no are
to save the city and save the land.
Meanwhile my advice is keep out OF
politics unless you are invunrable this
style of temptation. Indeed # even
you are naturally strong you need re-
hgious buttressing. Nothing but the
grace of God can sustain our public men
and make them what wewish. lwish that
there might come an old fashioned re-
vival of religion, that it might break
outin congress and the legislatures and
bring many of the leading Republicans
and Democrats down on the anxious seat
of repentance. That day will come, or
something better, for the Bible declares
that kings and queens shall become
nursing fathers and mothers to the
church, and if the greater in authority
then certainly the less.
Ny charge also to parents IS, remem-
ber that this evil of bribery often be-
gins in the home circle and in the nur-
sery. Do net bribe your children.
Teach them to do that which IS right,
and not because of the 10 cents or the
orange which you will give them. There
is a great difference between rewardlng
virtue and making the profits thereof
the impelling motive. That man who
is honest merely because honesty IS
the best policy is already moral
bankrupt.
Ny charge to you in all departments
of life, steer clear Of bribery, al Of You.
Every man and woman at some time
will be tempted to do wrong for com
pensation. The bribe may be offered
in money. It may be offered in social
position. Let US remember that there
is day coming when the most secret
transaction Of private life and Of public
life will come up For public repreken-
sion.
We cannot bribe sickness, we cannot
bribe death. We cannot bribc the grave,
we cannot bribe the judgments Of that
God who thunders against this sin.
''Fie!ln said Cardinal Beaufort, fe.
Can't death be bribed? Is money
nothing? Must l die, and so rich? Il
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 regret that they have TO leave
tteir money here when they go away
u ,-o,1c Na,, raIi from