Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-09-15
DIR, TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE eY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

Uonesty Eulogized-Ruinous Modes OF
Getting Money-why Politics Has be-
come a Synonym For Truculency and
Turpitude.-The Morals of the Gospel.
TEXT: "They that will be rich fall into a
temptation and q snare, and into many
In destruction and perdition."-1 Timothy
vi, g.
That is the Niagara Falls over which rush
q multitude OF souls, namely, the deter
mination to have the money anyhow. right
or wrong. Tell me how O man gets his
money and what he does with 1t, and Will
tell you his character, and what Will pc MS
destiny in this world aud the next. l pro-
pose to speak to-day about the rulnous
modes OF getting money.
In all our city, state and national cleo
tions large sums Of money are used In brib-
ery. Politics, from being the science Of
good government, has often been be-
draggled into the synonym for truculency
and turpitude. A monster sin, plausible,
potent pestiferous, has gone forth to do
Its dreadful work in all ages. Its two
hands are rotten with leprosy. It keeps
it's right hand hidden In u deep pocket.
The left hand is clenched. and with its
ichorous knuckle it taps at the door Of the
courtroom, the legislative hall, the con-
gress and the parliament. The door swings
open and the monster enters, and glides
through the aisle OF the council chamber
as softly as a slippered page, and then it
takes its right hand from its deep pocket,
and offers it in salutation to judge or
legislator. II that hand be taken, and the
palm Of the intruder cross the palm OF the
official, the leprosy crosses from palm to
palm in a round blotch, round as gold
eagle, and the virus spreads, and the doom
is fixed, and the victim psrlshes. 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 bribe, and turn aside
the poor in the gate" Eliphaz fortells the
crushing blows of Gods indignation, de-
claring, "Fire shall consume the taber-
uncle of bribery
1t is NO light temptation. The mightiest
have fallen under it. Lord Bacon, Lord
Chancellor OF England, founder OF our
modern science, author OF "Novum
organum," and whole library OF books,
the leading thinker OF his century, so
precocious that when u little child he was
asked by Queen Elizabeth, "How old are
you2" he responded. 81 am two years
younger than your Maajesty's happy
reign;" OF whose oratory Ben Jonson
him was lest he should make an end" hav-
ing an income which you would suppose
would have put him beyond the temptation
Of bribery--thirty-six thousand dollars a
year. and Twickenham Court, gift, and
princely estates in Hertfordshire-yet
under this temptation to bribery, falling
hat into ruin, and on his confession OF
taking bribes, giving as excuse that all his
predecessors took them: he WAS fined two
hundred thousand dollars--or what corre-
spends with our two hundred thousand
dollars-and imprisoned in London Tower
Even heathenism and the Dark Ages have
furnished specimens OF incorruptibility.
cadi of Smyrna had case brought before
him on trial. A man gave him five hundred
ducats in bribery. The case came on. The
briber had many witnesses. The poor man
Oh the other side had no witnesses. At the
close OF the case the cadi said: This poor
man has no witnesses, he thinks; shall
produce in his behalf five hundred Witness
against the other side" Then pulling
out the bag of ducats from under the otto
man. he dashed it down at the feet OF the
briber, saying; "I give my decision against
you." Epaminondas offered bribe, said:
Il will do this thing If it be right, and II it
be wrong all your goods cannot persuade
me-"
The President Of the American Congress
during the American Revolution, General
Reed, was offered ten thousand guineas by
this country. He replied: "Gentlemen,
am a very poor man, but tell your king he
Is not rich enough to buy me-" But why
go 80 far, when You or l. il We move in
honorable society, know men and women
who by all the forces OF earth and He'll
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 villiany but
it is u very poor compliment to the man to
whom it is offered.
Ny charge Is to you, in all departm ents
OF life, steer clear Of bribery, all Of you.
Every man and woman will at some time
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 day coming
when the most secret transaction OF pri-
vate life, and Of public life, will come up
for public reprehension.
We cannot bribe death, we cannot bribe
sickness, we cannot bribe the grave, we
cannot bribe the judgment OF that God
who thunders against this sin. "Fie!"
said Cardinal Beaufort. "fe. Can't death
be bribed? Is money nothing? Must I
die, and SO rich? II the owning OF the
whole realm would save me l could get 1t
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 their
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. break that delusion. tell that
bribe -taker that he will take his money
with him. God will wrap it up in your
shroud, or put it in the palm Of your hand
IN resurrection. and there it will lie, not
the cool, bright, shining gold as 1t was on
the day when you sold your vote and your
moral principle, but there 1t will lie, a hot
metal, burning and consuming your hand
forever. Or, II there be enough Of 1t for
chain, then it will fall over the wrist, clank-
ing fetters OF an eternal captivity. The
bribe is an everlasting possession. You
take 1t for time, you take it for eternity.
Some day in the next world. when you are
longing for sympathy. you will feel on
your cheek kiss. Looking up, you will
find it to be Judas, who took thirty pieces
OF silver as a bribe, and finished the bar
gain 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 u
large or smaller scale, has the property OF
others committed to his keeping. He is,
SO far, a safety deposit, he is an admins