The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1899-09-16

which be wntered the stock will kneel with
bis family In prayers and thank God for
the prosperity OF the day, then kiss his
children good night with an air which
| to be as good rs your father!" Prisons
for sins insectiio In size. but palaces for
crimes iroMedarian. No mercy for sins
animaloule in proportion, but great ZEN.
iency foe mastodon inigulty. A poor boy
| slyly takes from tho basket OF market
woman d choke pear, saving some one else
from tho cholera, and you smother him In
| tho horrible atmosphere OF Raymond
| Street. Jail Of New York Tombs, while his
cousin, who has been skillful enough to
| steal $50 900 from the city. you make
candidate for the State Legislature.
There Is good deal of uneasiness and
| nervousness now among some people I'm
| our time who have got unrighteous for
tunes, q great deal OF uneasiness about
! dynamite. I tell them that God will put
under their unrighteous fortunes some-
| thing moro explosive than dynamite, the
| earthquake OF His omntpotent indig-
natio1. It is time that we learn In America
| that sin Is not cxcusable In proportion as
| II declares large dividends and has out
rliers In equipage. Many man Is riding
| to per titlon position ahead AMI laekey
| behind. 70 steal ono copy OF newspaper
| Is a gnat; to steal many thousands OF dol
| lars IL camel. There Is many fruit
| dealer who would not consent to steal
| basket OF peaches from ncighbor's stall,
| but who would not scruple to depress the
| fruit market, and rs long as l can re-
| member we have honr1 every summer the
| peach crop OF Maryland Is u failure. and
| by the time the crop comes tn the mis-
| representation makes difference OF mill
| lions of dollars. man who would not
| steal ono basket of peaches steals $4,000
| baskets OF peaches.
~ I0xr f,,f~ ho I'm a
reading room, and see the newspaper re-
ports OF the crops from all parts OF the
country, and their phraseology Is very
much the same, and the Same men wrote
| them, mothodically and UNANIMOUSLY carry
| ing ont tho hugo lying about the grain
cror from year to year and for q score OF
| years. After awhile there will be "cor-
ner" In tho wheat market, and men who
had contempt for petty theft will burg
| larfze tho wheat bin Of nation und COM
| nit larceny unon the American corn crib,
| and somc OF the men will sit in churches
and in reformatory Institutions trying to
! strain ont tho small gnats OF scounarel!sm,
while In their grain eIcyat ,rs aud in their
| storehouses they arc fattening huge
| camels which, they expect after awhile to
! swallow. Society hns to be entirely
| constructed on ths subject. Wc are
| to find that n sin Is. inexcusable In pro-
! portion rs 1t is great. I know In our
|
| gious frauds upon good men. They say,
] "Oh what a host OF frauds you have In tho
| Church OF God in this day!" Aud when mu
| elder OF n church, or a deacon, or a minis
] ter OF the gospel, or sur erintendent vi n
! Sabbath-school turns out n defaultcr, what
display heads there are In many OF the
| newspapers. Great primer type. Five
| line plea. another Saint Absconded, :"
"Clerical ScoundreIsm." "EellgIon at a
| Discount" "Shame on the Churches"
| while there are thousand seoundrets out.
side the church TO one inside the church,
aud the misbehsvior OF those who never
| see the inside OF a church IS so great that
| 1t Ia enough to tempt q man TO become a
| Christian to get ont OF their company.
| But in alt circles, religious and frrefgfous,
| tho tendency IL to excuse sin IN proportion
| ~ 1t IL mammoth. Even John Milton In bis
| PARADISE Lost" white he condemns satan,
| gives such grand description OF him you
havo hard work to withhold yonr admira-
| ton. oh. this strainfng out OF small sins
like gnnts and this gulpins down great int
| guities like camels.
| The subject does not give the picture of
| one or two persons, but Is gallery In
which thousands OF people may see thcir
likenesses. For instance ali those people
| who, while they would not rob their neigh
bors OF a farthing, appropriate the money
and the treasure Of the public. A man has
n house to sell. and he tells his customer 1t
Is worth $40. 000 Next day the assessor
comes Around. and the owner says 1t Is
worth SIS 900. Tho Government OF ths
Unitel States took OIL the tax from per
sonal income. among other reasons because
so few people would tell the truth, and
many a man with an income OF hundreds
OF dollars a day made statements which
seemed to imply he was about to be handed
over to the overscer OF the poor. Careful
to pay their passage from Liverpool 10
New York yet smuggling In thei- Saratoga
| trunk ten silk dresses from Paris and a
half dozen witches from Geneva, telling
the custom honse officer on the wharf,
"There Is netting in that trunk but wear
ing apparel" and putting a &5 gold piece
In his hand to punctuate the statement.
Such persons are also described In the
text who are very much alarmed about the
small faults Of others and have no alarm
| about their own great transgresslOns.
Thern are In every community and in
every church watch-dogs who feel called
upon to keep their eyes ON others and
growl. They are fail OF suspicious. They
| wonder IL this man Is not dishonest, II that
man Is not unclean, II there is not some-
thing wrong about the other man. They
are always the first to hear OF anything
wrong. Vultures are always the first to
smell carrion. They are se'f-appointsd
detectives. Law this down as a rule with
out any exception that those people who
have the most faults themselves are most
mereiless in their watching OF others.
From scalp OF head to solo Of foot they are
full Of jealousies and bypercriticisms.
But lest too many might think they es-
cape the scrutiny OF the text / have to tell
you that we all como under the divine sat-
ir, when we make the questions OF time
more prominent than the questions oil
eternity. Come, now, let us all go into tue
confessional. Are not ali tempted to make
the question, Where shall 1 live now?
, greater than the question, Where shall
live forever? How shall get more dollars
heref greater than the question, How shall
lay up treasures in heaven2 the question,
How shall pay my debts to man? greater
than the question. How shall meet obliga-
lions to God? the question, How shall gain
the world? greater than the question,
What IL I lose my soul? the question, Whv
did God let sin come into the world?
greater than the question, How shall get
1t cxtirpated from my nature? the ques-
ton, What shall do with the twenty OF
forty or seventy years OF my su5luBar ex-
istence? grenter than the question, What
/ shall do with the millions OF cycles OF my
i post terrestrial existence? Time, how small
! | 1t isl Eternity how vast 1t Is? The former
more Insignificant 10 comparison with the
latter than gnat Is Insignificant wi,er
, compared with camel. We lodged tht
, text. We said, "Thut does not mean me
and that does not mean me-" and with .
. ruinous benevolence We are giving tn:
4 whole sermon away.
9 But let us all surrender to the charge
. | Vhot al TN bor What