The Penn's Grove record., 1899-07-21
PENIS GROVE. N. j., FRIDAY, JULY 81, 1s99>


1ANAS a. ~ hS<A a'tA VI
now among some people IN
our time who have got u%nrighteous for,
tunes, a great denl of uheasiness about
dynamite. l tell them hat God will put
under their unrighteous fortunes some.
thing more explosive than dynamite, the
earthquake OF His o~mnipotent indig'
nation. Ii Is time that we learn In America
that sin Is not excusable In proportion as
1t declares large dividends and has out.
riders In equlpnge. Many n man Is riding
to per1ition position ahead and lackey
behind. To steal one copy Of a newspaper
is a gnat; to steal many thousands OF dol
lars Ia a camel. There Is many q fruit
dealer who would not consent to steal a
basket Of peaches from q neighbours stall,
but who would not scruple to depress the
fruit market, and as long as | can re-
member we have heard every summer the
peach crop of Maryland is a failure, and
by the time the crop comes In the mis-
representation makes a difference OF mil
lions OF dollars. hman who would not
steal one basket of peaches steals $4,000
baskets Of peaches.
Go down into the public library, In the
reading room, and see the newspaper re-
ports of the crops from all parts OF the
country, and their phraseology is very
much tho same, md the same mon wrote
them, methodlcally and UNANIMOUSLY carry
ing out the huge lying about the grain
crop IEOH NtuT IL year anu IOE u StOlO VI
years. After awhile there will be n "cor-
ner' In the wheat market, and men who
had n contempt for petty theft will burg
larize the wheat bin of a nation and com.
nit larceny unon the American corn crib,
and some OF the men will sit In churches
and In reformatory institutions trying to
strain out the small gnats OF scoundreltsm,
while in their grain elevators and in their
st~orehouses they are fattening huge
camels which hey expect after awhile to
swallow. Society has to be entirely re-
constructed on tbs subject. We are
to find that a sin is ~inexcusnble in pro-
portion us 1t IL great. l know in our
time the tendency is to charge reli-
gious frauds upon good men. They say,
"Oh what n host of frauds you have In the
Church OF God in this dayl" And when nm
elder of n chuych, or a deacon, or n minis
ter OF the gospel, or a sur erintendent OF n
Sabbath-sehool turns out n d~efaulter, what
display heads there are in many OF the
newspapers. Great primer type. Five
line plea. another Saint Ab~5conded,"
"Clerical Scoundrelism, " "Religlon at a
Discount" "Shame on the Churches"
while there are a thousand scoundrels out.
side the church to one inside the church,
and the misbehavlor Of those who never
see the inside OF a church Is so great that
1t is enough to tempt a man to become a
Christian to get out of their company.
But In all circles, religious and irrelisious.
the tendency is to excuse sin in proportion
asst Is mammoth, Even John Milton IN MS
paradise Lost" while he condemns satan,
gives such a grand description of him you
have hard work to withhold your admira-
ton. Oh, this straining out of small sins
like gnats and this gulping down great ini-
euities like camels.
The subject does not give the picture OF
one or two persons, but is a gallery in
which thousands OF people may see their
likenesses. For instance, all those people
who, while they would not rob their neigh.
bors of a farthfhg. appropriate the money
and the treasure OF the public. Aman has
a house to soil, and he tells his customer 1t
is worth $50, 900. Next day the assessor
comes around, and the owner says 1t Is
worth Sis, 900. The Government of the
United States took of the tax from per-
sonal income, among other reasons because
so few people would tell the truth, and
many a nun with an income OF hundreds
of dollars n day made statements which
seemed to imply he wns about to be handed
ovel to the overseer OF the poor. Careful
to pay their passage from Liverpool TO
New York, yet smuggling in their Saratoga
trunk ten silk dresses from Paris and q
half dozen watches from Geneva, telling
the custom house officer on tho wharf,
"There is nothing In that trunk but wear
ing apparel, Z" and putting q So 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 transgresstons.
There ARE in every community and in
every church watch.dogs who feel called
upon to keep their eyes on others ana
growl. They are full Of suspicious. They
wonder II this man is not dishonest, II that
man Is not unclean, If there is not some-
thing wrong about the other man. Ihey
are always the first to hear OF anything
wrong. yultures are always the first to
smell carrion, They are self-appointed
detectives. L lay this down as a rule with
out any exception that those people who
have the. most faults themselves are most
merciless in their watching OF others.
From scalp of head to sole OF foot they are
full of jealousies and representations.
But lest too many might think they es.
cape the scrutiny OF the text have TO tell
YOU that we all come under the divine sat
ir, when we make the questions of time
more prominent than the questions of
eternity. Come, now, let us all go into the
confessional. Are not all tempted to make
the question, Whore shall l live now
greater than the question, Where shali L
live forever? How SHALL get more dollars
here? greater han the question, HOW shait
l lay up treasures in heaven? the question.
IloN Slldll Il IA nv A@bN+
than the question, Howshall L meet o6liga-
tionsto God? the question, How shall igain
the world? greater than the question.
What IL | lose my soul2 the question, why
did God let sin ZONE into the world!
greater than the question, How shall | get
it e%Ytirpated from my natureH the ques-
ton. What shall l do with the twenty or
forty or seventy years of m" sublunar ex-
istenceP greater than the question, what
ANAL I do with the millions OF cycles of my
most terrestrial existence2 Time, how small
il isl Eternity, how vast 1t isf h former
more Insignificant in comparison WIN tno
latter than a gnat is Insignificant when
compared with a camel. we dou8eu the
text. We said, ''That docs not mean me,
and that does not mean me- ana WIN a
ruinous benevolence we are giving Inc
whole sermon AWAY.
But let us all surrender to the charge.
What an ado about things here. What poor
preparation for a great eternity. AS though
a m nnow were larger than q Denemoth, as
though a swallow took wider circuit thah
an Rlbatross, as though q nettle were tauer
than q Lebanon cedar, as though a gnat
were greater than Il camel, as tnouRu u
minute were longer than II century, as
though time were higher, deeper, broader
than eternity. So the text whleh nasneu
with lightning of wit as Christ uttered IL
is followed by the crashing thunders OF
awful catastrophe to those who make me
questions of time greater than the ques-
lions of the future, the oncomlns, over
s%hadowing future. Oh, eternity, eternity
eternityl
nrtNNEI