The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-07-17

and vehemently refuse to swallow that
camel.
oh, how particular great many peo-
pie are about the infnitesimals while
they are quite reckless about the magni-
tudes! What did Christ say? Did he
not excoriate the people in his time who
were SO careful to wash their hands be-
fore meal, but did not washe their
hearts? 1t Is q bad thing to have I'M
clean hands. 1t is worse thing to have
an unclean heart. How many people
there are In our time who are very anx-
ious that after their death they shall be
buried with their faces toward the east
and not at all anxious that during their
whole life they should face in the right
direction, so that they shall come up in
the resurrection of the just. whichever
are chiefly anxious that minister Of
the gospel shall come, In the line Of apos-
tolic succession, not caring SO much
whether he comes from Apostle Paul or
Apostle Judas! They have way of
measuring gnat until 1t is larger than
q camel.
Human Inconsistency.
Again, my subject photographs all
those who are abhorrant Of small sins
while they are reckless in regard to mag
nifcent thefts. You will find many a
merchant who, while he is so careful that
he would not take yard of cloth or q
spool of cotton from the counter without
paying for 1t, and who, If bank cashier
should make q mistake and send in
roll Of bills IS too much, would dispatch
a messenger in hot haste to return the
surplus, yet who will 60 into stock COM
pany, in which after awhile he gets con-
troll of the stock, and then waters the
stock and makes 100000 appear like
100000. He only stole 100000 by the
operation. Many of the men of fortune
made their wealth In that way.
One of those men engaged in such I'M
righteous acts that evening, the evening
of the very day when he watered the
stock, will find a wharf rat stealing a
daily paper from the basement doorway
and will go out and catch the urchin by
the collar and twist the collar so tightly
the poor fellow has no power to say that
1t was thirst for knowledge that led him
to the dishonest act, but grip the collar
tighter and tighter, saying: II have been
looking for you long while. You stole
my paper four or five times, haven't you,
you miserable wretch?" And then the
old stock gambler, with a voice they can
hear three blocks, will cry out, "Police,
policep' That same man the evening OF
the day In which he watered the stock
will kneel with his family in prayers and
thank God for the prosperity of the day,
then kiss his children good night with an
air which seems to say, II hope you all
will grow up to be as good as your ia
ther." Prisons for sins insectile in size,
but palaces for crimes dromedarian. No
mercy for sins animalcule in proportion,
but great leniency for mastodon iniquity.
A poor boy slyly takes from the basket
of market woman choke pear-saving
some one else from the cholera-and you
smother him In the horrible atmosphere
of Raymond Street Jail or New York
Tombs, while bis cousin, who has been
skillful enough to steal $4,000 from the
city, you make q candidate for the state
Legislature.
Gulping Down Camels.
There Is good deal Of uneasiness and
nervousness now among some people In
our time who have got unrighteous for
tunes-a great deal Of uneaslness about
dynamite. I tell them that God will put
under their unrighteous fortunes some
thing more explosive than dynamite-the
earthquake of his omnipotent indigna-
ton. 1t Is time that we learn in America
that sin is not excusable in proportion as
1t declares large dividends and has out
riders in equipage. Many man is riding
to perdition, position ahead and lackey
behind. To steal one copy of a newspa-
per Is q gnat; to steal many thousands of
dollars is camel. There is many fruit
dealer who would not consent to steal
basket Of peaches from neighbor's 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
MISREPRESENTATION makes difference of
millions of dollars. A man who would
not steal one basket Of peaches steals 3d.
900 baskets Of peaches.
Go down into the public library, in the
reading rooms, and see the newspaper re-
ports Of the crops from all parts Of the
country, and their phraseology ia very
much the same, and the same men wrote
them, methodically and UNANIMOUSLY car.
rying out tho huge lying about the grain
crop from year to year and TOR score OF
years. After awhile there will be "cor-
ner" In the wheat market, and men who
had contempt for petty theft will bur
glarize the wheat bin Of a nation and
commit larceny upon 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
scoundrelism while in their grain eleva.
tors and in their storehouses they are fat
tening huge camels which they expect
after awhile to swallow. Society has to
be entirely reconstructed on this subject
We are to find that sin is tnexcusable
in proportion as 1t is great. I know in
our time the tendency is to charge re-
lgious frauds upon good men. They say,
"Oh, what host Of frauds you have In
the church Of God In this dayw And when
an elder Of church. or a deacon, or
minister Of the gospel. or a superintend.
ent of q Sabbath school turns out de-
faulter, what display heads there are In
many Of the newspapers Great primer
type. Five line plea. Another Saint
Absconded," Clerical Scoundrelism,"
"Religion at Discount" "shame on the
Churches while there are thousand
scoundrels outside the church to one in.
side the church. and the misbehavior of
those who never sec the inside of
church Is so great that 1t is enough to
tempt man to become a Christian to
get out Of their company. But in all cir.
cles, religious and irreligious, the tend
ency Ia to excuse sin in proportion as it
Is mammoth. Even John Milton in his
Paradise Lost" While he condemns sa-
tan. gives such grand description of
him you have hard work to withhold
your admiration. Oh, this straining out
Of small sins like gnats and this gulping
down great iniquities like camels!
Don't Mind Small Things.
This subject does not give the picture
of one or two persons, but is gallery in
which thousands of people may see their
likenesses. For instance, all those peo-
pie who, while they would not rob their
neighbors Of farthing, appropriate the
money and the treasure of the public. A
man has 4 house to sell, and he tells his
customer 1t Is worth $4,000. Next day
the assessor comes around and the owner
says 1t Is worth $4,000. The govern.
ment of the United States took off the
tax from personal income, among other
reasons because 80 few people would tell
tho frutb md rory NM, with nv L.,