The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-08-02

tunes, grent deal Of uneasiness about
dynamite. tell them that God Will put
under their uDrighteous fortunes some
thing more explosive than dynamite, the
earthquake OF His omnipotent indtg-
nation. It Is time that we learn In America
that sin is not excusable in proportion as
1t declares large dividends and has out
riders In equlpage. Many man Is riding
to periition position ahead and lncKey
behind. To steal one copy OF newspaper
Is a gnat; to steal many thousands OF dol
lars Is q camel. There Is many fruit
dealer who would not consent to stenl q
basket OF peaches from a neighbor's stall,
but who would not scruple to denress the
fruit market, and as long as / can re-
member we have heard every summer the
peach crop Of Maryland Ia failure. and
by the time the crop comes In the mis-
representation makes difference or mil
lions OF dollars. man who would not
steal one basket OF peaches steals $4,000
baskets OF peaches.
Go down into the public library, in the
reading room, und see the newspaper re-
ports OF the crops from all parts OF the
country, and their phraseology Is very
much tho same, and the same men wrote
them, methodIcalIy and iniamously carry.
ing out the huge lying about the grain
crop from year to year and Tor score OF
years. After awhile there Will DO cor
ner'' In the wheat market, and men who
had a contempt for petty theft will burg
larize the wheat bin OF nation and COM
nit larceny unon the American corn crib,
and some OF the men will sit IN schurches
and In reformatory institutions trying to
strain out the small gnats OF scoundrelism,
while in their grain elevators and In their
storehouses they are fattentnS huge
camels which they expect after awhile to
swallow. Society has to bc entirely re-
constructed on this subject. We are
portion as 1t is great. know In our
time the tendency Is to charge reli.
gious frauds upon good men. They say,
"Oh what host OF frauds you have In the
Church OF God In this day!' And when an
elder OF church, or a deacon, or minis
ter OF the gospel, or sur erintendent OF
Sabbath-school turns out defaulter, what
display heads there are In many OF the
newspapers. Great primer pSse1 type; peondsd Eve e
"Clericn scoundrelism," religion at q
Discount" "Shame on the Churches" I"
while there are thousand scoundrels out.
side the church to one inside the church,
and the misbehavior OF those who never
see the inside OF church Is 80 great that
It Is enough to tempt a man to become a
Christian to get ont OF their company.
But in NIL circles, religious and irreliglous,
the tendency is to excuse Sin In proportion
as it Is mammoth, Even John Milton In his
Paradise Lost, while he condemns satnn,
gives such grand description ofhim you
have hard work to withhold your afimfra-
tion. oh, this straining out OF small sins
like gnats and this gulping down great ini.
Guities like oamels.
The subject does not give the picture OF
one OF two persons, but is gallery In
which thousands OF people may see their
likenesses. For instance, oil those people
who, while they would not rob their neigh
bors Of q fartbing, appropriate the money
and the treasure OF the public. Aman has
a house to sell, and he tells bis customer 1t
is worth $40 900. Next day the assessor
comes around, and the owner gays 1t is
worth $4,000. 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 man with an income OF hundreds
OF dollars day made statements whieh
seemed to imply he wns about to be handed
over to the overseer OF the poor. Careful
to pay their passnge from Liverpool to
New York, vet smuggling in thei. Saratoga
trunk ten silk dresses from Pnrls and q
half dozen watches from Geneva, telling
the custom house officer on the wharf,
"There is nothing In that trunk but wear
ing apparel" and putting a S. gold piece
in his hand to punctunte 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 transgressions.
There are In every community and IN
every church h-dogs who feel called
upon to keep their eyes on others and
growl. They are full OF suspicious. They
wonder II 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
smell carrion. They are self-appointed
detectives. lay this down as 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 hypercritlcisms.
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 90 into the
confessional. Are not all tempted to make
tho question, Where shall I live now?
greater than the question, Where shall
live forever? How shall get more dollars
here! greater than the question, How shall
1 lay up treasures In heaven? the question,
How shall I pay my debts to man? greater
than tho question, How shall meet obliga-
tions to God? the question, How shall Gain
the world? greater than the question,
What II lose my soul? the question, Why
did God let sin come Into the woridr
greater than the question, How shall get
it e1tirpated from my nature? the ques-
tion, What shall do with the twenty or
forty or seventy years OF my sublunar ex-
istence? greater than the question, What
shall do with the millions OF cycles OF my
post terrestrial existence? Time, how small
it Is! Eternity, how vast 1t Is? The former
more insignificant In comparison with the
latter than n gnat Is Insignificant when
compared with a camel. We lodged the
text. We said, "That does not mean me,
and that does not mean me-" and with
ruinous benevolence we are giving the
whole sermon away.
But let us all surrender to the charge.
What an ado about things here. What poor
preparation for great eternity. As though
a m nnow were larger than behemoth, as
though n swallow took wider circuit than
m albatross, as though nettlo we're taller
than q Lebanon cedar, az though gnat
were greater than camel, rs though
minute. were longer than century, as
though time were higher, deeper, broader
than eternity. SO the text which hashed
with lightning Of wit as Christ uttered1t
II followed by the crashing thunders OF
awful catastrophe to those who make the
questions of time greater than the ques-
lions Of the future, the oncominc, over
shadowiug future. Oh, eternity, eternity,
eternity!
MARRIED BY MGR, MARTINElLl..