Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1900-08-11

Copyright, Louis klopsch 1900
80 ROM Trondhjem, Norway, where
liz DIR. Talmage is DOW staying, he
- sends the following discourse, in
which he shows that the world can never
be benefited by a religion Of human man
ufacture, which easily yields to ones sur
roundings, but must have religion let
down from heaven; text, Amos vii, 3;
And the Lord said unto me, Amos what
seest thou? And l said, A plumb line.
A solid masonry of the world has for
ME a fascination. Walk about some Of
the triumphal arches and the eathedrais
400 or GOO years old, and see them stand
as erect as when they We're built, walls
of great height, for centuries not bend
ing a quarter of an inch this way or that.
30 greatly honored We're the masons who
builded these walls that they were free
from taxation and called free masons.
The trowel gets most Of the credit for
these buildings. and its clear ringing on
stone and brick has sounded across the
ages. But there is another implement of
just as much Importance as the trowcl,
and my text recognizes il. Bricklayers
and stone masons and carpenters, III the
building of walls, use an instrument made
of cord. ut the end Of which a lump Of
lead is fastened. They drop it over the
side of the wall, and, as the plummet
naturally seeks the center Of gravity in
the earth, the. workman discovers where
the wall recedes and where it bulges out
and just what is the perpendicular Our
text represents God as standing on the
wall of character which the lsraelitcs
h,I h,,il4 in bot factipXy II
"And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what
seest thou? And | said, A plumb line"
What the world wants is straight up
and down religion. Much Of the so-called
piety of the day bends this way and that
to suit the times. II is oblique, with a
low state of sentiment and morals. We
have all been building wall of charac-
ter. and it is glaringly imperfect and
needs reconstruction. How shall il be
brought into perpendicular? Only by the
divine measurement. And the Lord said
unto me, Amos, what secst thou? And
said, A plumb line
The whole tendency Of the times is to
make us act by the standard of what
others do. We throw over the wall Of
our character the tangled plumb line of
other lives and reject the infallble test
which Amos saw. The question for me
should not be what you think is right,
~But what God thinks is right. This per
petual reference to the behavior of 9TH
ers, as though it decided anything but
human fallibilty, is a mistake wide as
the world. There are 10000 plumb lines
in use, but only one is true and exact,
and that is the line of Gods eternal right.
Society Utterly Askew.
The divine plumb line needs to be
thrown over all merchandise. Thousands
of years ago Solomon discovered the ten
dency of buyers to depreciate goods. He
saw a man beating down an article lower
and lower and saying it was not worth
the price asked, and when he had pur-
chased at the lowest point he told every
body what a sharp bargain he had struck
and how he outwitted the merchant. ut
is naught. saith the buyer, but when he
is gone his way, then he boasteth'
proverbs Ky, IA. Society is so utterly
aslzeM in this matter that you seldom find
a seller asking the price that he expects
to get: he puts on n higher value than he
expects to receive, knowing that he will
have TO drop. And if he wants $50 he
asks $T5. And if he wants $1,000, he
asks $1,000. 1T is naught," saith the
buyer. THE fabric is defective; the
style of goods is poor; can get elsewhere
a better article at q smaller price. 1t is
QUA of fashion; it is damaged; it will fade;
il will not year we'll" After a while
the merchant, from overpcrsuasion or
from desire to dispose Of that particular
stock Of goods, says. "Wcll, take it at
your own price and the purchaser goes
home with light step and calls into his
private Office his confidential friends and
chucklcs while he tells how for half
price he got the goods. in other words,
he lied and was proud Of it.
Nothing would make times so good and
the earning Of . livelihood 50 easy as the
universal adoption Of tho law Of right
Suspicion strikes through all bargain
making Men who sell know nos wheth-
or they will ever get the money. Purchas-
ers know not whether the goods shipped
viii be according 10 the sample. And
what, with the large number Of CLERKS
who are making false entries and then
absconding and the explosion Of firms
that fail for millions Of dollars, honest
men are ut their wits end to make a
living. He who stands up amid all the
pressure and does right is accomplishing
something toward the establishment of
high commercial prosperity. / have deep
sympathy for the laboring classes who
toll with hand and foot. But we must
not forget the business men who with
out any complaint or hammered process
sion through the street. are enduring q
stress of circumstances terrific The for
tunate people Of to-day are those who are
receiving daily wages or regular salaries
And the men most TO be pitied are those
who conduct a business while prices are
falling and yet try to pay their clerks and
employees and are in such fearful straits
that they would quit business tomorrow
if it were not for the wreck and ruin Of
others. When people tell me at what a
ruinously low price they purchased an ar
ticle. it gives me more dismay than sat
isfaction. ] know it means the bank
ruptcy and defalcation Of men in many
departments. The men who toll with the
brain need full as much sympathy az
those who toll with the hand All busi
ness life Is struck through with suspi-
cion, and panics arc the result Of want "
confidence.
The pressure 10 do wrong is stronger