The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-08-17
DOWN FROM HEAVEN
REV. DR.. TALMAGE ON THE ONLY
TRUE RELIGION
Makeshifts of Human Manufacture
Are Useless When Measured by Gods
Plumb Line-Religions Made TO suit
Conditions

Talmage is now staying, ne sehuS Ine
following discourse. in which he shows
that the world can never oe oenenUeu
by a religion of human manufacture
which easily yields TO ones surround
fngs. but must nave a religion let DOWN
from heayen: text, Amos vii. 3: AND
the Lord said unto me. Amos, what
seest thou? And I said, A plumb line.
The solid masonry of the world mas
for me a fascination. walk ABOUT
some of the triumphal arches and the
c~athedraIs 400 or 600 years old, and see
them stand as erect as when they were
built. walls of great height, for centur-
les not bending a quarter OF an inch
this way or that. So greatly honored
were the masons who builded these
walls that they were free from taxa
ton and called free" masons. The
trowel gets most Of the credit Tor
these buildings, and its clear ringing
on stone and brick las sounded across
the ages. But there is another imple-
ment of just as much Importance as
the trowel, and my text II.
Bricklayers and stonemasons and car
penters, in the building of walls, use
an instrument made OF a cord, at the
end of which a lump of lead is faSten-
ed. 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 just what is the perpendicular.
Our text represents God as standing
on the wall Of character which the
Israelites had built and in that way
testing il. "And the Lord sand unto
me, Amos, what seest thou? And 1
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
n that to suit h times. 1t is
obliuue. with a low state of sentiment
and morals. We Ave all been build
ing a wall of character, and it is glar-
ingly imperfect and needs RECONSTRUCT
tion. How shall it be brought into per-
pendicular? Only by the divine meas
urement. And the Lord said unto me,
Amos, what seest thou? And I 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 infalIible test which Amos saw.
The question for me should not be
what you think is right. but what God
thinks is right. n perpetual refer
ence to the behavior of others, as
IHOuSH i uCClIcu Ill Il4LS u hhAAAS1A
fallibility. 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. There is a mighty attempt be-
ing made to reconstruct and fix up the
Ten Commandments To many they
seem too rigid. The tower of Pisa leans
owe about Is feet from n ~perpendicu-
lar, and people go thousands of miles
to see its graceful inclination and to
learn how, by extra braces and various
architectural c~ontrivances, it is kept
leaning from century to century. Why
not have the ten granite blocks of Siani
set a little aslant? Why not have the
pillar of truth a leaning tower? Why
81 not an ellipSe as good as a square?
Why is not an oblique as good as
straight up and down? My friends, we
must have a standard. Shall it be
Gods or mans?
SOCIETY UTTERLY ASKEW.
The divine plumb line needs to be
thrown over all merchandise. Thou
sands of years ago Solomon discovered
the tendency 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 purchased at the lowest
point he told everybody what a sharp
bargain he had struck and how he out
witted the merchant. 1T is naught,
saith the buyer, but when he is gone
his way, then he boasteth' proverbs
Xxx, 40. Society is so utterly askew in
this matter that you seldom find a sell
Ter asking the price that he expects to
get; he puts on a higher value than
he expects to receive, knowing that he
$50, he asks SIS. And if he wants
$50, he asks SIS. And if he wants ST.
saith the buyer. 1.-The fabric is defec-
tive; the style of goods is poor; I can
get elsewhere a better article at a
smaller price. 1t is out Of fashion; it
IS damaged; it will fade; it will not
req WELL" After awhile the mer-
sire to dispose of that particular stock
Of goods, says, well, take it at your
own price," and the purchaser goes
home with light step and calls into his
private office his confidential friends
and chuckles 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 a livelihood so easy
as the universal adoption Of the Jaw
OF right. Suspicion strikes through all
bargain making. Men who sell INC
not whether they will ever get the
money. Purchasers know not whether
the goods shipped will be according to
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 at 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 a high commercial
prosperity. 1 have deep sympathy for
the laboring classes who toll with hand
and foot But we must not forget the
business men who, without any COM
plant or hammered procession through
h street, are enduring a stress of cdr
cumstanceS terrific. The fortunate peo-
pie of to-day are those who are receiv-
ing 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
DeopIe tell me at what q r~uinously low
price they purchased an article, it gives
-n- %Hnp oofseRo a@;o- r