Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-09-14
THE TRUE RELIGION.
DR.. Talmage Says 1t Must Be from
Heaven.
NRlSeshifts of Human Manufacture
Arc Useless When Measured by
Gods Plumb Linc-The
Wall of Character.
copyright, 1900, by Louis Klopsch,l
Washington,

From Trondhjem, Norway, where
DR.. Talmage is now staying, he sends
the following discourse, in which he
shows that the world can never be
benefited by religion of human man
ufacture, which easily yields to ones
surroundings, but must have reli-
gion let down from Heaven; text,
Amos 7:S: sand the Lord said unto
me, Amos, what seest thou? And /
said, A plumb line"
The solid masonry of the world has
for me a fascination. Walk about
some of the triumphal arches and the
cathedrals 400 or COO years old, and
see them stand as erect as when they
were built, walls of great height, for
centuries not bending quarter of an
inch this way or that. So greatly
honored were 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 ring
ing on stone and brick has sounded
across the ages. But there is another
implement of just as much Importance
as the trowel, and my text recognizes
it. Bricklayers and stonemasons and
carpenters, in the building of walls,
use an instrument made OF cord,
at 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 per-
pendicular. Our text represents God
as standing on the wall of character
which the Iraelites had built and in
that way testing it. "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. 1t is
oblique, with low state of sentiment
and morals. We have all been build
ing wall of character, and it is glar-
ingly imperfect and needs reconstruc-
ton. How shall it be brought into
perpendicular? Only by the Divine
measurement. "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
plumbline of other lives and reject the
infallible test which Amos saw. The
question for me should not be what
you think is right, but what God
thinks is right. This perpetual refer
ence to the behavior of others, as
though it decided anything but hu-
man 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 mighty at
tempt being made to reconstruct and
fix up the Ten Commandments. To
many they seem too rigid. The tower
of Pisa leans over about 13 feet from
the perpendicular, and people go thou
sands of miles to see its graceful in
clination and to learn how, by extra
braces and various architectural con-
triyances, it is kept leaning from CEN
tury to century. Why not have the
ten granite blocks of Sinai set little
aslant? Why not have the pillar of
truth leaning tower? Why is not an
ellipse as good rs a square? Why Is
not an oblique as good as straight up
and down? Ny friends, we must have
a standard. Shall it be Gods or
mans?
The Divine plumb line needs TO be
thrown over all merchandise. Thou
sands of years ago Solomon discovered
the tendency Of buyers TO depreciatc
goods. He saw man beating down
an article lower and lower and saying
1t was not worth the price asked, and
when he had purchased at the lowest
point he told everybody what sharp
bargain he had struck and how he
outwitted the merchant. at is
naught, saith the buyer, out when he
is gone his way, then he boasteth'
proverbs 2O:14). Society is so utterly
askew in this matter that you seldom
find a seller asking the price he ex.
poets to get; he puts on higher value
than he expects to receive, knowing
that he will have to drop. And if he
wants $50, he asks SIS. And IL he
wants $4,000, he asks $3.50. at Is
naught," saith the buyer. "The fabric
Is defective; the style of goods Is
poor can get elsewhere better ar
ticle at a smaller price. 1t is out Of
fashion; it is damaged; it will fade;
II will not wear we'll" After awhile
the merchant, from overpersuasion Of
from desire to dispose of that partic
ular stock of goods, says: "Well, take
it at your own price," and the pur
chaser goes home with light step ant
calls into his private Office his conf
Dental friends and chuckles while h,
tells how for half price he got tn,
goods. In other words, he LIED ant
was proud of it.
Nothing would make times so goo,
and the earning of livelihood so eas,
as the universal adoption of the Law
of right. Suspicion strikes through
all bargain making. Men who sci
| 4. l.,
the money. Purchasers know no
whether the goods shipped will be ac
cording to the sample. And what
with the large number of clerks VIII
are making false entries and then ali
sconding and the explosion Of firm
that fail for millions of dollars, hon
est men are at their wits end t
make living. He who stands u