The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-09-08
TALMAGE SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY T-5 s9Is DI.
VINE.
subject: The Kind of Religion That the
world Needs-Only That Which Comes
Straight Down From Heaven Can Be
OF Benefit to Humanity.
(CoryriGh 1900. !

OOWn rom Heaven Can L.
OF Benefit to Humanity.
tCoryrieht lnOUl
WASHINGTON, d. G. From Norway
where DR.. Talmage is now STAYING, h,
sends the following discourse, in which h,
shows that the world can never be henc
fitted by religion of human manufacture
which easily yields to ones surroundings
but must have religion let down iron
heaven; text, Amos VII, S: And the Lore
sald unto me, Amos, what seest thou? Anl
l said, 4 plumb line"
The solid masonry Of the world has 70,
me fascination. Walk about some of tho
trlumphal arches and the cathedralS. 40b
or 600 years old, and see them stand as
| erect as when they were builded, walls o1
great height. for centuries rot bending a
quarter Of an inch this way or that So
greatly honored were the masons who
| bnildcd these walls that they were free
from taxation and called free laasons
The troNel 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 it. Bricklayers
and stonemasons and carpenters in the
building OF WALL use an instrument made
| OF cord, at the end of which a lnmp of
| lead is fastened. They drop it over The
| side OF the wall, and as the plummet nat
urally seeks the cantre of gravity in the
earth, the workman discovers where the
wall recodes and where it bulges out and
Just what is the perpendicular Our text
represents God as standing on the wall
of character, which the Israeltcs had
built, and in that way testing it. "And
the Lord said unto mo, Amos what seest
thou? And l said. A plumb line"
What the world wants is straight up
and down religion. Much of the so-called
plety of the day bends this way and that
low state OF sentiment and morals We
have all been building wall of character,
and it is glaringlv imperfect and needs re,
construction. How shall it be brought into
perpenucular? Only by the divine meas
urement. And the Lord said unto me.
Amos, what seest thou? And | said, a
plumb line"
The whole tendency of the times is to
make, Ills act by the standard of what 9th,
ers do We throw over the wall of our
character the tangled plumb line 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, az though
1T decided anything but buman fallihility,
Is mistake as wide as the world There
are 10000 plumb lines in use, but only one
ls true and exact, and that is the line of
Gods eternal right There is a 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 thirteen feet from the perpen-
dlcular. and people go thousands of miles
to see its graceful inclination and to learn
how, by extra braces and various archtec-
tural contrivances, it is kept leaning from
n hI-n ba,-a tba
granite blocks of Sinai set little aslant?
Why not have the pillar of truth lean
Ing tower? Why Is not an ellipse az good |
as square, Why is not an oblique as
good as straight up and down? Ny |
trends. we !. ust have standard. Shall |
1t be Gods or mans
The divine plumb line needs to be thrown |
ago Solomon discovered the tendency of |
buyers to deprec!ate 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 sharp bargain he had struck, and |
how he had outwitted the merchant 1T |
is naught, saith the buyer, but when he is
gone his way, then he boastcth" prov
CRIBS Xxx, 14, Society is so utterly askew
In this matter that You seldom find a sell
er asking the price that he expects to get.
He puts on a higher value than he expects
to receive, knowing that he will have to
drop. And when he wants fifty he says
seventy five, and is he wants 2000 he asks
2200. 1T is naught," saith the buyer.
The fabric is defective, the style of goods
is poor. | can get elsewhere a better ar
Iicle at smaller price. 1t is out of fash
on, it IS damaged, it will fade, it will not
wear we'll" After awhile the merchant,
rom overpersuaslon or from desire to dis
oose of that particular stock of goods, says,
We'll, take it at your own price, and the
purchaser goes home with light step and
'alls into his private office his confidential
or half price he got the goods. In other
words: he lied and was proud of it.
Nothing would make times so good and
he earning of livelihood SO easy as the
adoption of the law of right
strikes through all bargain max
ng. Men who sell know not whether they
will ever get the money. Purchasers know
lot whether the goods shipped will be ac-
ording to the sample. And what, with
he large number of clerks who are max
ng false entries and then absconding and
he explosion of firms that fail for mill
ons OF dollars, honest men are at their
Wits ends to make living lie who
tands up amid all the pressure and does
ieut is accomplishing something toward
he establishment of a high commercial
The pressure to do wrong is stronger
rom the fact that in our day the large
usincss houses are swallowing up the
mailer, the whales dining on bluetish and
linnows. The large houses undcrseI the
mall ones because they buy in greater
uantities and at lower figures from the
roduccr They can afford to make moth
lg or actually lose on some styles Of
oods, assured they can make it up on 9TH
rs. So a great dry goods house goes out
de of its regular line and sells books at
>st or less than cost, and that swamps
le bookseller, or the dry goods house
Ills brio brac at lowest figures. and that
yamps the small dealer in bric-a brac.
nd the same thing goes on in other ,
yies Of merchandise, and the consequence
that all along the business streets OF all
II cities there are merchants of small :
pltal who are in terrific struggle to keep |
eir heads above water. The ocean liners |
III down the Newfoundland fishing 8
nacks. This is nothing against the man a
no has the big store for every man has
large a store and as great business as =
can manage. E,
To feel right and do right under all this {
cssure requires martyr grace, requires | Y
vine support, requires celestial re-en- l.
rcenent. Yet there are tens Of thou ,
nds of such men getting splendly 6
rOlgh They see OF hers rOIup M and ! o