Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-08-10
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE EMINENT DIvINE's SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject The Kind of Religion That the
World Needs-OnIy That Which Gomez
Straight Down From Heaven Can BE
of Benefit to Humanity.
TCopvripht 1900.


WASHINGTON, d, G.. From Norway.
where DR.. Talmage is now staying. ne
sends the following discourse, in which he
fitted bv religion of human manufacture,
which easily yields TO ones surroundings
lu5 must have a religion let down from
heaven; text, Amos vii, 6: And the Lord
sad unto me, Amos, what seest thou! An(
said. A plumb line"
The solid masonry of the world has fol
Ire fascination. Walk about some OF the
triumphal arches and the cathedrals. 4Ot
or 600 years old. and see them stand as
erect as when they were builded, walls OF
Great height, for centuries rot bending
quarter Of an inch this way or that. -
greatly honored were the masons who
huilded these walls that they were Tree
from taxation and called free ,nasons
'Che trowel gets most of the credit fol
these buildings. and its clear ringing or
stone and brick has sounded across the
ages But there is another implement O.
lust us much Importance as the troWei
and my text recognizes IT. Bricklayer
and stonemasons and carpenters IN me
building "a walls use an instrument made
Of cord. at the end of which a lump o;
lead is fastened They drop il over .ht
side Of the wall, and, as the plummet nat
uraly seeks the centre of gravity Ill the
earth. the workman discovers where the
wall recedes and where it bulges out and
inst what is the perpendicular. Our text
represents God as standing on the wal
Of character. which the Israeites 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 W
and down religion. Much of the so.calec
riety of the day bends this way and that
10 suit the times. 1t is obique, with o
low state Ct sentiment and morals we
have all been building wall of character
and it is Glarnolv imperfect and needs re
construction. How shall it be brought into
rerpenu. GUAR Only by the divine meas
urement. "And the Lord said unto me
Amos. wnaf seest thou? And | said,
plumb line
The whole tendency of the times is to
rake us act by the standard of what 9th
ers do We throw over the wall OF 0ui
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 wha,
God thinks is right This perpetual refer
cnce to the behavior of others, as thongt
it decided anything but human fallihlhty
is Il mistake as wide as the world. There
is true and exact. and that is the line Ct
God S eternal right. There Is mighty at
tempt being made to reconstruct aud ny
up the len Commandments. 70 many They
seem too rigid. The tower of Pisa lean:
over about thirteen feet from the perpen
dicular. and people 60 thousands OF miles
to see its graceful inclination and to learr
how. by extra braces and various archltec
raj contrivances. it is kept leaning iron
century to century. Why not have the ter
,rante blocks of Sinai set q little aslant =;
Why not have the pillar of truth a lean
ing tower? Why is not an elllpse az gooC
~ s1uare? Why is not an obiQue rs
,0Od as straight up and down: My
friends. VIC l. ust have standard. Snail
il be Gods or mans?
The divine plumb line needs TO be thrown
over all merchandise. Thousands OF years
AGO Solomon discovered the tendency OF
BUYERS to depreciate goods He saw =
nan beating down an article lower anu
lower. and saying it was not worth the
urcc asked and when he had purchased
at the lowest point he told everybody
what sharp bargain he had struck, ana
low he had Outwitted the merchant. II
Is naueht saith the buyer, but when he Is
gone his way. then ne boasteth" prov
cribs Xxx. Ia. Society is so utterly askeM
in this matter that you seldom find sell
az asking the price that he expects to get
lie puts on higher value than he expects
10 receive, knowing that he will have tc
trop. And when he wants fifty he says
seventy-five. and is he wants 200O he asks
800. at is naught," saith the buyer
The fabric is defective, the style OF goods
is poor. | can get elsewhere better ar
tcle at smaller price. 1t Is out OF tasfl,
ion. it IS damaged, it will fade, 1T Will not
wear we'll" After awhile the merchant.
from overpersuasion or from desire, to dis
pose of that particular stock OF goods, says y,
We'll, 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 1t.
Nothing would make times so good ano
the earning of a livelihood SO easy as the
universal adoption of the law of right
Suspicion strikes through all bargain max
ing. Men who sell know not whether they
will ever get the money. Purchasers know
not whether the goods shipped VIII be &C
cording to the sample, And what, WITT
ing false entries and then abscondlng and
the explosion of firms that fail for mill
ions of dollars, honest men are at then
wits ends to make living. lie who
stands up amid all the pressure and doe!
riant is accomplishing something towarc
the establishment of a high commercla
prosperity.
The pressure to do wrong is stronger
from the fact. that in our day the large
business houses are swallowing up the
smaller. the whales dining on bluefish anc
minnows. The large houses undersell the
small ones because they buy III greater
quantities and at lower figures from the
producer. They can afford to make. moth
ing or actually lose on some styles o.
goods. assured they can make 1t up on 9th
ers. So great dry goods house goes out
side of its regular line and sells books at
cost or less than cost and that swamp'
the bookseller, or the dry goods houst
sells bric-abrac at lowest figures, and thai
swamps the small dealer i'll brlca-brac
And the same thing goes on IN othel
STYLES oil merchandise, and the consequence
is that all along the business streets OF al
our cities there are merchants OF SINAI
capital who are in terrific struggle to keeI
their heads above water. The ocean liners
run down the Newfoundland fishing
smacks. This is nothing against the mar
who has the big store, for every man ha'
as large a store and as great business as
he can manage.
To feel right and do right under all this
pressure requires martyr grace, requires
wine support requires celestial ree-en
forcement. Yet there are tens OF thou
sands of such men getting spendill
through. They see others going up ant
themselves going down, but they keel
their patience and courage and their Chris
tan consistency, and after awhile ther
success will come There is generally re
trbution IN some form for greediness. The
owners of the big business will die, anc
their boys will get possession of the bust
ness, and tn a cigar in their mouths and
full to. the chins with the best liquor and
behind pair OF spanking bays they will
pass everything on the turnpike road te
temporal and eternal perdition. Then the
business will break up, and the smaller
dealers will have fair opportunity, or the
spirit of contentment and right feeling Will
take possession of the large firm, as re,
Gently with famous business house, and
the firm will say: 1--WE have enough money
for all our needs and the needs, of our
children. Now let us dissolve business
ID make way for other men in the same