The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-08-15
Rev. Or. Talmase On The Only
True Religion.
MAKEsHlFTs OF HUMAN
Manufacture Are useiess When
MEASURED by Gods Plumb
Line. Religions MAIDS
10 Suis CoaG.tionS.

tue lU!4OhiuS NISSOH.SS. IL
shows that the world can never be bsn5-
fte6 by religion Of human mauE'"e
ture, which easily yields to cues sur
rouudings, but must have religion let
down from heaven; text Amos VII. ;:
And the Lord said unto me, A1os,
wh., ssest thou? And said, 4 p'un2
line.
The solid masonry Of tie world has
for me fascination, Walk about some
of the triumpbai arches srd the cs,he
drals 400 or 900 years clj, AID see
them stand SIS erect s. WIEN theg we're
built, walls Of great height, for cen
turies not bending quarter OF an lnch
this way or that. So greatly ho1oreo
were the masons who bu:lded these
walls tha. they were free from taxation
and called free" masons. The troSes
gets most Of the creditfo for these build
ings, and its clear riusiogon stone soo
brick has sounded across the ages. But
thera is another Implement Of jast SIS
nuch Importance as the troweI, and
my text recognizes it. Bcicklayers
and stonemasons and carpenters, IN the
building Of walls, use sn instrument
made Of cord, at tie end of Thlcn a
lump of lead is fastened. They drop
it over the side of the wall, and, as the
plunnet naturally seeks the center Ct
gravity in the earth, The workman dis
covers where the wall recedes aud where
it bulges out and just what is the per
pendicular. Our text represents God
as standing on the wall of character
which the Israelites had built and in
that way testing it. And the LORD
said unto me, Amos, what seest thou?
Aud I said 4 plumb line.
What the wvr.d 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. ltis obliQue,
with low state of sentiment and
morals. We have sll been building q
wall Of character, aud it is glariDgly
imperfect and needs reconstruction.
How shall it be brought into perpen-
dicular? Oaly by the divine measure
ment. "And the Lord said unto me,
Amos, what seest 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 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 reference to the be-
havior of others, as though it decided
anything but human failibilieY, IS
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 attempt being made to recon
struct and 6x up the Ten Command
merits. To many they seem too rigid.
The tower Of Pisa leans over about l3
feet from the perpendicular, and people
go thousands Of miles to see its grace
full inclination and to learn how, by
extra braces and various architectural
con:riVances, it IS kept leaning from
century to century. Why not have
the ten granite blocks of Sinai set a
little sslant? Why not have the pillar
ftruth leaning tower: Why IS not
an ellipse as good as square? Why
is not an obliQue as good as stright up
and down? Ny friends, We must have
. standard. Shall it be Gods or
mans?
The divine plumb line needs to be
thrown over all merchandise. Thous-
ands of years ago Solomon discovered
the tendency of buyers to depreciate
goods. H sag a man beating down
an article lover and lower and saying
it vas rot worth the price asked, and
when he had purchased Ut the lowest
point he told everybody what
sharp bargain be Lad struck apG
how he outwitted the mer:hant
''It is naugbt, saith the buyer, ou
when he is gone his way, then ne boast
eth" proverbs Xxx, ~ Society is SO
utterly askew in this matter that you
seldom find seller asking the price
that he expects to get: he puts On a
higher value than he expects to receive.
that he will receive, knowing that he
will have to drop. And if he wants
$50, he asks s115 Aud if be wants
$1,000, be asks 81, 800. TT Is taught,
saith the buyer. The fabric is de-
fective, the style of goods is poor; | can
get elsewhere a better article at a
smaller price It is out of fashion; it
is damaged; it will fade; it will 10: wear
we'll" After awhile the merchant,
from overpersuasion or from desire 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 pri-
vste 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.
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 blus6sh
and minnows. The large houses un-
derselI the small ones, because they
bay IL greater quantities and at lower
figures from the producer. They can
afford to make nothing, or actually
lose, on some styles Of goods, assured
they can make it up on others. So,
great Try goods house goes outside
Of its regular line and sells books
st cos or less than cost, and that
sRsmps the booksellers; or the dry
goods house sells bric-a-brac at lowest
figures, and that swamrs the small
dealer in bric-a-brac. And the same
thing goes on in other styles Of mer-
chandise, and the CONSEQUENCE IS that
all along the business streets Of all our
cities there are merchants of small cap.
IL - --.-lo !. l-,ar,