The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-08-30
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ton OF Fraud.
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WASHINGTON, ID. C-In this discourse
DR.. Talmago shows that there Is ten
dency to excuse brilliant faults, because
they are brilliant, when the same law Of
right and wrong ought 10 be applied TO
high places and Cow; text, Daniel iv, 49,,
''The same hour was the thing fulfilled
upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven
from men and did eat grass as oxen"
Here Is the mightiest OF the Babylonish
kings Look at him. He did more for the
grandeur Of the capital than did all his
predecessors or successors. Hanging gar
dens, reservoirs, aqueducts, palaces, all OF
his own planning. The bricks that are
brought up to-day from the ruins OF Baby
lon have his name on them, "Nebuchad-
nezzar, son of Nabopolassor, king Of Baby
Ion" He was a great cOnqueror. lie
stretched forth his spear toward q nation,
and it surrendered. But he plunderod the
temple of the true God He lifted an
/ idol, Bel Merodaeh, and compelled the
| people to bow down before 1t, and If they
/ refused they must 60 through the redhot
! furnace or be crunched by lion OF honess.
So God pulled him down.
He was smitten with what physicians
call lycanthropy, and fancied that he was
| q wild beast, and he went out and pas
/ tured amid the cattle. God did not ex-
cuse him because he had committed the
sin in high places OF because the trans
erosion was wide rosounding. He meas
ured Nebuchadnezzar in high place just as
he would measure the humblest captive.
But in our time, you know as well as J.
that there is a disposition to put a halo
around iniquity If it is committed in con-
spicuous places, and if it is wide resound-
ing and of large proportions. Ever and
anon there has been ap epidemic of crime
in high places, and there is not State or
a city and hardly a village which has not
been called to look upon astounding forg-
cry, or an absconding bank cashier or
president, or the wasting of trust fund or
swindling mortgages. | propose, IN carry
ing out the suggestion Of my text, as far
as l can, to scatter the destinations
around iniquity and show you that sin is
sin and wrong is wrong, whether in high
place or low place, and that it will be
dealt with by that God who dealt with
impalaced Nebuchadnezzar.
All who preach feel that two kinds of
sermons are necessary-the one on the
faith of the gospel, the other on the mo-
rality of the copeland the one is Just as
important as the other, for you know that
in this land to-day there are hundreds of
men hiding behind the communion tables
and in churches of Jesus Christ who have
no business to be there as professors of re-
ligion. They expect to be all right with
God, although they are all wrong with
man. And, while l want you to under
stand that by the deeds of the law no
flesh living can be justified and a mere
honest life cannot enter us into heaven,
/ want you as plainly to understand that
unless the life is right the heart is not
right-grace in the heart and grace in the
life. So we must preach sometimes the
faith of the gospel and sometimes the mo-
rality of the gospel.
1t seems to me there has not been a
time in the last fifty years when this latter
truth needed more thoroughly to be pre-
sented in the American churches. 1t needs
to be presented to-day.
Look upon all the destinations thrown
around fraud in this country. You know
for years men have been made heroes OF
and pictorialized and in various ways pre-.
sented to the public, as though sometimes
} they were worthy of admiration, If they
have scattered the funds of banks OF
swallowed great estates that did not be
long to them. Our young men have been
, daZed with this quick accumulation. They
: have said: That's the way to do it
What's the use of plodding on with small
r. wages or insignificant salary when We
e may go into business life and with some
r stratagem achieve such fortune as thai
man has achieved?" A different measur,
3 has been applied to the crime of Wal
/. street from that which has been applied
t to the spoils which the man carries VI
;, Rat alley
So peddler came down from New Eng
= land many years ago, took hold of TIN
o money market of New York, Haunted hi
:, denominations in the sight of all the PEG
Il pie and dehed public morals every day o
n his life. Young men looked up and said
" lie WnS q ppddlpr in one decade and II
the next decade he is one of the mon
archs of the stock market That's tn
way to do it." To this day the evil infiu
ence of that profigate fnancier has beel
. felt, and within the past few weeks h
has had conspicuous imitators.
There has been an irresistible impress
h sion going abroad among young men tina
y the poorest way to get money is to ear
q it. The young man Of Haunting crava
saws to the young man of humble apparel
t. What! You only get $500 a year
r Why, that wouldn't keep me in pi
h money. l spend $4,000 a year" 'WheT
= do you get it?" asks the plain young mar
Il ooh, stocks, enterprises, all that sort {
d thing, you know" The plain young ma
o has hardly enough money to pay HI
q board, has to wear clothes after they al
/ out of fashion and deny himself all lux,
y ries. After awhile he gets tired of h
i plodding, and he goes to the man VIII
= has achieved suddenly large estate, and h
1t says, Just show me how It is done" An
y he is shown. He soon learns how, a
a though he is almost all the time idle no,
a and has resigned his position in the ban
- or the factory or the store he. has NOR
L money than he ever had, trades off his oil
t, silver watch for gold one with fashin
N chain sets his hat little further over o
= the side of his head than he ever die
l. smokes better cigars and more of then
lie He has his hand in. Now, if he can e.
70 cape the penitentiary for three or fou
. years he will get into political circles, an
he will get political jobs and will hay
| rnr,nnA hir,rr 10 IL, rr,Ah