The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1901-07-20
A SERMON ON MONEY.
DR.. Talmage Arraigns Those Who
Live Beyond Their Means.
Causes of Great Disturb
ances Show - Extravaganza the
Cause of Most DefaIcations-
Meeting Ones Obligations.

the causes of the great financial dis
turbances which take place every few
years and arraigns the people who live
beyond their means; text, jeremiah
17:11: LAS the partridge stitch on
eggs and hatcheth them not, so he that
getteth riches, and not by right, shall
leave them in the midst of his days n
nj his end shall be afool.'
Allusionis here made to well-known
fact in natural history. If a partridge
or a quail or a robin brood the eggs of
another species, the young will not
stay with the one that happened to
brood them, but at the first oppor-
tunity will assert with their own spe-
cies. Those of us who have been
brought up in the country have seen
the dismay of the farmyard hen, hav-
ing brooded aquatic fowls, when after
awhile they tumble into their natural
element, the water. So my text sug-
gests that a man may gather under his
wings the property of others, but it
will after awhile escape. 1t will leave
The man in a sorry predicament and
make him feel very silly.
What has caused all the black days
of financial disasters for the last 60
years? Some say it is the credit sys-
tenn. Something back of that. Some
say it is the spirit of gambling ever and
anon becoming epidemic. Something
back of that. Some say it is the sud
den shrinkage in the value of securi-
ties, which even the most honest and
intelligent men could not have fore
seen. Something back of that. l will
give you the primal cause of all these
disturbances. 1t Is the extravaganza
of modern society which impels a ms
TO spend more money than he can hon
estly make, and he goes into wild spec
ulation in order to get the means for
tnordinate display, and sometimes the
man is to blame and sometimes his wife
and oftener both. Five thousand dol
lars income. $4,000, 5000 income, is
not enough for a man to keep up the
style of living he proposes, and there
fore he steers his bark toward the
maelstrom. Other men have suddenly
snatched up $4,000 or 500, 900. Why
not he? The present income Of the
man not being large enough, he must
move heaven and earth and hell to
catch up with his neighbors. Others
have a country seat; so must he. 9th
ers have a palaitial residence; so must
he.
Extravaganza is the aus of all the
defalcations of the last 60 years, and if
you will go through the history of all
the great panics and the great finan-
cha disturbances, no 10 have you
found the story than right back of it
you will find the story Of how many
horses the mar had, how many car
riages, how many banquets the man
gave-always, and not one exception
for the last GO years, either directly or
indirectly extravaganza the cause.
Now for the elegances and the re-
finements and the decorations of life. |
cast my vote. While l am considering
this subject n basket of flowers is
handed in-fowers paradisiacal in
their beauty. White Gala with a green
background of begonia. A cluster of
heliotropes nesting in some geranium.
Sepal and perianth bearing on them
the marks of Gods finger. When 1
see hat basket of flowers, they per-
suade me that God loves beauty and
adornment and decoration. God
might have made the earth so as to
supply the gross demands of sense. but
left it without adornment or attrac-
ton. Instead of the variegated colors
of the seasons the earth might have
worn an %unchanging dull brown. The
tree might have put forth its fruit
without the prophecy of leaf or bios
som. Niagara might have come down
in gradual descent without thunder
and winged spray.
Look out Of your window anv morn
ing after there has been \ dew. and
see whether God loves Jewels. Put n
crystalo of snow under a microscope and
see what God thinks of architecture
God commanded the priest of olden
time to have his robe adorned with n
wreath of gold and the hen of his gar.
ment TO be embroidered in pomegran-
ates. The earth sleeps and God blank
cts it with the brilliants of the night
civ fla ,rar1J .,,1..- - >