The Penn's Grove record., 1901-07-19
Ga. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: The Folly of Extravaganza -
Causes of the Great Financial Dis
turbances Which Take Place Every
Few Wasted Wealth.


Few Years-wasted Wealth.
tCopyright 1901
WASHINGTON, D. Gin this discourse
DR.. Talmage shows the causes Of the great
financial disturbances which take place
every few years, and arraigns the people
who live beyond their means; text, Jere'
miah xvii, II, 'As 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 and at his
end shall be a fool"
Allusion is here made to a ~well-known
fact in natural history. II a partridge or
a quail or a robin brood the eggs Of an
other species, the young will not stay
with the one that happened to brood
them. but at the first opportunity will as
sort with their W species. Those OF us
who have been brought up in the country
have seen the dismay of the farmyard
hen, having brooded aquatic fowls, when
after awhile they tumble into their nat
ural element, the water. So my text sug-
gests that a man may gather under his
wings the property of others, but 1t will
after awhile escape; it will leave the man
in a sorry predicament and make him feel
What has caused all the black days OF
financial disasters for the last sixty years?
Some say it is the credit system. Some
thing 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 sudden shrinkage in the value
of securities, which even the most honest
and intelligent men could not have fore.
seen. Something back OF that. | will
give you the primal cause of all these dis.
turbances. 1t is the extravaganza of
modern society which impels a mar to
snend more money than he can honestly
make, and he goes into wild speculation
in order to get the means for inOrdinate
display, and sometimes the man Is to
blame and sometimes his wife, and ottener
both. Five thousand dollars income, Sl0,-
900, $4,000 income is not enough for a
man to keep up the style of living he pro-
poses, and therefore he steers his bark to-
ward the maelstrom. Other men have
suddenly snatched up $50, 900 or 500, 900
why not he? The present income of the
man not being large enough, he must move
earth and hell to catch up with his neigh
hors. Others have a country seat-so
must he; others have an eXtravagant ca
terer-so must he; others have a palatlal
residence-so must he.
Extravaganza is the cause of all the de
falcations OF the last sixty years, and If
you will go through the history Of all the
great panics and the great financial dis
turbances ne sooper have you found the
story than right back Of it you will find
the story of how many horses the man
had, how many carriages the man had,
how many residences in the country the
man had, how many banquets the nal
gave-always, and not one exception for
the last sixty years, either directly or in
directly extravaganza the cause.
Now. for the elegances and the refine
ments and the decorations Of life | cast
my vote. While l am considering this
subject a basket of flowers is handed in
iaurarS no m 1igotaal in their haa,tp- yrhita
Gala, with a green background OF bego-
mia; a cluster of heliotropes nesting in
some geraniums; sepal and p%erianth bear
ing on them the marks of Gods finger.
When | see that basket of flowers, they
persuade 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 with
~ nSornmeht or attraction. Instead of
the .yariegated 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
SON. Niagara might have come down in
gradual descent without thunder and
winged spray.
Look out of your window any morning
after there has been a dew and see
whether God loves jewels, Put a crystal
Of snow under a microscope and see what
God thinks OF architecture. God COM
manded the priest of olden time to have
his robe adorned with a wreath of gold
and the hem of his garment to be embroid-
cred in pomegranates. The earth sleeps,
and God blankets it with the brilliants of
the night sky. The world wakes, and God
washes it from the FURNISHED LAYER of the
sunrise. So l have not much patience
with a man who talks as though decora-
ton and adornment and the ~elegances of
life are a sin when they are divinely rec
commended. But there is a line to be
drawn between a%dornment and decOra-
ton that W. can afford and those we can
not afford, and when a man crosses that
line he becomes culpable. | cannot tell
you what is eXtravagant for you. You
cannot tell me what is extravagant for
me. What is right for a queen may be
~squandering for a duchess. What may be
economical for you, q man with larger in
come, will be wicked waste for me, with
smaller income: There is no iron rule on
this subject. Every man before God on
his knees must Judge what is extrava,
gance, and when a man goes into expen-
ditures beyond his means he is e%Xtrava-
giant. When a man buys anything he can
moi pay for, he is extravagant.
There are families in all our cities who
can hardly pay their rent, and who owe all
the merchants in the neighborhood and
yet have an apparel unfit for their cir
VIM L ut liz iAlllA IA
so near shore that business misfortune OF
an attack of sickness prepares them fol
pauperism. You know very well there are
thousands of families in our great cities
who stay in neighborhoods until they
have exhausted all their capacity to get
trusted. They stay in the neighborhoods
until the druggists will let them have nc
more medicines, and the butchers will sell
them nc more meat, and the bakers will
sell them no more bread, and the gro"
ceryman will sell them no more sugar.
Then they find the region unhealthy, and
they hire a carman, whom they never
pay, to take them to some new quarters
where the merchants, the druggists, the
butchers, the bakers and the grocerymen
come and give them the best rounds OF
beef and the best merchandise Of all sort,
until they find out that the only compen.
sation they are going to get is the ac
quaintance of the patrons. There are
thousands of such thieves in all our bil
cities. You see, | call them by the right
name, for a if a man buys anything he
does not mean to pay for he is a thief.
OF course sometimes men are flung Of
misfortunes, and they cannot pay. / know
men who are just as honest in having
failed as other men are honest in succeed
ing. | suppose there is hardly a man whC
has gone through life but there have beer
some times when he has been so hurt Of
misfortune ne could not meet MS oDlI8d
tons, But all that | put aside. There
are q multitude of people who buy that
which they never intend to pay for, fol
which there is NJ reasonable expectation
they will ever be able to pay. Now, i
you have become oblivious OF honesty anC
mean to defraud, why not save the mer
chant as much as You can? Why not 6
some day to his store and when nobody
is looking just shoulder the ham or thu
spare rib and in modest silence stea
away?
That would be less criminal, because il
the other way you take not only the man.
goods, but you take the time of the mer
chant and the time of his accountant, ant
you take the time of the messenger VIII.
brought you the goods. Now, if YOU mus
steal, steal in a way to do as little dam
age to the trader as possible.
John Randolph arose IN the American
Senate when a question Of national inanc
was being discussed, and, stretching him
self to his full height, in a shrill voice h
cried out: Mr.. Chairman, | have dlscov
cred the philosophers stone, which turn
everything into gold-pay as you 60" So
ciety has got to be reconstructed on thu
subject or the seasons OF detalcatlon WI
continue to repeat themselves,
You have no right to ride IN a carriag
for which you are hopelessiy' in debt t
A. II II E,-u,,,Lul tho 1u,Iai