The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-07-18
TALMAGE'S SFRMoN
FINANCIAL PANics THE su1-
JECT LAST SUNDAY
From tn. seventeenth ch.pter o, sere-
man. ser's 1.-THE Refinement. of
LIE and uaneesssary Expense. of the,
Home and Family Live Eoonom,ca,,x
Copyright. 1901, Loui. K,oneoh N "

OF great financial disturbances which
Jake place every few years and ar
ralgns the people who live beyond
.neir means; text, Jeremiah xvii, IL,
AS the partridge stitch on eggs and
hatcneth them not, so he that getteth
liehes, and not by right. shall leave
them IN the midst Of his DAVIS and at
his end shall be fool,
Ailuslon Is here made to a we'll
Known fact in natural history If a
patrldse or a quail or robin brood
the eggs of another species the Young
WIN not stay with the one that happen
cd TO brood them, but at the first op-
lpoftunity will assert with their own
species. Those of us who have been
brought up in the country have seen
the dlsmay of the farmyard hen, hav-
ing brooded aquatic fowls, when af-
Ter awhile they tumble into their nat
ural element, the water. So my text
suggests that man may gather under
ms wings the property of others, but
IT VIII after awhile escape. 1t will leave
Inc man In a sorry predicament and
make him feel very silly.
Extravagance Causes Ruin.
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
1t IS the spirit Of gambling ever and
anon becoming epidemic. Something
back OF that. Some say it is the sudden
shrlnkage in the value of securities,
which even the most honest and intel
Hgent men could not have foreseen.
something back of that. l will give you
the primal cause of all these disturb
ances. 1t is the extravaganza of modern
society which impels man to spend
more money than he can honestly
make, and he goes into wild specula-
ton in order to get the means for in
ordinate display, and sometimes the
man is to blame and sometime his wife
and oftener both. Five thousand dol
lars income. 100000, $4,000 income, is
not enough, for 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 100000. Why
not he? The present.income of the man
not being large enough, he must move
earth and hell to catch up with his
neighbors. Others have country seat;
so must he. Others have an extrava-
CANT caterer; so must he. Others have
palatial residence; so must he.
Extravaganza is the cause of all the
defalcations of the last 60 years. and, If
you will go through the history of all
Tia great panics and the great financial
distur6aasc ~ sooner have you
found the story than right right back of it
you will find the story of Now many
horses the man had, how many car
riages the man had, how may resi-
dences in the country the ndan had,
a #Ays "a 8 a. ' u4s the man i,
last 60 Sears, either directly or indi-
rectly extravaganza the cause.
Tho Refinements of Life.
Now for the elegances and the re-
hnements and the decorations of life
I cast my vote. While l am consider
ing this subject a basket of flowers is
handed in-fowers paradisiacal in
their beauty. White Gala with green
background of begonia. A cluster of
leliotropes nesting in some geranium.
Sepal and perianth bearing on them
the marks Of Gods finger. When see
that basket of flowers, they persuade
me that God loves beauty and adorn-
ment and decoration. God might have
made the earth so as to supply the
gross demands of sense, but left it
without adornment or attraction. In
stead 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 blossom. Mia
CARA might have come down in gradual
descent without thunder and winged
spray.
Look out of your window any morn
ing after there has been dew and see
whether God loves jewels. Put crystal
of snow under microscope and see
what God thinks of architecture. God
commanded the priest of olden time to
nave his robe adorned with a wreath
of gold and the hem Of his garment to
be embroidered 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 laver of the sunrise. So
I have not much patience with man
who talks as though decoration and
adornment and the elegances of life are
sin when they are divinely recon-
mended. But there is line to be
drawn between adornment and decora-
tons that we can afford and those we
cannot afford, and when a man crosses
the 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 queen may be
squandering for a duchess. What may
be economical for you, a man with
larger income, will be wicked waste
for me, with smaller income. There is
no iron rule on this subject. Every
man before God and on his knees must
Judge what is extravaganza, and when
a man goes into expenditures beyond
his means he is extravagant.
Meeting Ones Obligations.
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 succeeding. I suppose there is hardly