The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-07-31
TALMAGEs SERMON.
In Which he Shows the Tendency to
Excuse Brilliant Faults.

III GllS U4sCOu1SS Als
that there is tendency to excuse bril-
liant faults because they are brilliant,
when the same law Of right snd wrong
ought to be applied to high places and
low; text, Daniel iv, 80, THE same
hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebu-
chsdnezzr, and he vas driven from
men snd did eat grass as cxen."
Here IS the mightiess Of the BlbyIon-
ish kings. Look st him. He did more
for the grandeur Of the cspitai than did
allhis predecessors or suct ;sors. hang
ing gardens, reservoirs, aqueduct5, gal
sces, all Of his o8n planning, Inc
bricks that sre brought up today IRON
the ruins of Bsbylon have his naUe on
them, "Nebuchadnezz1r, son OF Nsoo
polsssor, king Of Bah; ion" lie vas a
great conoueror. He stretched forth his
spear toward nation, and 1t surrender
ed. But be plundere6 the temple OF
the true God. He lifted an idol, Bel
Merc6aoh, and compelled the people
to bow down before it, and if they re
fused they must 60 through the seohot
furnace or be crunched by lion OF lioc
ess. So God pulled him down.
He was smitten With what physicians
call lycsnthropy AID fsncied thst he was
a wild beast, and he went out and pas
turad amid the csttle. God did not ex-
cuse him because he had committed the
sin il high pisces or bscau.e the trans.
gression vas wide rescun6ipg. Hemeas
ured NebuchadRezzsri in high places just
as he would measure the humblest cap
tive.
But in our time, you know as we'll SIS
I, that there is disposition to put 3
halo around iniguisy if it is committed
in conspicuous place and ifit is wide re
sounding sad Of large proportions. Ever
and snon there has been an epid amic Of
crime IN high pisces, and there is not a
state or city and hardly village which
has no. been called to look upon as.
founding forgery or an absconaiDg bank
cashier or president or the wastln
of trust fund OF swindling mortgages.
propose in carrying out the sugges-
ton Of my text, ss far as I can, to scat
ter the destinations around iniQ1lty
and show you thst sin is sin and wrong
is wroDg Whethsr in high place or low
place and that it will be desit with by
that God who dealt with impa!aced
Nebuchadnezzar.
All who preaoh feel that two kinds Of
sermons are necessary, the one On the
faith Of the gospel, the other en- the
morality Of the gospel and the one IS
Just as important as the other, for you
know that in this land today there are
hundreds Of men hiding behind the COM
munion tables and in churches Of Jesus
Christ who have no business to be there
as professors Of religion. They expect
to be all right with Gsd, although they
are all wrong with man. And, while /
want you to understand that by the
deeds Of the Law no fash living can be
Justified aud mere honest life cannot
enter US into heaven. Iwsnt you IS
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 presch sometimes the faith Of the
gospel and sometimes the morality Of
the gospel.
It seems to me thsre has not been a
time in the lsat so years when this lat
ter truth needed more thoroughly to De
presented in the American churches. It
needs to be presented today.
4 missionary in the islands Of the Pa
cifc preached one Ssbbsth on honesty
and dishonesty. and on Monday he
found his yard full Of all styles Of goods
which the natives had brought. He
could not understand it until native
told him. Our gods permit US TO pur'
loin goods butthe God you toldus about
yesterday, the God of heaven and earth,
it seems, is against these pcac'ices, and
50 We brought all the goods that do not
belong to Us, and they are lying in the
yard and We want you to help Us to dis
tribute them among their rightful owner
And if in all the pulpits of the United
States today rousing sermons could be
preached on honesty and the evils Of
dishonesty and the sermons were blessed
Of God snd arrangements could be msde
by which all the goods which have been
improperly taken from one man and ap-
propriated by another should be put in
the city halls Of the country there is not
. city hall in the United States that
would not be crowded from cellar to Gu
pola. Faith Of the gospel; that We must
preach and We do preach. Morality Of
the gospel We must just IS certainly pro.
claim.
Now, look abroad and see the fasci-
nations that are thrown around differ
ent styles Of crime. The question that
every man and woman has been asked
has been, Should crime be excused be-
cause it is on large scale? Is inlquity
guilty and to be pursued Of the law IN
proportion as it is on small scale?
Shall We have the penitentiary for the
man who steals sn overcoat from hat
rack and all Canada for man to range
in if be have robbed the public Of mil
lions?
Look upon all the destinations thrown
around fraud in this country. You know
for yesrs men have been made heroes Of
and pictorialized and in various ways
presented to the public as thougb b some.
times they were worthy of admiration If
they have scattered the funds Of banks
or swallowed great estates that did not
belong to them. Our young men have
been dazea with this quick accumuia-
ton. They have said: That's the
way to do it. What's the use Of our
plodding on with small wages or insig'
niicant salary when We may 50 into
business life and with some stratagem
achieve such fortune as that man has
achieved?" 4 different measure has
been applied to the crime Of Wall street
from that which has been applied to
the spoils which the man carries up Rat
alley.