Milford chronicle., 1903-09-04
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor of Jefferson Park Presby-
terian Church, Chicago

text is Acts V, 8: Tell me whether We
sold the land for so much? And she
said, Yea, for so much"
Morbid curiosity is to the eye what
gossip is to the ear. The grewsome,
the hideOus, the diseased, the appall-
ing, are objects at which some of US
never tire Of looking. Let poor work
man tumble from a scaffolding and
have his brains bespattercd upon the
city pavements below or let helpless
washerwOman, staggering under her
load of clothes, be crushed by the
truckman's wheel or a drunken human
brute be battered by policeman's club
and the crowds will collect as rapidly
as do carriOn eating birds at the scent
of a carcass. All day long a steady
stream of sightseers passes in and out
of the Partisan mOrgue. The more
blOated and defOrmed the cOrpses the
stronger the fascination and the bigger
the crowd.
Such is the scene of my text. There
is great excitement in Jerusalem. The
agitation is spreading everywhere. As
the people are rushing along toward a
common center some bystander asks a
runner, what is the matter?" "Why,"
answers he haven't you heard the
news: You know Ananias, who used
to live next door to me? He was my
dearest neighbOr. Well, Peter was
preaching this morning near the tenn
pie. He took up a collection for the
poor. Ananias came forward and laid
his contribution at the feet of the
apostle and pretended that he had Civ
en- all his money to the church. He
wanted to appear we'll before his fellow
church members. But Ananias told
falsehoOd. He had not given all, as he
had pledged himself to do. but had
kept back part of the money for his
own use. Then Peter raised his finger
toward heaven and said, 'Ananias. thou
hast not lied unto men, but unto God
Immediately Ananias clutched at his
heart. He gave one Shrek and dropped
dead. Come on; let us 90 up and see
what is next going to happen"
Lies Cannot Be Clothed In White.
These two men rush on toward the
temple. They come to the outskirts of
a great throng. There the multitudes
are crOwding and pushing and iostling
their neighbors and trying to get near
to the speaker. Suddenly the cry is
raised, Make way, make wayw The
sea Of human faces surges to the right /.
and to the left. Every head uncovers. !
The murmur of many voices is hushed
to the silence of the tomb. Slowly and .
sOlemnly down through the open path
way come the pallbearers, carrying be- .
tween them a shrouded form. For,
"the young men arose, wound him I'D
and carried him out and buried him."
Hardly had the noise Of the shuffling
feet ceased when newcomer. a wom-
an, began to elbow her way through
the crowd. She asks the people as she
pushes along: What is the matter? Is
any one hurtY No one answers. They
pretend they do not hear her. but they
do. As soon as she passes along many
an eye is moist, many a lip quivers.
God pity her! God pity herr This
is Sapphira the wife of the dead per
jurer. She is her husbands confed-
crate in the premeditated lie. As soon
as Peter sees her he points to the pile
of silver and gold and says unto her,
Woman, tell me whether We sold the
land for so much?" And she SAYS.
Yea, for so much" Quick as flash
the lightning of Gods wrath struck.
Then fell she down straightway at
his feet and yielded up the ghost. and
the young men came i'm and found her
dead, and, carrying her forth. buried
her by her husband" Such is the Bib
liral description of two capital punish
mc2ts. The record stands there on the
against falseiOOd, an object lesson. ter
rible and exemplary, of the divine atti-
tude toward all kinds of lies and un-
truths and prevaricatiOns and inten-
tional distortions and misrepresenta-
ions. wherever they may be found.
To catalogue some of the equivOca-
ions by which the Ananiases and the
of the present day pervert
he truth is the purpose of this sermon.
We would prove that business lies and
IOcial lies and political lies and par
'ntal lies and church lies can never be
.lothed in white and called white
les" Every falsehood is covered with
he black pail of death-black as the
darkness of tie bottomless pit. We
would try to do this because there is a
heory abroad that some lies are inno-
ent and respectable and that there is
% harm if their black garments hang
4 the wardrobes of honest men.
Business FaIsehOOds.
Falsehoods in the business world:
hey nest and thrive especially well /,
] tho haunts Of barter and gain. They
rect you at the opened doors Of our
lrge department stores. They pic
,rlalize themselves in circulars and l
awspaper advertisements which are
mt broadcast over the cities and coun- J
y districts. They pose in fictitious !
ports Of our large corporations and
the annual dividends. They
I'VE for their passports white slips of
lper. purporting to represent bona