Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-02-19
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMACE. DID,.
Pastor OF Jefferson Park Presby.
terrain Church, Chicago

Chicago, Feb. IL. --- In this sermon
the preacher deals with the widely
prevalent vice Of running into debt as
n result Of social and domestic txtrav-
agance and false standard Of living
and arraigns willful debt as the cause
of manifold miscrics. The text is Ro-
mans xiii. s. cove no man anything"
One day famous scholastic clergy
man was talking to noted practical
preacher "Iiow Is it. said he. that
you can collect such great audiences to
hear You preach? | have one Of the
best private libraries in the world. |
spend Mt least ten hours a day In my
study with my books. and yet the peo-
pie prefer to hear you preach instead
of me. They want to hear your ser
mons, although You do not work
third as hard upon them as do. Half
Of your days are spent in calling and
In wandering about the streets and in
the stores" "Ah.' answered the prac-
teal minister TO his scholastic friend.
"the difference between US is that you
read books, while study the stuff out
of which books are made. You breathe
the atmosphere of musty tones: |. by
close association, study the hearts of
the men anG women with whom come
in contact. You translate cpitaphs of
dead mon; ] aralyze the troubles and
temptations and sins of living men; |
sit with them Mt the table; | go with
them into their stores; then, when l
begin to discuss their trials and temp
tations. they naturally want to come
and hear me preach
Paul was n practical minister and
not one famed for mere intellectual at
tainments. His rostrum was more Of
ten the ropemakcr's bench than the
synagoguc's pulpit. As practical Cos
pei physician he in my text today dag
noses one of the most distressing NOR
al diseases of the human race. lie saw
that the men and women of his time
were living beyond their means and
struggling in the duicksand Of debt
just as many people are doing in tile
twentieth century; therefore he gave
in his Roman epstle the same advice
that Horace Greeley once wrote: "Nev-
or run into debt Hunger. cold, rags,
hard work, suspicion. unjust reproach.
are disn agreeable, but debt is infinitely
worse than them all Avoid pecuniary
obligations as you would n pcstilencc
or famine. If you have not more than
30 cents and can get no more for a
week. buy n peck Of corn. parch 1t and
live on it rather than owe any man
dollar "Owc no man Anything"
That means in John Randolph's inter
probation of the philosophers stone
pay as you GO That means that if
yon have no money with which to sat
isfy your personal desires then lot
them be unsatisfed. Allow 10 creditor
as Taller to rivet a heavy iron ball Of
financial obligation TO your limbs. DO
not buy feathercd singer unless at
the same time you have money to pur-
chase cage in which to let your song
ster abide.
Debt the Offspring of Pride.
Debt IS generally the Of pring Of
pride. The bare nccessares of life are
very small Nearly every man can
make enough money to provide for
these necessaries If he will only work
hard, do his best and not waste his in
come on useless extravagances. Henry
Ward Beecher once made the declara-
ton that man could feed himself and
wife and family of growing children
upon 81. so per week For making this
statement Mr.. Beecher was sharply ar
raigned by thousands of critics. Many
newspaper editorials affirmed that the
Plymouth pastor was advocating the
reduction of the laborers salaries to
% cents a day. He was not attempting
any such thing What Mr.. Beecher
tried to prove was this: The bare nee
essaries of life are very small; there
fore most people can provide for their
actual needs If they will only be cncr-
getic and at the same time he frugal.
But this frugality, in many cases
pride will not permit them to practice
Pride, with the smiling, superclious
face and bediamonded finger, usually
comes to the young mans home with
such insinuating words as these: MY
friend. you have no right to rear youl
family as you are doing. You should
not allow your wife TO stand behind q
counter or to live in the back room OF
= the store with her two babies, as youl
mother once did. This is different
= age from that in which your father
started out. II you do not let yOul
children grow up in a respectable
3 noighborhOod and 90 to refined and ex
pensive private schools, then thcil
youthful associates will be bad, ant
refined people will have nothing to dc
with them" So the young man, who
, was making humble income and was
, on the highroad to ultimate financa
= success, hires Il private home on the
boulevard. He moves his family away
t from the neighborhood of his store
He hires a clerk to do the work for
! merly done by his wife, while he him
self is visiting the wholesale depart
= ments. The income, small before, be
q comes less and less; the expenses 0
o the family sustenancc are doubled an,
4 quadrupled; haunted, worried, anX
aous look comes over the young man
! face. Instead of there being n bnlanc
n In the bank, now there Is deficit: in
@ stead of the wholesale stores allowing
& the young man all the credit he wishes
now they begin to push him, and on
day Debt, the offspring of Pride, call
at the store to see how the young ma
Is getting along, but instead Of Deb