The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-06
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.


a shuttlecock between the door battle doors of buyer and seller as though it was the deathknell of an Ananias and a Sapphira falling at the feet of an apos- tolic denunciator
 Falsehoods in the political world: Oh, how many! Like the seventeen year To- custs, they never entirely depart from a region. They, however, swarm most at certain seasons of the year They are especially numerous and virulent at a municipal or state or presidential eiec- tion. The ballot box is their footstool. A national convention to nominate a presi- dent is their glorihcation. Political false hood will take the record of the purest and best public men that eyer lived and absolutely bedaub it over with scandals ands false accusations. They lied about Washington and Jefferson and John Quincy Adams and Lincoln and Hayes and Garfield and Mckinley. But, though the concocters and utterers of political falsehoods may never tire of blackguard- ing and misrepresenting our public men, the acme of meanness is only reached when, without just cause, they drag into the political mire the wives and the chil- dren of the men whom they would indi- rectly attack. In this generation the family of any public man is never able. like Caezar's wife, to live above suspi- cion. An, then, I wonder not that some of our public men become bitter and lose their faith in mankind. I wonder not that many a public man is tempted to carry his political hatreds down to the grave. When Andrew Jackson was a very old man he wished to join the church and be Baptized at her altars When he ap- peared before the church officers the min ister asked him this question. General. l before you come into our fellowship will you forgive all your political enemies as l you would have Christ forgive you?" Yes" answered Jackson. What! All?" l The old ex-president thought a moment. | Then the aged conqueror who once de- l tended New Orleans raised his head, and, | with flashing eye and scornful lip, replied,
 ''Yes, all except the merciless scoundre1s who have lied about my dead wife" God l pity the honest man who in publls life Is l having his heart gashed open by the at- tacks made upon the characters of his | loved ones. Truly, then, as at the cross. an ungratefu1 people are offering him a 1 crown of thorns instead of a crown of ! treasured gold.
 Untruth Is Cowardly
 l A lie is lie. against whomsoever told. A lie is especially cowardy when it is | told against public men, especially cow ardly because for the most part the vic- tims must writhe and twist under the insinuating and poisonous attack and suf- fer in silence. The nature of a lie is not changed by harnessing 1t to a qualifying | adjective, nor is a political lie less hein- ous than other Hes. A lie told to besmirch a political candidate or to benefit a poli- l tical party Is an offense in the sight of l God which will have to be accounted for in the day of judgment. "All liars"- l there are no exceptions to this rule-"all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and birthstone, which Is the second death."
 | Falsehoods In the social world: Why? Because most people would intentionally and deliberately rob an innocent man of his character as a sneak thief might snatch a womans pocketbook and run? Oh no; but because most people would rather hear i'll of their neighbors than good Therefore when a falsehood is once started about a neighbor it travels on with seven league boots, and instead of having one emissary it gradually enlists ten. twenty, fifty, thousand persons to peddle it's evil and transmit it's destroy ing venom.
 Fasehood in the social world! Why? Because few people can accurately repeat any statement they hear Without in tending to misquote they make verbal changes which slightly or seriously affect the meaning. If you would prove this statement I would have you play a sim pie game which we children used to play In my younger days. We would have twenty or thirty people sit about the parlor in a circle, Then we would have one person, who was the leader, whisper simple statement or tell a short story to the person upon his right. That person would in turn whisper the same story. And on and on the story would So until t had made the full circle. Then the last person in the circle would tell the story as he heard 1t. Then the first person would tell the story as he told 1t. And the two stories would be no more alike than the striped fur of panther is like the white wool of a pet lamb.
 Destroyers of Character.