Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-02-20
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Psstor OF Jefferson Park Presey-
terrain Church, Chicago

q result of social and domestic extrav-
agance and a false standard of living
ard arraigns willful debt as the cause
OF manifold miseries. The text is Ro-
mans xiii, 8. "Owe no man anything"
One day a famous scholastic clergy
man was talking to a noted practical
preacher. How is It" said he, that
you can collect such great audiences to
hear you preachf / have one of the
best private libraries in the world. i
spend at least ten hours 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 n
third as hard upon them as do. Half
OF your days are spent in calling and
I'm 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 1 study the stuff out
of which books are made. You breathe
the atmosphere of musty tones; 1, by
close association, study the hearts Of
the men and women with whom come
in contact You translate epitaphs of
dead men; 1 analyze the troubles and
temptations and sins OF living men; /
sit with them at the table; 1 go with
begin to discuss their trials and temp
tatons, they naturally want to come
and hear me preach"
Paul was a practical minister and
not one famed for mere intellectual at
tainments. His rostrum was more Of
ten the ropemaker's bench than the
synagogue's pulpit. AS practical gos-
pei physician he in my text today dag
noses one of the most distressing NOR
al diseases of the human race. He saw
that the men and women of his time
were living beyond their means and
struggling In the quicksand of debt
just as many people are doing I'm the
twentieth century; therefore he gave
In his Roman epistle the same advice
chat Horace Greeley once wrote: New
er run into debt. Hunger, cold, rags,
hard work, suspicion, unjust reproach,
ore disagreeable, but debt is infinitely
worse than them all. Avoid pecuniary
obligations as you would n pestlence
or famine. II you have not more than
90 cents and can get no more for a
week, buy a peck of corn, parch 1T and
live on it rather than owe any man a
dollar" "Owe no man anything"
That means in John Randolph's inter
probation of the philosophers stone,
''pay as you CO." That means that If
you have no money with which to sat
isfy your personal desires then let
them be unsatisfed. Allow no creditor
as q jailer to rivet heavy iron ball of
financial obligation TO your limbs. DO
not buy a feathered singer unless at
the same time you have money to pur-
chase a cage In which to let your song
ster abide.
Debt the Offspring OF Pride.
Debt is generally the offspring of
pride. The bare necessaries 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 n man could feed himself and
wife and family of growing children
upon S1.50 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 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 IL they will only be ener-
getic and at the same time be frugal.
But this frugality. in many cases.
pride will not permit them to practice
Pride, with the smiling, supercilious
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 your
family as you are doing. You should
not allow your wife to stand behind q
counter OF to live in the back room OF
the store with her two babies, as your
mother once did. This is q different
age from that In which your father
started out. IL you do not let your
children grow up in q respectable
neighborhood and go to refined and ex
pensive private schools, then theil
youthful associates will be bad, and
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 financial
success, hires a private home on the
boulevard. He moves his family away
from the neighborhood of his store
He hires a clerk to do the work for
merry done by his wife, while he him
self Is visiting the wholesale depart
mentS. The income, small before, be
comes less and less; the expenses OF
the family sustenance are doubled ant
Quadrupled; haunted, worried, anx
aous look comes over the young man.:
race. Instead of there being balanc,
IN the bank, now there is a deficit; in
stead OF the wholesale stores allowin,
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 maj
Is getting along, but instead of Deb
now coming with the obsequiousnes
OF a visitor he strides into that youn,
mans store and home with the miel
and the heavy step of a tyrant and ,
master.
Then I see Debt call out to a yeile,
figure who is standing in the doorway
He says: Come in, mother, come in
You need not be afraid; come in.
Then the female figure throws back tn
veil from off her head, and see tina
she Is the old bag Pride, with a paint
ed, withered, sneering, scornful face
Then Debt takes Mother Pride throug
the aisles of the store and through tn
rooms OF the young mans home as h
says: Mother, these goods-they wi
soon all be mine. Those pictures upo
the walls, and those carpets upon tn
hoor. those dishes in the closets--the
shall soon all be mine, and / will max
the young man drop his life insuranc
policy when he dies. 1 will LITERAL
strip his widow OF everything. All.
that young man did not realize what
Oh e.