Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-09-04
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor OF Jefferson Park Presby-
teriNn Church. Chiceso

tne preacher lnCulCobeS tlc Uuly oA
in ali the relations OF
life-in business, In politics. i'm our So
cial intercourse and our religion. His
text Is Acts V. s: 'sTell me whether ye
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 hidcous, the diseased. the appall-
ing. are objects at which some OF US
never tire Of looking. Let poor work
man tumble from scaffolding and
have his brains despatched upon the
city pavements below or let a helpless
washerwoman, staggering under her
load of clothes, be crushed by the
truckman's wheel or a drunken human
brute be battered by a 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. Kaaa -.
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 Ia the matterY' why"
answers he, haven't you heard the
news2 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 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 well before his fellow
church members. But Ananias told n
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 60 up and see
what is next going TO happen"
Lies Cannot he Clothed In white
These two m$n rush on toward the
temple. They come to the outskirts of
a great throng. There the multitudes
are crowdlng and pushing and jostling
their neighbors and trying 10 get near
TO the speaker. Suddenly the cry is
raised. MAKE way. make wayr The
sea or 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
soiemnly down through the opan path
way come the pallbearers, carrying be-
tween them shrouded form. For.
1.-THE young men arose. wound him up
and carried him out and buried him"
Hardly had the noise OF the shuffiing
feet ceased when newcomer, a wom-
an, began TO elbow her way through
tho crowd. She asks the people as she
pushes along: What Is the matter? Is
any ono hurtT' No one answers. They
pretend Sley do not hear her. but they
do. As soon rs she passes along many
an eye Is moist. many lip quivers.
God pity her. God pity herr This
Is Sapphira. the wife OF the dead Der
jurer. She Is her husbands confed-
crate In The premeditated lie. AS soon
rs Petcr SECS her H. points to the pile
of silver and gold and says unto her.
woman. tell me whether ye cold the
land for so muchr' And she says.
"fen. for 30 much" Quick as n fash
the lightning OF Gods wrath struck.
Then fell she down ssraightwsy Mt
his feet and yielded up the ghost. and
The young mon came In and found her
dead. and, carrying her forth, buried
her by her husband" Such IL the Bib
sical description OF two capital punish
ments. The record stands there on the
sacred page rs a perpetual warning
against faisehood. an object lesson, ter
rible and exemplary. OF the divine attn
tude toward all kinds OF Hes and un-
fruths and presentations and inten-
tional distortions and misrepresenta-
lions. wherever they may be found.
To catalogue some OF the cquiyoca-
fions by which the Ananiases and the
Sapphiras OF the present day pervert
the truth 10 the purpose OF this sermon.
we wo0id prove that business lies and
social Mes and political lies and par
entail lies and church lies can never be
clothed in white and called white
lies Every faIschood ~ covered with
the black pail OF death-black as the
darkness OF the bostomless Dit. We
would try 20 DO this because there Is a
theory abroad that some lies are inno-
cent and respectable and that there "a
no harm If their black garments hang
In the wardrobes of honest men.
Rasinsss Faiseh6od..
Falsehoods IN the business world:
They nest and thrive especially well
in the haunts of barter and gain. They
greet you at the opened doors OF our
large department stores. They pic
torialixe themselves In circulars ana
newspaper advertisements which are
sent broadcast over the cities and coun.
Try districts. They pose i'm fictitious
reports or our large corporations and
exaggerste the annual dividends They
have for their passports white slips of
paper. purporting to represent bona
noe stock, whereas the gold and silver
and copper mines are purely imaginary.
They enthrone themselves in the pits
OF the produce exchanges. They finger
the keys OF the telegraph Instruments
when the breadstuffs are about to
be eornered. They are Just as much
at home with the wholesale manipu-
lator as with the retail dealer, with the
great capitalist as with the humble
trader seated behind the counter OF the
little country store. We have all felt
upon our hot cheeks the baleful touch
OF their infectious breath. They ride
down with us when we go shopping In
the morning. They come home with
us when we turn our backs upon the
glass offices at night.
Falsehoods in the business world!
They figure not only in the transac-
tons OF buyers and sellers, but In the
of the taxpayer. Here
cones the county assessor. How much
- your property WORTH "Oh," you
answer. IL farmer, mot much. /
hardly made living off the place last
year My crops barely met expenses.
The house is simply white elephant
on my hands. would get rid of n IL I