The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-24

his property. What did he do2 In order to escape these legitimate obligations he placed his coke property in the hands of his nephew and then went into court and swore he was penniless. After he had perjured himself thus this uncle went to his nephew and said, Now my boy. deed me back my coke lands" Oh mo- said the young man; you gave them to me, and I will keep them. If you are dis honest 1 can be dishonest too.' That IS the way MT. So-and-so was supposed to have had his financial start in life But, of course, as he is so rich and generous with his money the church and the world are ready to overlook the sin of his youth" A great temporal success is held by some to atone for the sinful means by which that success is won.
 Emptiness of Temporal Success.
 Think not this illustration purely i'm aginary. I am speaking about one O. whom Dame Rumor is telling at this very moment. And yet my brother, as l re late this incident. I want you to answer this question, Docs God ever allow Us to make any successes true in his sight, at the expense of our Christian inte- grity2" Will he forgive us our past sins because we bring him our gold and silver and precious jewels that have been stolen from the coffers of anothePs treasure vaults? What is worth having is worth paying for; but we always pay too high for our temporal successes when we pay for them with the coin of deceit and dis honesty and theft and with gold srnelted hy unlawful and immoral fires. "A good name Is rather to be chosen than great riches" That means, though you pile up- on one side of your scales all the gold buried under a thousand hills, and all the securities that make the money market fawn at your feet, and all the diamonds taken from Goconda mine, and yet put upon the other side of that moral scale one dishonest act by which those riches were won, in the sight of God and Chris tian men you have paid for your wealth at too high a price. You have paid for them at the expense of your Christian integrity
 But there is still another very foolish sacrifice many men and women make for temporal succfsses of life. That is the respect and love which all good men and women should feel toward their fellow men. It is one thing to be careful about our Christian integrity that others may think well of us. But it is another and more important thing that we do not foolishly sacrifice our Christian integrity, lest we lose our respect and love for our neighbors.
 A Thought Illustrated.
 What do l mean by this treatment? Let me illustrate my thought. My fath- CT. in an address on the Bright Side of Things began in this wise: This world always appears to man In exactly the same colors as are the colored glasses through which he looks. If he uses green glasses, it is a stupid world; if red glasses. a martial world; if yellow glasses a jaundiced world; but if crystal glasses the same bright glorious world in which the birds sing and the brooks gurgle, and the young people and the old people love; the same bright glorious world as God made It." What, again." you ask, Ifs the meaning of this?" Why, simply that if you are dishonest in your actions, you will think all other people are dis honest; if you are mean, you will think others are mean If you are deceitful, you will be looking only for bad motives in others But if you are pure and good, and true and loving, you will intutlvely begin to seek only what is good and true and loving in others. Therefore, my brother, when the dishonest man seeks temporal success at the expense of Chris ton integrity he Is always doing it at the expense of his respect for his neighbors As a bad man, he always feels as though he was surrounded by bad men; while, on the other hand, if a true man abso- lutely refuses to win temporal success unless he himself remains good and true and pure, he is always rich In his earthly associates Why? Because a goood man always feels that he Is surrounded by good neighbors.
 The Price Too High.