Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-22
SUNDAY MORNING TALK.
The Reality of Judgment Dav.

".
IL any doubt has fingered in any mind
touching the validity of the good old doc
Urine of judgment day, that doubt ought to
nave been removed by what has transpired
in New York during the last few weeks.
Ihere was set of men there who, up to a
short time ago, We're drawing princely SAL
aries, enjoying their yachts and fast horses
and giving sumptuous dinners-living. In
short, the kind of life which rich fast men
live in the world over, only with this dis
tinction. that these men were the officials
Of an organization supposed to exist to pro-
tect the interests of widows and orphans
Associated with these men were others
quite as luxurious. but who shared the
same conception of the uses of fiduciary
agency, namely, that the primary consfd-
Grafton was not how much they could do to
reduce the cost of insurance for people in
moderate circumstances, while at the same
time getting a generous living themselves
but rather how in every way possible they
might serve their own ends through excep-
tional opportunities presented to them for
personal ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
But by and by these men began to fall out
among themselves. and soon the searchlight
or public investigation was turned upon
them. and In the heat of indignation that
has followed many former excellent repu-
words. judgment day has come to town.
and what was done of a tricky nature in
small meetings of directors and committees
is being proclaimed upon the housetops
Was there ever a more vivid proof of the
assertion: Whatsoever a man soweth. that
shall he also reap"
But while the world is pointing the finger
of scorn at men In high financial circles in
New York 1T may be well to remind our
selves of the warning: Think We that these
Galileans were sinners above all the Cali
leans! Nay, but except we repent We shall
all likewise perish" Wherever NE live, we
do not have to travel far to encounter jude-
ment day. Every police court. every Jail
in the land testifies to the fact that judg-
ment is here and now.
And yet men go on in their crooked ca
reers, thinking that whatever may have
happened to others, they will somehow
manage to avoid exposure and punishment
For there often is delay in the working
out of justice. Sometimes men who ought
TO be wearing prison garb, go to their
graves in apparently good standing in the
community. But delay does not mitigate
the penalty when 1t comes, as Anne of Aus
tria said to Richelieu: MY Lord Cardinal,
but In the end he pays" And because the
sword has not yet descended upon us. we
need not delude ourselves with the notion
that our sin has been overlooked or forgot
ten.
Nor need we think that Judgment dav
must come in one form only, always in
hicting public condemnation and involving
the lonely prison cell. Sometimes our mis-
doing is followed by remorse and self-loath
ing harder to bear than the taunts of 9th
ers. mo one will ever know it." said a
tempting voice once to young man on the
edge of a moral collapse. mo, but I should
know II" was his quick and indignant re-
joinder, and he drew back from the edge of
the preeipice. Judgment day often writes
its penalties on mans countenance and
causes stupefying of conscience, an emas-
culation of will, and drying up of the
fountains of affection. You may escape the
policeman all your life, but you can never