The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-01-24
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SUNDAY SERMON


Scholarly Discourse By
Dr.. r.. T. Al.op.

rector of ST. AIMS +. IL. Church,
preached Sunday morning on Graft,
Ancient and Modern" His text was
from Luke xix:S: Behold. Lord. the
half of my goods | give TO the poor,
and II | have taken anything from
any man by false accusation, | restore
him fourfold." Or. Alsop said.
We have in these days n curious use
Of the word graft Probably the gar
dener would find 1t little hard to un-
lerstand how II came to have the mean
ing that 1t has, yet II ought not to be
difficult to explain He sets into some
plant q bud or n twig. and by and by
it grows into the plant Then 1t lives
to certain extent Its own life. bears
its own fruit. drawing the while sap,
nourishment. vitality. from the plant
into which II has been grated. 1t be-
comes. therefore. the figure of a thing
that draws that something else with
which il is connected, that which it
uses for its own purpose. So the habit
of drawing off for private uses some
thing that really belongs to some one
else. whether 1t be government
department. or an individual, has come
to be called graft The use of the
word is peculiar to our own times.
| The thing which the word indicates is,
| alas. as old as history Something like
| it we find in the story of him who
claims our attention this morning.
Two or three things come out in our
study Of Hacchaeus
First-He was in 4 dangerous EN-
| ployment. 1t surrounded him with
| temptations. Its usual standard of
! action was low. Its prevailing habit
was one of wrong doing. Ii was
| course of life in which every day one
could see opportunities OF getting gain
! and take them. Both insiders and out
slders took for granted Il certain meas
ure of pilfering
Mr.. Jerome has lately been holding
| up to the ridlcule of the public the
| claim that there is such a thing rs
| honest graft. by which is meant op-
| portunities which come to insiders to
| take advantage of their knowledge ana
! of others ignorance to make great
| profits. The employment of Zacchaeus
| gave such opportunities. and men like
| him We're expected to gather in con-
stantly what was called perquisites of
! their position. Just as customs in
| spector is suppc "a to look for and to
wait for fee, or as a policeman who
has district like the Tenderloin, is
supposed to be waiting and ready
for bribes. We have men who have
shown a good deal of this spirit We
| have had those who call themselves
statesmen in New York who were in
| politics by their own confession not
for their health, but for their pocket
| all the time. Iacchaeus. we are told,
was chief of the publcans and he
seems to have illustrated the spirit
which is apt to prevail in hated and
| prescribed business, namely. that of
avenglng itself upon the public by
making the public pay.
Secondly-lt would appear that he
| had used he opportunities which his
| position gave him. Iax collecting
| proper does not bring a man a large
| fortune. The income Is usually grad
| ell to give him merely Il moderate liv-
Ing. But Iacchaeus had not been
J content with that. There are thou
/ sands of people all through our land
who have the rare faculty of growing
rich in few years on very small
salary. Men like Beavers. senator's
| who have been indicted and convicted
| of land frauds. judges no have used
| appointments for personal reasons.
| These things which we know of in our
| day should give some insight into the
| methods in Jericho of old -. was a
! case of high finance" of n constant
rake on in the year of our Lord %.
| 1t was graft nearly twenty centuries
| before the word Gale to have its pres
J ent cOnnOtation. And so Xecchaeus be-
came rich-notorlously rich. He was
! probably like some o. our high finan-
| clers of to-day. He had fine house
and garden and establishment, so that
as men pass ID it they pointed to it
and said, There lives the richest man
| in the city,
| Third-Still. in spite OF his prosper
iiy he was in bad odor. The community
will stand good deal, but there comes
Il time when even the glamour of
wealth cannot hide Il mans true char
acter-when his success can no longer
| blind mems eyes, when his splendor
becomes an oifense that cries to high
/ heaven. There are houses and estab-
| llshments In our day that make men
gnash their teeth, that stand in the
| community as an exhibition of what
fraud and trickery and legal stealing
and breach of trust can do. With
wealth honestly earned and nobly used,
the legitimate reward of real service
to the community, there is and should
be no quarrel; but with i'll gotten
gains gains got at the expense of the
community, gains which arenot'the pay
OF honest work, of brain, of body, but
the loot of cunning, of fraud the booty
! nlched by the strong or the clever. or
the high placed from the weak. or
foolish, or loWly: with such wealth
there is aud ought 10 be a quarrel eter-
nal And so il was with Zacchaeus.
AS the people of Jericho passed his
gates it was with a sneer. perhaps a
curse He Is rich yes, but he is IA
sinner; his glory is his shame His
s2lendor is the measure of his turpl-
tDde, he has made his pile, but it Is
lie result of eXtOrtion and false accu-
satons. He Is not only a renegade. in
that he is a publican, and the chief of
them. but he is standing, living
monument of what conscienceless
greed can make of a man
Fourth-Now. with this judgment of
his fellow citizens. Jesus seems to
agree, for when the people protest
against His being this mans guest
Jesus says: THE Son Of man is come
to seek and to save that which was
lost" That word "lost" seems to
concede the justice Of the people s
Judgment, Zacchaeus Is a son OF
Abraham, indeed; th,r Is, one of the
chosen people. But he is none the
less "a LOST mat, naadiuO IN ho eo,,obt