Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-01
TAKES A
GLOOMY VIEW
DR.. NoRTHRoP breaches ON
GREED AND GRAFT
Il Is Hard for Man to Escape Justice
and Cover Up Guilt Forever
There Are Loving
Arms

Baptist church preacned yesteIudy ""
Hush II, Cover It Upi"
His text was blessed Is that man
whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin Is covered. Psalm 31:1
THESE are days Of defalcation, graft
and greed: when crime stalks through
our streets almost unpunished and IN
iquity flourishes on every hand; when
Lords day desecration abounds when
people cannot trust their halls Of legfs-
lation. and distrust their courts bf JUS
tice; when omnpresent greed claws FOR
it's loot like wild beast of the Jungle,
and inammon sits in the saddle while
the church walks; when Shylock de-
mands his pound of flesh and irrever-
enoe SCOTS In the face of God; when
lust invades the sanctuary OF virtue,
and shameless divorces and more
shameless marriages undermine our
homes.
"The press teens with accounts Of
bad men who have committed deeds
that have undermined great corpora
tions and ruined bank after bank.
Business houses worldwide are being
shaken from center to circumference by
crafty charlatans!
Something Is liable to happen to-
morrow that will be an earthquake
shock all over Christendonl. People
look seriously into one another's faces
and wonder who will be the next to
go up in smoke and come down in
ashes like Stensland or Mrs Chadwick,
taking with them scores to death and
despair and suicide.
Behind Closed Doors
"'Yonder are two men behind closed
doors i'll this city; one exclainls to the
other, I demand to know; the -sus-
picion is perfectly horrible; it Is killing
.at.N Ant trnxr hrrc1 4
ness standing and may drive me- to the
wall
And the other financier replies 1T
is all fixed up now. We covered 1t up
this afternoon; it is hid, buried IL you
please; there will be no explosion
' Tell me who it is, If it is all
fixed up
'' No, not for the world: there are
only three of us who know about 1t,
and we made a solemn oath over the
table that we would never lisp that
name to a living soul, and we never
will. Blessed is that man whose trans
gression is forgiven, whose sin is COW
ered.'
Now, who of us would like to have
that name published if it were possible
to do so?
What If / would reveal the name of
some cashier some legislator, name
respected in Los Angeles, raise your
hands. AS many of you who would
have me send the dagger home to that
heart, and see here upon the sands of
the public arena that hitherto decent
life bleed out to it's last gasp, say the
word.
But wait a moment before doing SO.
Suppose / tell you that this man con-
fesSed his sins with bitter tears; that
he came with every dollar he had in
the world and made restitution; sup
pose tell you that his gray haired par
entS out on the farm parted with the
old homestead and brought its price
to make up the dividend of restitution;
suppose I tell you that his sef-sacri-
ficing little wife brought her jewels and
stripped the trinkets from the neck of
her babies and poured them down to
satisfy the claims of justice; suppose
/ tell you that the poor wretch in a
certain room in this city fell down upon
the floor and pleaded with unspeakabIe
anguish and remorse: Forgive, for
give; it is my last penny; l do not ask
you to compound felony; there is my
last cent; as you hope to be forgiven,
so forgive?
''While every one in this audience,
while every reader of these lines would
not so much as raise a finger for me
to divulge that name, while you would
not excuse the crime, and while for
sin should be punished. there is
throbbing impulse of sweet pity and
kindly charity.
while this incident is founded on
facts it Is only one of a thousand that
happened last week or last month.
The illustration breaches a thou
sandfold more the meaning of forgive
ness than sermons and lectures and
homilies from the pulpit. OF course
my story illustrates an extreme case,
yet there is not one of us but has got
some spots upon his heart which he
would gladly hide from the eye Of the
Almighty. We have all sinned and
come short of the glory of God.
How hard it is for a man to escape
justice and cover up his guilt.
Exlles in Vain
GLOW many a man has tried to hide
himself from public gaze by lock and
key; yea, how many thousands have
crossed territorial bounds, lakes and
oceans to become exiles from home and
native land. that they might get away
from the open prison door; yea, how
many more have tried to run away
from the eye of God; not that they
have committed some awful crime, for
the higher the honor the deeper the
blush; there is not a person living
who has not some time in his life writ
ten out pages OF Sulll, ana lnen smut
down the cover and exclaimed: 'Hea-
ven forbid that any human eye should
read it, or the day of Judgment should
reveal it. Happy Is that man whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered
81 am not addressing those dressed
in prison garb, base men and women,
mark you! l am speaking to those who
lead, In measure, square lives before
God and man, those whose characters
are relatively pure and honest but 1
do say that there is a great deal of
the fox In us all; there is a hounds
bay In every conscience. a crafty
huntsman, If you please, and we know
In our heart of hearts that there is
many hidden wrong In our lives; that
we have been ungrateful to God; that
we have been rebellous toward God:
that we have wounded some loved
ones heart and turned away from the
open arms Of a forgiving Redeemer
who longs to save; that we have slam
dered fair name; that we have lied;
that we have been false TO some friend;
that we have patted them on their
cheek in their presence and stabbed
them behind their backs.
"But thank God for the text; that
a forgiving Father win blot out trans