Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1906-01-25
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: SUNDAY SERMON :
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= A Scholarly Discourse By =
. DR.. r.. F. Alsop q
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Brooklyn, N. Y-Dr. Reese r. AlsOp,
rector of st. AIMS p. Il. Church,
preached Sunday morning on Graft,
Ancient and Modern" His text was
from Luke xix:S: Behold Lord, the
half of my goods l give to the poor,
and If l have taken anything from
any man by false accusation, I restore
him fourfold" DR.. Alsop said:
We have in these days curious nse
| of the word graft. Probably the gar
! dener would find 1t little hard to I'M
derstand how 1t came to have the mean-
difficult to explain. He sets into some
plant a bud or twig, and by and by
it grows into the plant. Then it lives
to Il certain extent its own life bears
its own fruit, drawing the while sap,
nourshment, vitality, from the plant
into which 1t has been grated. 1t be-
comes. therefore, the figure of a thing
that draws that something else with
which 1t Is connected, that which 1t
uses for its own purpose. So the habit
of drawing off for private uses some
thing that really belongs to some one
else, whether it be~a government, Il
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
1t we find in the story of him who
! claims our attention this morning.
Two or three things come out in our
study Of Zacchaeus.
First-He was in n dangerous en-
ployment. 1t surrounded him with
| temptations. Its usual standard of
action was low. Its prevailing habit
! was one of wrong doing. 1t was a
course of life in which every day one
could see opportunities of getting gain
and take them. Both insiders and out
siders took for granted a certain meas
ure of pilfcring.
Mr. jerome has lately been holding
up to the ridicule of the public the
claim that there is such a thing rs
honest graft, by which Is meant OPP
! pOrtunitieS which come to insiders to
! take advantage of their knowledge and
of others ignorance to make great
profits. The employment of Iacchaeus
gave such opportunities, and men like
him were expected to gather In con-
| aSantly what was called perquisites of
their position. Just as Il customs in
| spector is suppC sd to look for and to
wait for fee, or as a policeman who
| has a district like the Tenderloin, is
supposed to be waiting and ready
! for brlbeS. We have men who have
shown 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 Zacchaeus, we are told.
was chief of the publlcans. and he
seems to have illustrated the spirit
| which is apt to prevail in a hated and
prescribed business, namely, that of
avenging itself upon the public by
making the public pay.
Secondly-It would appear that he
| had used ,he opportunities which his
position gave him. lax collecting
proper does not bring man large
! fortune. The income Is usually grad
ed to give him merely Il moderate liv
| ing. But Iacchaeus had not been
content with that. There are thou
! sands of people all through our land
who have the rare faculty of growing
rich in Il few years on a very small
salary. Men like Beavers, senator's
who have been indicted and convicted
of land frauds, judges hO 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 constant
rake Oh' in the year of our Lord 20.
1t was graft nearly twenty centuries
before the word ca he to have its pres
cnt cOnnOtation. And so Zecchaeus be-
came rich-notoriously rich. He was
probably like some o. our high finan-
ciers 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
ity, he was in bad odor. The community
will stand good deal. but there comes
time when even the glamour of
wealth cannot hide mans true char
acter-when his success can no longer
blind mems eyes, when his splendOr
becomes an oifenSc that cries to high
heaven. There are houses and estab-
lishments In our day that make men
gnash thelr 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
fllched by the strong or the clever, or
the high placed from the weak, or
foolish, or lowly; with such wealth
there is and ought to he quarrel eter-
nal. And so 1t was with Zacchaeus
gates it was with sneer perhaps q
curse. He is rich; yes, but he Is a
sinner; his glory is his shame His
splendOr is the measure of his turpi-
tude, he has made his pile. but 1t is
the result of extortion and false accu-
sations. He is not only renegade, in
that he is publican, and the chief of
them, but he is a standing, living
monument of what conscienceless
greed can make of 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 peoples
Judgment. Zacchaeus Is q son of
Abraham indeed; tL t is, one of the
chosen people. But he is none the
-. less a lost man needing to be sought
and saved.
Now, if that was his true character;
If the Jerichoan estimate of him was
correct, how are we to understand the