The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1907-02-28
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sV-NHr,pEri GINS
March 3,'07-(Gen. 18:16-33)
sVNIC1pEL SINS.

March 3,'07-(Gen. 1S:1633) S..
The great cities of the earth are
underground Some of the munich
naIities which once made nations
tremble are troW1 oniy by their
M mce. into that graveyard OF dead
cities Babylon went, and NineVeh,
and Jericho, and Tyre and Sidon, and
POmpeii and HeTculaneum, and LIS
bon and Valparaiso and San fran
cisco. Seine af them went by fire,
some Of them by earthquake, some
of them by volcanic eruption, all OF
tham bl0tted OUT in whole or in part
when the clock of destiny struck.
But among all the catastrophles
which the centuries have recorded
meme have been more terrific. more
Overwhelming. more complete tnan
t!@t OF the cities of the plain, CT
which Sodom and Gomorrah were
c0nsDicnous. The story Of the degra-
dation OF those cities cannot be told.
Human cars wolld not endure it.
And one day whom the earth could
endure to incubus no longer, ire
from below ciasped hands with Ire
from above, and transformed the
nlace into a seethiuC furnace, stencil
full with sulphur, choking with Va
rc.. in which The Inhabitants we're
cramatc,i ~ ~" - az Goa. It was
first hurled into r2in. then incinera-
ted BY fire. then d.G-ntccted with
SULPHUR then s0wE it'll salt, then
buried under the waters OF the Dead
Sea, which still roll fathoms deep
over the sr0t whore tie GroUEed city
stood. Abraham intC"cei2l FOR the
place. but when he found that among
ali ;ha Thousands o. o0ic~n there
were not ten men who we're right
cons in it, his faith broke down and
lie made his petition 10 more.
And yet, if you had been in Sodon
the day before the catastrophe and
asked to be shown the evidence OF its
prosperity and perpetuity you could
have found abundant answer. Cor
ner lots were quoted at their full
value, the day hefo"e' Wealthy citi~
zens dwelt in peace Ia gorgeous pal
aces, the day before.
There was no rremonition of COM
ing doom, the day before. Pleasure
iostled business, the marts Of trade
and the halls of mirth were filed
with eager throngs. the day before.
But in forty-eight hours every PAL
ace was gone, every obscene temple
was blotted out, every voice was
hushed in Sodon, while out on the
barren hillsides three Hebrew fugi+
tives covered: all that was left of
Sodom-' saved, SO as by fire"
And there are many close students
and observers OF affairs Who frankly
state their conviction that the in
iquity Of SOdOm was no worse than
the iniQuity of modern cities. IN
fact they think we are greater sim
ners because We know more, and
use our wits to invent wickedness
they never dream q of. We have ten
plaques where these ancient sinners
had only one. The plague Of drunk
enness, the plague Of gambling. the
plague Of yellow literature, the
plague Of lies, the plague OF infidel-
| ity, the plague of crime, the plague
of wars between capital and labor,
: the plague of Righteousness, the
, plague of demagoguism, the plague
OF vagabondage, Plaques worse than
, the plaques of Egypt have swooped
down upon our modern cities.
Every now and then society is
:, startled with the crashing down into
ruin Of an apparently beautiful char
: acter, a bank cashier turns up miss
: ing, with the hard-earned savings Of
the poor IN his possession, CT two
families in high life swap part
ners' through the rapid transit Of
7 the divorce court, the children of the
t several matrimonial revolutions
, scarcely daring to address the tenn
porary head of the house, lest they
; should fail in proper designation. 1t
4 has become SO common a custom to
i steal that we have lifted it to fine
art in this country and given it a
new name. We call it graft, and a
CRATER is not put in the same cate
: CORY with a low down thief. We
send the common burglar to Jail and
the CRATER to the Legislature. If a
\ man steals loaf OF bread We give
; him the limit OF the law, but If he
= breaks bank we palliate the CT
l Tense, upon the surrender of a por-
ton Of the plumber.
The tendency Of the age is toward
the cities. The simple life Of the
= country is we'll enough TO talk
2 about, but most people prefer the So
I ciety OF human beings to stumps. We
+ would rather live half century IN
the city than 100 years in merely
existing in the country. So We crowd
: into human bee hives and ant hills.
We breathe foul air, and keep late
hours, and form evil companionships
and deteriorate body and soul. Not
that all the bad people live in cities
and all the saints in the country
There are farmers who get as drunk
on hard cider as their city cousins
on champagne. There is more vice In
the city because there are more peo-
pie there, and more people means
more temptations, more allurements
more concealments, more freedom
from responsibility. Many mar
who is honest at home in the coun
try, swings around the circle wher
he gets where nobody knows him
Municipal sin has always been the
despair of the philanthropist, ane
IL III