Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-01-24

evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain is the net spread In the
sight of any bird And they lay wait
for their own blood; they lurk prfvfly
for their own lives So are the ways
of every one that is greedy or gam;
which taketh away the life of the own
ers thereof" In these words we FIND a
vivid description of the methods of rob-
bers in a city, and a powerful exhor-
tation against a young man running
with such sinners. 1t is said by some
of the learned that the first chapters
Of the book of Proverbs were written
for the special warning and instruction
of the kings own son, Rehoboam. If
this be true, thren we must suppose
that highway robbery had become so
common the crown prince needed warn
ing against IL, and this is quite prooa-
BILE. 1t is certain that the conscience
less dealings of Rehoboam with the
people after the wealth of his father, Sol
ONION, were no better than robberies.
And while adventurous young men
were committing robberies calculating
men of middle age and older were ex-
acting toll from the people by "cor-
ners" in corn; for we read in the same
book of Proverbs, HE that within oideth
corn the people shall curse him.
proverbs xi:26).
But once the infection was In the
blood of the nation it wac not to be
eradicated by pellets of rEoverbs. The
craze for money continued until the days
of captivity overwhelmed the people in
dire disasters. Many years after the days
OF Solomon we find Amos denouncing the
making Of money dear and the holding
of the life of men cheap He says, Hear
this. o ye that swallow up the needy
even to make the poor Of the land to
fail, saying, When will the new moon
be gone that we may sell corn? and the
Sabbath that we may set forth wheat,
making the ephah small and the shekel
great, and classifying the balances by
deceit? That we may buy the poor for
silver. and the needy for a pair of shoes;
yea. and. sell the refuse of the wheat?'
(Amos viii4,5,0. The words of the
prophet are very plain. The lovers of
gain were impatient to have religious
seasons pass, such as the beasts of the
new moon plumbers x:10) and the
Sabbaths, so that they might prosecute
their thrifty traff1cking. How like some
among us whose minds wander to COM
merce while. their bodies are attending
the services of the church, And there
are others among us who have not the
decency to cease trading on Sunday, but
go to office buildings and secretly work
through the Sabbath to make money to
squander on luxurious living in banquets,
theatre-parties, and such like during the
week Such men in our own times. as
In the days of Amos, are disposed to
make the "ephah small, /. e. short
measure for grain, and to make "the
shekel great, l. e. make high prices ex-
pressed in money. And classifying the
balances by deceit" as the agents OF the
Sugar Trust robbed the American peo-
pie. And sell the refuse of the wheat"
selling inferior and mouldy grain to
the poor by making the INDECENT too
poor to buy any other grade of grain.
All this ooks quite modern. 1t is old
fashioned covetousness doing in the days
of Amos what it does now. Our greed is
neither better nor worse than was the
Mammonism of ancient Israel 1t worked
the ruin of the Hebrew nation then, and
1t will work the ruin of our nation now
unless we speedily repent and turn away
from 1t.
The robberies in our cities. whether
they be robberies committed against the
forms of law. or respectable robberies
perpetrated under the forms of law, are
the symptoms of a deadly and wide
spread disease. The dreadful malady can
not be cured by any thing less radical
than thorough repentance and turning to
turned away from God and we have the
word of Jesus for the truth that We can
not serve God and Mammon. When
we believe that we must have God
in our hearts and in our homes what
ever else we lack, our commerce will be
purged of its evils and our streets clear
ed of men who will demand money with
a threat of life If the money is with
held On the other hand, IL we con-
tinue to believe that money is the SUI
preme good, and that it must be had at
all hazards whatever else we lose, our
trade will be filed with extortion and
our streets with violence.
The worship of Marnmon is a menace
to private life and the public veal. If
we will not renounce the idol we have
set up, we must be prepared to see
certain number OF our people, including
some of our own children, sacrificed up
on its bloody altar every year. Some
will be butchered in the streets by the
common priests of Mammon whom we
call robbers, while others will perish at
the hands Of high-priests of trade in
more artistic. but none the less mortal,
ways Greed is CHASTITY god. and from
the affairs of covetousness always run
crimson currents of cruelty. The wor-
ship of Mammon in all lands has always
been attended by human sacrifices.