The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-08-17
GOD AND CAESAR"
ADDRESS DELIVERED BY DK
GEO. B. CROME,R IN GREEN
WOOD.
Mans Duty to His state Emphasized
Speaker Makes AN Appeal tor
True Patriotism i'm All Elections.

public office is not private politi
cal snap
Public office is not an opportuni-
ty TO vent personal spite, nor
chance TO protect personal friends"
The above were two Of the most
striking sentences in the lecture on
God and Casear," delivered at the
court house yesterday afternoon by.
DR.. George b. Cromer, Of Newberry.
to an audience Of several hundred
in which were many ladies. DR.. Gro
mer spoke in part as follows:
Jesus Christ, remarkable in all
things, was especially remarkable for
the ability He had in answering
questions. The Pharisees, you re-
! member, were opposed to Herod and
were bitter in their hatred of the Ro-
man government. On the other hand
the Herodians were that class of peo-
pie who favored Herod and were
partisans of Caesar. Consequently
for an answer to the question:: us it
lawful to pay tribute to Caesar"
| they thought they had Him in a trap
| and that the question could not be
| answered without His giving offense
| to one or the other of these two
strong parties. But remarkable as
he always was in His answers, Jesus
Christ answered the question i'm such
a way as to settle all doubts and TO
cOnfound the questiOners: "Pender
unto Caesar those things which are
Caesars and unto God those things
which are Gods"
| Our Duties to Caesar.
What are our duties to Caesar? In
the time of Christ, Caesar stood for
imperial Rome, the emperor sitting
In palace back in the Eternal city,
and for the rule of might. In this
age, Caesar stands for the rule of
men, for democracy, and for the pow
er Of the public. 1t is a wonderful
privilege to be living in a modern
Christian country as we are surround
| ed by all the advantages of this age.
and we are quick to appeal to the
State and quick to demand the rights
which the State owes to us.
What do we owe to Caesar? Our
criminal statistics are a disgrace to
humanity and blot upon civiliza-
ton. Some time ago l was shocked
and saddened to find some statistics
! which told me that for every hour
in every day of each of the 365 days
in the year there is a murder or a
homicide committed in the United
States. Think of it. And / have
taken the trouble to do some calcu-
lating, and | want to show You how
good your chances are for t:cape
If you want to kill somebody If
there is anybody that you wish to Ct
rid Of. you can look at these figul es
and see if you think your Char.es
for escaping are good enough for
you to undertake the job Ii you
want to commit murder, and do
commit one. your chances are better
than three to one that you won't be
brought to trial. Your chances are
better than ten to one that you will
not be sent to the penitentiary Your
f1,n
that you will not be hanged or cleo
Jrocuted. We abuse our courts. but
in SO doing, we are locking the sta
BILE door after the horse has been
stolen; We huild barriers around our
property after it has already been
despoiled. and we attempt to cure
deep-seated heart disease by apply
ing pOultices. This disease is deep
seated and popular and can be cured
only by deepseated remedies.
The Former.
One of the great educators. IIor-
ace Mann. said, "One former is worth
a hundred reformers" He spoke the
truth. One former man or wo-
man who gives shape to character
of the child in the home and in the
school is better than a hundred re-
| formers who come along later and
| endeavor by lectures TO correct and
to reform the character already form
ed. In the last analysis, what is the
state? The teacher whips pupil at
school, and why hag she ne right to
do so? The principal says that she
may do SO. but who gives him the
power? The trustees say that he has
the power. but where did they get
| the right to say SO The legislature