Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-13
Today's Sermon
THE MORAL LEPER

THE MORAL LEPER
Text: II Kings v, but he was a
1eper"
'I8have sometimes trled to Imagine my
self IN Damascus on review day and have
seen a man riding on a horse richly ca
parisoned with trarpings of gold and sill
Yer. and he himself clothed in garments
Of the finest fabrics and the most costly,
but with a face so sad and melancholy
that II would cause the beholder to turn
and look second and third time. And
a man unaccustomed to such scenes might
have been heard to make remark like
this. How unequally God seems to di-
vide his favors! There is a man who
rides and others walk; he Is clothed IN
costly garments; they are almost naked
while he Is well fed and they contrast
the difference between the man on the
horse and the others. If we only knew
the breaking hearts of the people we
envy we would pity them from the bot
tom of our souls.
"I was being driven through a suburb
OF Chicago by a real estate ma1r~who
wanted 10 sell me a lot He was telling
me who lived here and who lived there
and what an honor II would be for me
and my children to possess n home there.
We were driving past home that must
have cost 100000 and he said That
house is owned by Mr.. So-and-So. He is
one of our multi-millionalres, and he and
his wife have been known to live In that
house for months and never speak to each
other. They each have separate apart
ments. each has a separate retinue of
servants each dining room and sleep
ing apartments, and months come and
60 by and they never speak to one an
other My thoughts hurried back to the
little fiat In Chicago that we called our
home and where we had lived for II
Ian1 ,.,gsI
IL. There wasn't much in 1t; could load
It in two furniture vans, maybe three,
counting the piano, but I would not
trade the happiness and the joy and the
love Of that little fiat for that palatal
home and the sorrow and the things that
went with IL.
''As you are driving along the street
and man who was intimately acquainted
with the skeletons that are in every fam
iiy should tell you the secrets of them
all. of that boy who has broken his
fathers heart by being a drunkard, a
peg-ieg gambler. and that girl who has
gone astray, and that wife who is a
common drunkard, made so by society
and the father himself, who was also a
sinner. =,
LEPRosY AND SIN
g But he was a, leper. That disease,
peculiar to the Orient, is exceedingly
loathsome, and 9s ! study its pathology
am not surprjAed that God used II as
type OF sin. A man who is able TO |
understand this disease. it's beginning and |
it's progress, might be approached by a |
man who was thus afflicted and might |
say to him. Hurry Hurryi Show your |
self to the priest for the cleansing of
the Mosaic law Why saws the man
thus addressed, what is ,the .troubleY !
The other man would say. DO you see |
the spot on your hand? Hurry and show
rffTW naIH 60 H.. -. N.
Ihat is only tester, only water blis-
ter; only a pimple, nothing more. There
Is no occasion to be alarmed You are
unduly agitated and excited for my well
1ares Those sores are only few now but
It spreads and 1t is first upon the hand,
then upon the arm and from the arm II
goes on until 1t lays hold of every nerve,
artery. vein. with its slimy coil, and con-
tinues until the rotten disintegration of
tho parts takes place and they drop of,
and then 1t is too late. But the man who
was concerned saw the beginning of that
mot only the end but the beginning He
looked yonder and saw the end. too
fhat ispthe reason why you hurry
when you Tgat Eavidence of the disease
so : say to you, young man, don't you
go With that Goddess. od-for-nothing
gang. that, blasphene and sneer AT re-
llgioh, that, bunch or Character assassIns;
they VIII make OF your body doormat
to wipe their feet upon. Don't 20 with
that bunch; heard you swear / heard
you sheer at religion: stop or you will
become staggering, muttering, bleary-
eyeds foul-mouthed down and outer on
your way 70 hell say TO you. stop! or
you will so reeling down TO hell, break
ing your wife's heart and wrecking your
children's lives. And what have you got
10 show for III What have you got to
show for it2 God pity you for all you got
10 show for selling your soul to the devil.
You are fool You are a fool. Take 1t
frona Bill. you are fool.
A WARMING 10 THE YOUNG
Don't you 60 my boy; don't YOU laugh
at that smutty story with a double mean
ing, Don't 90 with that gang But you
say TO me. Mr. Sunday, you are unduly
excited for my welfare. know you smell
liquor on my breath, but I never expect
70 beeome drunkard. | never expect to
become an outcast.' Well, you are a fooll
You are fool No msn ever intended to
become GrunkaTd. Every drunkard {
started out to be simply q moderate
drinltor. The fellow that tolls me that
he can leave II alone when he wants to
Hes II Is lie. II you can, why don't !
you leave II alone? You will never let II /
alone. II you could, you would. My boy, I
hear rne. have walked along the shores [
q titne and have seen them strewn with (
the wrecks OF those who have dnfted IN
from the seas of lust and passion, and
the coming race. You can't leave 1t alone, J
3r II you can, the time will come when 1t !
VIII get you. Take It from me. q
"And say to you. young girl, don't go {
With that Goddess, Godforsaken, sneeTing
young man that walks the streets smok- /
pg eizarettes He would not walk the c
'treets with you II you smoked cigarettes s
But you say you win marry him and
aform himi he would not marry you 10 '
'eform you Don't 80 10 that dance /
9on't xon know that II is the most damn 4
ma, lou-down institution on the face OF I
4od'a earth, that II causes more ruin i
han anything this side Of hell7 Dent you c
20 with that young mani don't you go :
. thar dance.
DANCES sPEW FROM HE'LL"
THAT S Why We have 50 many whip 2
'oorFi1 widows around the country they :
married. some Of these NUTS to reform Q
hen1 and Instead OF doing that the un- /