Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-22
AMERICA MUST HEED DANGER
SIGNALS OR NATION WILL. FALL

! WOn0eT1ul IAN
( gauge the story of the feast of
BelshaZzer, Rev. Billy Sunday last
evening launched upon his subject
Safety First in America" and in
i scathing terms denounced the
evils that infest the world today.
In part his sermon follows:
Some people set great store by
| their morality. their culture and
their refinement Well, if you only
knew how little these weighed be-
fore Godi They don't bring you
salvation.
Somebody says, Can We telI?"
Surely we can. Yes sir, am going
to take the ten commandments, the
moral law, as the basis for what l
have to say. l believe that God
Almighty wrote the ten command
ments on tablets of stone and hand
ed the stones to Moses. 1 don't be-
lieye that Moses wrote them, 1 be-
lieve that God wrote them and gave
them to Moses.
There is no good citizenship
where the 10 commandments are
not kept; no safe political move
ments, 20 social reforms that are
the 10 commandments. I take my
stand on the 10 commandments and
when this old world is burned up,
I will have a foundation as endur-
ing as God Almighty Himself, for 1
believe God wrote them on 10
tablets of stone. Any man who
doesn't live in harmony with the
10 commandments deserves to be in
the penitentiary.
Thou shalt have no other Gods
before me-" A mans god is the
thing that he thinks more of than
he does of God. 1t may be money.
Money is the God of many. Many
fellow sacrifices his conscience, his
morality, his virtue, and his obedi-
ence to God for that. Money is as
truly a god for some people as il
they prayed to $40 gold pieces.
Oh, we are making money in
America by bucketfuls, but we are
going to hell in car-lOts on excur-
sion rates! Oh, the magic of
money! Oh! the rush for money!
Oh, the counting of money! Oh,
the hording of money! Oh, the
envy of money! Oh, the jealousy
of money, Oh, the lying of money!
Oh, the stealing for money! Oh,
the contentious after money! Oh,
the expressions for money! Oh,
the murder for money, The adult
cry for money! The gambling for
money! Selfishness for money Oh,
the loneliness of the man that has
lost all but his money! Oh, the
loneliness of the man who has
nothing but money. The fellow
that has no money is poor; the fell
low that has has nothing but money
is poorer still.
It is a good thing to have money,
and the things that money will buy,
but it is a good thing TO sit down
once in a while and check up and
taken an inventory and be dead sure
you haven't lost the things that
money can't buy. Check up on it!
Money a God.
So. money is the god of some
folks. With some OF the people it
is society. They do things because
society demands it, and If they
don't they'd lose their social cast
and position. Society is your God
and you have to do it. If you don't
believe it, you just try it, my
friends, and see what will happen.
You go contrary to social usages,
and see how quick you will be os-
tracized.
There are men here today, if you
die they wouldn't need to preach
your funeral sermon: Just put a
whisky bottle on your coffin. Oh,
that is the story of your life, booze
has been your god.
There are other men, if you die
they wouldn't need to preach flu
neral sermon. Get your stocks and !
bonds and pile them on your coftin,
that is the whole story of your life. |
There are others, if you die, you
wouldn't need to preach the funeral |
sermon. Go down and get some red |
and white chips and put them on
their coffin, that's story Of their |
life. All it is, is to get something |
from the other fellow without Civ
ing an equivalent in money or
work.
There are others, il they die, put |
their body in their coffin, lead in
the victims of their lust and you
will see their God. Sir, all they
have lived for is the qualification of
their desires.
There are some women, if you'd
die today, go to your home, get
your jewels and fine clothes. get all
YOU have. that is all you have lived
for, just fashionable frame on
which to hang your fashionable
clothes, that is your God!
Thou shalt not take the name of
the Lord thy God in vain"
Some people think that that is of
no consequence and they will break
that commandment every day.
There is not in this universe, in
my opinion, a greater cause for
than Gods forebear-
ance and profanity comes either