Year: 1879

may be a philanthropist, and picture
the sufferings of the poor in the most
graphic manner; but if when he sees
brother or sister in want he does not
contribute to their relief out of his
own means, what do | care for his say
so to the contrary? Mere personal
sentiment is outweighed by good,
grand, and generous acts. But here
is the trouble. Ordinarily we can not
divorce belief and practice. A mans
faith IS father of his deeds. Back of
every act is thought, conviction. and
one reflects on the other. You can
not have bad faith without assim-
ilating it to yourself. A man who
thinks right, and takes advantage in a
bargain, is on the way to wrong
thinking. A man who does not mind
tampering with the truth, will soon
find himself. drifting into deceit and
hypocrisy. 1t is as natural as any law
OF the universe. You cannot pour
poison into well and expect to get
wholesome water out of it. So you
cannot have poisoned mind and live
a virtuous life. And | would impress
this upon the minds of my young
friends who are present, who think or
seem to act rs though it does not mat
ter what man believes so he lives
Alright. | say it does matter immense
ly, because we cannot ordinarily sepa-
rate belief and practice. There are
few men who are better than their
belief, or who can build a good life
out OF poor creed, or in spite of it.
If all men were as good as their creed
or as good as their ideal, which is
about the same thing, we would not
need to wait for paradise restored; we
should have it at once in our hearts
and homes. Any man can see the
mountain tops, though few have the
strength to climb up to its heights.


This brings us to point which is
OF special Importance 1t is possible
to have correct sense of right and
knowledge of duty, and yet live in
violation of both. There are men who
are situated similar to Moses, who re-
celved the tablets containing the COM
mandments, while the poor Israelites
at the base of the mountain were wor-
Shipping the golden calf. There are
men who stand on the mountain of
Christian faith, who received the tab
lets of the commandments, and yet at
the same moment, on the plane of
their every day conduct, they are bow
ing down at the opposite shrine and
worshiping the basest idols. It is
that old story. over again. David had
sent Uriah to the forefront of the bat
tie to make sure Of getting rid of him,
so that he might take his wife. It
was the meanest act of that great
King. lie you and | had been there,
with our present feelings, we would
have said it was impossible for a man
like David, who had written such fine
and noble sentiments as those of the
Book of Psalms, to have done such a
a thing. And so he himself thought
afterward. But God sent the prophet
Nathan to arrest him in his course,
and right skillfully did the prophet
word his message in the shape of a
parable:


There two men in city; and one rich and


''The rich had exceeding many hocks and


But the poor man had nothing save one little eve
grew up together with him. and with his children: it
m % in 3 his Gs bos0 and s m Gl ls and


And there came traveller unto the rich man; and
to dress for the wayfaring man that was come in unto
m him but he took the poor mans lamb, and dressed it
Tor the man that was come TO MIN"


David listened to the story, and
gradually his bosom begins to swell
with Indignation; his sense of justice
is aroused. Is it possible such injus-
tice and cruelty can be practiced in
his domain.


And almost before the prophet had
finished the story, he broke out: LAS
the Lord liveth the man that hath
done this thing shall surely die"
Softly, David! Men have before now
manifested great Indignation for the
injustice of others, when they were
equally guilty themselves. And Ma
than, pointing his finger at David,
said: Thou art the man." The poor
King! Little did he know how surely
he was digging his own grave. Mark
you, all this righteous Indignation
arose against a simple act of oppre,
sion in another, while on his own
hearth there had been cruelty, injus-
tice, adultery, and murder. His sense
of justice was greatly kindled against
an imaginary crime, while his own
actual crime lay in his heart, unre-
pented and unconfessed.


Brethren, so far as this terrible con-
tradiction between faith and life is
concerned, this awful gap between
mems say so and their actual doings,
between their actions and their belief,
belongs to this nineteenth century as
well as the past. There are brethren
all about us just as guilty as David.


And | could tell you a parable about |
the doings Of men even in our own
days that would redden your cheeks
with shame and Indignation. To how
many | might turn to you and say,
SOFTLY, friend, temper the keenness
of thy rebuke, for thou art the very
man, and thy judgment against others
shalt come home to your door"


You sit down and read in your
of the high handed injus-
tice practiced upon the poor, and your
hands clench convulsively, and your
teeth gnash with Indignation. But
how many of you can say, Stay mo-
ment, are these men wretches above
all in the land? Cast your stone if
you are guiltless. But if you have
ever been censurable, even in imagina-
ton, if you have been criminal in
purpose, then you are the man, and
your Judgment shall come home to
your own door.


| think we are forced to the conclu-
sion that it is never safe to trust a
man to his mere say so, on account of |
the constant contradiction of men
the right and yet expressly