The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1877-05-24
TIE HE4THEN AT HOME.
A Short COmmOn-Sense Missionary
Sermon.

| The heathen at home Yes, count
less multItudes OF them. A quarter oi
million in New York City, fifty
thousand in Cincinnati, CoVingtOn
and Newport who never entered a
house of worship. Wander through
the long, dismal, sloppy, garbage
strewn back streets and alleys of all
our great cities and behold the swRrms
of filthy, ragged little caricatures on
umsnity-miserable little wretehes,
scarce three removes above the pigs
and puppies, their companions. Can
it be possible that God made them
II so, what for? Have they, within
those tatter-hung carcssses, souls,
deathless souls, that are destined to
grow with radiance divine in heaven,
or, dying, never die in hell forever
Can 1t, can it be (?
On, the emptiness OF all our boast.
ed enlightening and outstanding
agencies!
Ship-lOads OF red flannel shirts and
tracts on predestination for thespOrtiVe
young cannibals on the banks of the
Niger or RyanZa-gushes of sympathy
and cargOes Of testaElents for the be-
nighted HindOOs and Siamese-fat,
tender, juicy missionaries, in prime
order for barbecuing, for the CSribs,
Fijis and New Zealanders-barrels of
crocodile tears and bounteous ship
ments Of hymn-books, PaTley's geo.
/ graphies and lJud-mouthed evange-
lists for the Darwin's links Of South
ern swamps and jungles-all this
lOng-rsnge solicitude for perIshing hu-
manity.
And yet here and there and every
where, at our own doors, amid all the
blaze Of gospel light, in hearing OF the.
bells on thousand glittering spires,
in the reeking slums of all our great
Babels, are millions OF wretehed little
beings OF cur own race, our own flesh
and blood, natiye-born Americaus,
who never heard of a heaven, q hell,
God or O devil, except in BIAS
phemies millions of pitiabie little
creatures, with skins beneath their
clOts of filth as white as mine or
yours, madam, who never saw the in
side OF q school house or church vino
are as deeply, dArkly, terribly ignO-
rant, debased and brutalized as the
young savages who to-day worship
the Cobra-de-Capello and eat their
own grandmothers on the semi
scOrched shores of Zambesi or Lake
Ngami-American hesthens-Ameri-
can pagang.
Away with collections for Freed
mems Evangelizing Societies, Poly
nesian Bible Associations and Sene-
gambia, Madagascar ana Terra del
FuegO Missions. Away with them,
and let us begin our work at home
enlighten the heather, reclaim the
Arabs Of our own streets and alleys,
thronging all around us, even in our
own highly-flsvored and beautiful
tripartite city !; meeting Us daily on
all our streets and highways jOstling
rs at every turn, in all our lanes and
by-Ways. Scores of young immOrtals,
perishing fellOw-beings, upon whose
ears Chrisps Gospel never fell ; whose
erring, death-bOund feet have never
crossed a sanctuary threshold into
dark, rsyless homes 3 Bible never
came. See them all through the
week, in every town and village, |
hanging around dOggery or gambling |
hell doors their only business what |
Satan aways finds for willing hands |
to do their only language Ohscenity |
and profanity, See them on the holy |
Sabbath morning, dogging off to the |
woods or river, to desecrate the sacred |
hours of the one hallOwed day in |
seven by bunting, fishing, skating or
boating, or in bacchanslian revelry. /
Heathens, pagans, sitting in darkness
and the shadow of death. Keep some |
OF the missionaries at home.
But these hapless ones are not all |
our gropers in the gloom OF heathen-
ism, Go to almost any of our large 1
city churches, from New York to San |
Francisco, Enter the broad folding.
door. Have the dRndified usher, who /
judges you by the cost of your clothes,
show you to pew among modern |
Zion's elitest children. Notice the |
softly-tilJed light which fall On cos
tunes gorgeous eaOugh and vulgar
enough for fanGy-dress bali. See
the coquetting, the wanton tossing OF
brainless heads, the allurIng motions
Of jeweled fans, the whispering of in
delicate compliments and ill-natured
criticisms, the stocking of dyed and
scented mustaches, and the nibbling
or csneheads. Think you they are 1
there to- worship an infinitely pure
and holy Jehovah, meek and loWly
Savior Nay, verify; God is not In
all their thoughts. They are there be-
cause the opera-houses, theatres and
club-rOoms are closed because it is
fashionable, and an agreeable change
from the reyelrtes Snd designations of
other days. Humility-they are vain
only in MammOn. LOve-thsy care
only for themselves and their pleas
ures. Adoration-they bow only at
the shrine Of Injury and lust. They
are heathens. Keep some of our mis-
siOnaries at home.
See that blazing feminine oriRamme
of cOmminglea rainbows, ostrich
feathers and dromedariacal sinuosity.
Behold her kneeb bow her painted
face upon her ehameled hands turn
to the skies her stunning array off
false hair, and pretend to suppiicate
heaven to put a new heart in her
bosom. She is thinking only of her,
self and the display she Is making.
She would feel grossly insulted II you
should hint at the possibility of her
being miserable sinner" except in
the musical responses Of her gilt
clasped prayer-book. She IS 3 heath
en-, as benighted and hopeless as ever I
burnt incense to the devil on the
Gangesi shores. %, for a missionary
able to send one idea Of heaven, hell,
death, eternity and a Sa7ior's love /
through her pOnderous COTS and 4
braids of bought blonde hair and
Iabyrinthine tsDgles of botanic milli-
merry. .--- -...
And see, on every hand, the fashily
dressed and perfumed squirts and
snObs, brainless, heartless, sOulless,
fresh from the debsuehes of Saturday
night, here for no purpose but to ogle
the tiPe-YuFlsu through their rihhnn-