Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-11-07
The Pulpit Scavengcr.

The Times is in receipt of many let
tiers touching Mr.. Talmages discours-
es on the neither side Of New York,
and, as might be expected, there is
considerable difference of opinion
among our volunteer correspondents
as to the split and tendency of the
Brooklyn preachers new departure.
Mr.. Talmage has some defenders and
very earnest ones, bat if these letters
are, as they are apt to be, an index to |
the drift of public sentiment, the YER
dict is against his remarkable meth |
DDS. The subject is one of supreme |
Importance and it is not surprising
that it commands attention. 1t UNI
derlies the whole fabric of society, is |
connected with the moral welfare of /
every cnmunitv, but more particular
ly of every large city, and comes home |
to every household with more or less |
force. Yet it is subject as old as |
the everlasting hills; problem which |
statesmen, philosophers and MOI alists
have grappled in every age of the |
worlds history. Councils and syn
DDS, men who make the laws and the |
men who construe and execute them,
have wrestled with it in vain. AS a |
rule, those who have been the least
fitted to deal with it have been the
most fertile in expedients for extirpat-
ing the social evil. Fools rush where
angels dare not tread. If Mr.. Tai.
mage has discovered and patented
the right way to deal with it he de-
serves the gratitude of mankind and
should take high rank among the
small band of reformers which the
nineteen centuries Of Christian era
have given US for leaders in warning
against the powers of darkness But
has he?
What is the Talmage method? The
enlightened Judgment of the world
has decreed that certain things that
belong to darkness should be kept in
darkness. Mr.. Talmage says in eff
feet that this is all wrong. Anticipa
ting the day of judgment he proposes
right now to bring all hidden things
to light. He would throw the calci-
nm glare of his eloquence into every
nook and corner Of the dens of prosti-
tuition; into every crevice of the sinks
of iniquity and invite men women and
children, many of whom never sus-
pected its existence or knew of it on
ly in a general way, to draw nigh and
be entertained by the spectacle OF
rottenness. His theory is that the
exposure will reform the wicked and
place the innocent on their guard.
But this is not the teaching of exper-
fence. Ostensibly acting upon that
theory large class ofpublishers have
flooded this country and others with
kind of literature unknown 10 other
days. 1t is the literature of vice and
crime. Upon this theory George w.
Matsell started the National Police
Gazette, the mother of an immense lit
ter Of such journals now to be found
at the stands of the newsdealers and
thrust into our faces by newsboys
when we travel. These have been de-
voted to the habits, haunts and deeds
of the criminal classes, in which may
be included the demimonde. They
have done in fine, through the press
what Mr.. Talmage proposes to do
through the pulpit. Has the result
teen to suppress vice and crime 10
any way. Far from it. They have
simply stimulated the appetite for po-
lice news and brothel gossip, and as
that appetite has been stimulated
crime has been increased. prostitution
has fourished and all forms have ia
ken new lease of life. Nor can it be
said that this is because the editorial
scavenger has made sayory stew of
his pickings, whereas the pulpit scav-
enger is serving them in all their filth
and responsiveness with view to ex-
cite disgust. The bloodier a murder
the better it is for his purpose Racy
bits of description with here and there
suggestion that more could be told,
and great names that might be men,
toned Gust as Mr.. Talmage talked
about list of names); these, with
marvels of horror that open the eyes
of wonder that make the heart sick
and the flesh crawl, are the sort of
things that find the readiest markets
whether the purveyor be journalist or
preacher.
No, neither the Matsell methad nor
the Talmage modification of it can be
the right way of dealing with the so,
cial evil. For the sake of all that is
pure in manhood and womanhood, and
that should be kept pure, let us have
some sanctuary into which the pesti-
ential breath of the bagnio will not
be waited, and where we may not be
reminded of this phase of human de
pravity. We may not go to a place
of amusement without being compell-
ed 10 witness a dramatic analysis of
adultery. On the street the painted
strumpet stares the virtuous woman
out of countenance. Reputable neigh
borhoods are compelled to put up
with the proximity of gilded haunts of
vice. The daily newspaper in giving
the news of the day cannot but touch
upon the forbidden theme. Wherever
we go, despite the laws, periodicals
are laid before us whose whole mis-
sion it is to ring the changes on the
same continued story. While Com.
stock devotes his life to keeping such
stuff away from the eyes of the young
and innocent, let not Talmage lure
them into the church and pour it in
to their ears when they have no pow
er to escape. Let the church remain
a place where the thoughts may not
be diverted into unwholesome chan
nels. 1t is easier to quicken the inn
agination than to stifle OF control it.
Let tho preacher strike sin wherever
he sees it, and whatever guise it may
assume but let him not gil his news