Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-11-28
yos Sugeles gerald.
prsaohiug that Does Not ConvlnOs.
(rrom the virginia City Enterpsise.l

From the Virginia City Enterp-ise.l
Talmage, the sensational minis
ter. lately visited some dens In |
New York, that, from actual obser-
walton, he might understand the
business of such places, and, if pos.
sible, prescribe the remedy. In
recent Eastern paper We find an
extract from one of his sermons,
which reads as follows:
"N0 One-mark this-no one sys-
tematically reads the average nov-
olette Of the day and keeps either
integrity or virtue.
ssOh! this is q wide gate of hell.
Every panel Is made of bad book
or newspaper. Every JOINT is the
interioined type of a corrupt print
ing press. Every bolt or lock of
that gate is made out of an unclean
pictorial. In other words, there
are q million men and women in
the United States to-day reading
themselves into hell"
That reads very well, but that
kind Of preaching is not going to
redeem the world. While Mr..
Talmage was repeating the forego-
Ing, there was not a flash paper, of
the previous week, IN the Union
which did not have the gifted
preachers own picture, surrounded
by the pictures of O score of sirens,
all portrayed In the loveliest form
OF nastiness. And we presume
that q thousand young men, who
before had never visited brothel,
upon seeing that picture and
reading the accompanying
sketch, were tempted as new
er before to satisfy their curiosity,
even as the gifted minister did
The truth is, that at the bottom it
was nothing better than curiosity,
or silly desire to make a senscless
sensation, which led the foot
steps Of Rev. Talmage into the
dives. 1t was not at all necessary
for him to visit the haunts of un-
disguised sin to understand its ma
ture, and we fear his experiment
will be repeated by many who
would never have thought OF
It save for his example
Doubtless a corrupt press Is
doing much to deprave the Ameri'
V8u R0ORlCs DuU td0 ONil PuOiIOA'
tions will not be stopped by preach.
ing. II something can be done tC
make the condition of the poo
happier, and something to caus,
them to nurse higher hopes thar
they now possess, they will, OF thei
own accord, seek higher entertain
ment than can be found in trash
literature. But these changes can
not be brought about by preaching
alone. If the money which is pait
annually by the taxpayers of New
York City to convict and punisl
criminals, and to provide for pau
pers, could be used for ten years t
remove the INDECENT there to til,
West, and to establish for then
homes aud schools and wa,
through which they might earn al
honest livelihood, the result woult
be worth more than preaching
and there would not be half tn,
need for locks and bolts tina
there now is. And were tn
rich men of our cities t,
determine that q certain pc
cent. of their income should be an
nually set aside to be devoted t
the succor of the poor and the re
generation Of the wicked, they
would be all the more prospered il
their own affairs, aud the cal
for fash literature would grow les
and less, until, with the end OF suf
fering, the demand for such nefa
rious mental stimulapts woult
cease. 1t is idle for Mr.. Talmage {,
explain disease without doing
something to break up its earlies
eymDtOms.