Litchfield enquirer., 1878-11-07
DEWITT tTALMADGE ON VICE IN ''l''2's o.@ 'aa4 NEW YORK. K.,IId,,,.,a ..ar

DEWITT A MADGR ON VICE IN srsa fqsWl NEW YORK Ra!.a.IIo,,!, ,dr
 1t The BsookBa1Tabsfnaele was dthfohgsd'6 64
 Sunday Imaraipg by ssmaatitEAe ttat .has gathf
 cred to hear, ,Mr. Talnadge on the Might Side of City nfss;n Tie usual number of hymns ,aI
 and e5SAss dee1kie lllliisened athe services. an.fla sla .sl.:5s,sf Ii d tzm
 Mr. Talmadge took his text from Isaiah xxi.
 Policeman, what of the night? Police man, what of the night pa The original of the
 text, said he, may be translated either watch
 man or policeman l have chosen the latter
 word. The olden times cities were all thus guarded. King Solomon must have had a
 large posse of police to look after his royal
 grounds, for he had 12, 600 blooded horses in his
 stables and millions of dollars in his palace and
 600 wives, and though the palace was large no
 house was-ever large enough to hold two
 women married to the same man. (laughter)-
 much less could 600 keep the peace. Police
 men more than any other people understand the city Upon them are heavy burdensfor small
 pay. The moon locks down upon nine-teuths
 of the crime of eur great cities. What wonder,
 then, that a few weeks ago, in the interest of
 morality and religion, asked the question of
 the text, Policeman. what of the night p In
 addition to this powerful escort asked two eldeFsiof my church to accompany me, not be-
 cause they were any better than the other eld-
 CTS, but because they were more muscular. l was resolved in any case where anything more
 than spiritual defence was necessary to refer
 the whole matter to their hands. (haughter.9 l believe in muscular christianity. | Ideiwish could censecrate to the Lord 250 pounds of avoirdupios weight. Daughter But, bor- rowing the strength of ethers,;iI started out
 on my midnight exploration Ha l followed in the footsteps of Him who was derided by the
 hypocrites and sanhedrifns of the day, because He insisted in exploring the deepest moral
 slush Of His day, going down among demoniacs
 and paupers and adultresses. Some of you
 have been surprised that there was a great hue and cry ra1sed about these sermons. l was not
 surprised. In all our churches there are lepers
 who do not want their scabs touched, and who
 foresaw that would show up some of the
 wickedness and rottenness of what is called the
 upper classes. The devil howled because he
 knew l was going to hit him hard. Slaughter
 1 noticed in my explorations that these haunts
 of sin are chiefly supported by men of means,
 men who come down from the fashionable
 avenues of New York andc over from some of the finest mansions of Brooklyn, and by | prominent men from Boston and Philadelphia and Cincinnati and Chicago. I could call the
 names of prominent men in this cluster of three cities whc patronize these places of iniquity, and may call their names before get through this series of sermons, though the fabric of New York and Brooklyn society should tumble into
 wreck (Applause) You will find h these
 places stock brokers from Wall street, importers from Broadway, iron, leather, cotton and hard
 ware merchants, wholesale grocers and repre-
 sentativcs from all the commercial and
 wealthy classes. Talk about the heathen- | ism below Canal street. It is ot a | worse kind above it. I prefer that kind of
 heathensm which wallows in filth and disgusts I the beholder, rather than that which covers up it's putrefaction with camers hair shawl and point lace, and rides in turnouts worth $3, 900, 1 liveried driver ahead and rosetsed tiunkey
 behind. Oaughter.) We have been talking so
 much about the Gospel forthe masses, now let's
 talk little about the Gospel for the lepers of
 society, the millionaire sots, the portable laza-
 rettOs of upper tendon. It is the iniquity that
 comes down from the higher places of society | that supports the haunts of crime, and IS grad
 ually turning our cities into Sodom and Gonlor-
 rahs, waiting for the fire and birthstone tempest
 of the Lord God, who whelmed the cities of the | plain. We want about fifty men like Anthony 1 Colnstock, who walked into the Moloch temple,
 that brown-stone hellon earth, that place of the
 damned on Fifth avenue, and, in the name of 1 the eternal God, put an end to it, it's priestess
 retreating by suicide into the lost world, her
 bleeding carcass found Tn her own bath-tub.
 INdy Glc CtCI Lldl OOIi fdNC IuclCy Out ClLICo 1 Sin, gilded sin, comes down from these high
 places into the upper circles of iniquity, and
 then on, gradually down, until in three or five
 years it makes the whole pilgrimage, from the marble pillar on the brilliant avenue to the eel 1 lars of Water street. ''a'# s' -d
 1 But have something more amazing to tell 1 you. These places are supported chiefly by l heads of families, fathers and husbands, who,
 with the awful perjury of broken marriage
 vows, with niggardly stipend left at home for | the support of their families, have their thou
 sands for the diamonds, the wardrobe and the equipage of iniquity. In the name of l high heaven denounce this popular vice. i Let such men be hurled out of decent circles. If they will not reform, overheard
 with them. lift one-half the burden of mal-
 ediction from the unpitied head of the woman
 and hurl it on the blasted pate of offending man. (Applause.) Society needs a new di-
 vision of anathema. By what law of justice I does it's burning excoriation pursue offending
 woman down off the precipice oi destruction,
 while offending man-kld gloved--walks into | fine circles, and if he have money and means,
 advances into public recognition, while all the
 doors of high life open at the first rap of hls 1 gold headed cane. If you let one come back
 let both come back. If one must go down let
 both go down. (Applause.) My friends, there l has got to be reform i'll this matter or Amer-
 can society will go to pieces. Under the head of 'incompatibility of temper nine-tehths of
 the abominations go on. What did you get
 married for if your dispositions are incompati-
 ble? You say, II rushed into it without
 thought" Then you ought to be willing to
 suffer punishment for making fool of yonself
 You are responsible for at least half the incom-
 patibility. In 999 cases cut of. 1000 that is a
 phrase to cover up wickedness already enacted. l Heads of families support these iniquities. l | wish there might be police raid lasting a great while to gather from these places of sin | the prominent citizens and march them down 1 through the street, followed by about twenty 1 reporters Laughter ito take their names and put them in full capitals in the next days pa- l per, (Applause.) And would .iketo go along, too. Great laughter, In six months 1 there would be eighty per cent less of crime. It is not so much the young men and the boys 1 that need to be looked after. It is their fath-
 CTS and mothers. Iaughter.) Let heads of. 1 families cease to patronize places of iniquity andin short time they would crlinble into ruin. s
 But you meet me with the question, Why | do not the city authorities put an end to such 1 places ?" In regard to Brooklyn the work has already been done. Six years ago there were within few blocks of the City Hall thirty l eight gambling saloons, now all broken up. OuT 0llcldlS, ullgutltE tudu any SDIlUCt spF0S6-
 cuted their work until, within the city limits
 there is not gambling hell, policy shop or
 house of death. If areformer wants the com missioner to show him the haunts of iniquity | in Brooklyn there are none to show him.. If you know of any exception report 1t to me at
 the close of this service at the foot of this plat1 1 form, and l will warrant that within two hours the police will come down upon it like an AL pine avalanche. Gaughter.) But Brooklyn
 has large share of sin. Where do the people
 of Brooklyn go when they propose to commit
 abominations? To New York. Laughter } I was told that in New York there are some places almest entirely supported by men and
 women from Brooklyn. Why do not the au-
 thorities of New York extirpate such places want to say that the obstacles in that city
 are greater than; in any other from Portland to San Francisco. It is so vast; it is the land 1 ing place of European inn igr ation it's wealth 1 is mightier to establish ana defend places of
 iniquity and twice year, for the fall and
 spring trade, there are lncursions from all parts
 of the country. Yet there is an infinite fault and immensitv of blanie to be divided between