The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-01-30
TALMAGE.
MORAL CONDITION OF AMERICA,
Az Inferred From the Condition Of Its CItleS-The
Vices Of the Metropolis No Worse than Those
Of the Country, and It Will Not Do for the
PlOW 10 Call the Yard-Stlck Black
The Wonderful Human Panorama
Daily Spread Before the Eyes
Of the ObseTVant Man.

VI Nh0 VDOOANAhb maue
New York, Jan. 26-In the Brooklyn Taberna,
Gle to-day Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage delivered the
second Of his series Of sermons on the Moral Con-
ditlon Of America, Of which the following is a
verbatim report:
The ext-"Zacharish t. II: My cities through
prosperity shall yet be spread abroad"
The city is no worse than the country The Vi
ces of the metropolis are more evident than the
vices of the rural districts only because there are
more people to be bad If they choose to be- Mer
chants are quite as good as farmers. There is no
more cheating In town than out Of town, only
that the one is on q larger scale. The country
man some times pTevaricates about the age of his
horse and about the size of the bushel with which
he measures the grain and about the peaches at
the bottom of the basket being as good as those
on top and about the quarter Of beef as tender
when it is tough, to as bad an exentas the towns
man who misrepresents the value Of silks and
Calicoes and hardware; and as to villages, think
they are in some respects worse than cities, They
copy the vices of the city in their meanest shape;
and as TO gossip, its heaven is the country village
Everybody knows everybody's business better
than he knows it himself. The grocery store or
the blacksmith shop at night is the headquarters
ofmssculne title tattle, and there are at least
half a dozen women who have their sun-bonnets
hanging ready, SO that at any moment they hear
an item Of news deIogatory they can fly out and
Cackle 1t all over town. Let not the countryman
be too hard in his criticism Of the citizen, nor the
plow be too rough in Its attack on the yard.
stick.
Cain was the founder Of the first city, and l
suppose 1t took after him in morals 1t is a long
hafn attv Nbo oha pf
those who founded it. We're they criminal ex.
lies the filth and the prisons and the debauchery
are the shadows OF such founders. New York
will not for two or three hundred years escape
from the good influence Of Its founders The pi-
GUS settlers whose prayers went up from the very
streets where now banks discount, and brokers
shave and CompSl les declare dividends, and
smugglers swear Custom.house lies, and, above
the roar Of drays and the crack Of auCtioneer'
mallets is heard the ascription: 1--WE worship
thee; o, thou almighty dollar" The church that
once stood on Wall street still throws its blessings
over all the scene Of traffic and upon the ships
that fold their white wings in the harbor. Orig.
inally, men gathered in cities from necessity. 1t
was to escape the incendiarys torch or the assss.
SINS dagger. Only the very poor lived in the
country, those who had nothing that could be
place of business but since civilization and re.
ligion have made 1t SAFE for men to live almost
anywhere, men congregate In cities because of
the opportunity fol rapid gain. Cities are not
necessarily evils, as has some times been argued.
They have been the irth.place Of civilization
In them popular liberty has lifted up Its voice.
Witness Genoa, and Pisa, and Venice. After his
death, among the papers Of Alexander the Great
W.T. MI pnFn In Apia nd
some in Europe; and he proposed in putting Eu
rOpeans in the Asiatc cities and Asiatics in the
European cities, hoping that by this interchange
there might be good will between the continents
New York must cease caricaturing Philadelphia,
and Philadelphia cease picking at New York, and
there is room on this continent both for st. Louis
and Chicago. God ordains each city for its pecu.
liar mission. No one can do the work of the
other. Here is the highway Of our nations pros
perlty, up that highway walks q city Of broad
forehead and large brain, that is Boston, city Of
deliberate manner and orderly behavior that is
Philadelphia; city with pockets full OF change
that is New York; two cities, going with rush
that astounds the nation, they are Chicago and
st. Louis; while another city takes It's wife and
children along with 1t in the march, an6that is
Brooklyn; Cincinnati and Louisville and Pitts
burgh as we'll as the great Southern cities all car
rying their peculisrities Of wealth or fashion or
professional ability. No one Of them can be
spared. Hurt one, you hurt ALL The great fires
In Chicago and Boston were q terrible burn on all
the land. What damages Boston Commons dam
ages Washington Square. FairmoUnt Water
Works and Croten are brothers. Mount Auburn
and Greenwood weep with the same grief. The
state Of Benjamin franklin in New York greets
the bronze Of Edward Everett on Boston Com
mons, New York helps pay for the obsequies Of
plague-stricken New Orleans. 1 plead for the
higher brotherhood or BiSterhood Of cities. No
more absurd rivalry or pickering We can not
do without each other. Each is the complement
Of all the rest. The sooner we learn the lessou
the better for our American civilization and
Christianity. shall to-day show the points IN
which these cities agree; next Sabbath the points
In which they differ
In all these cities am impressed with the fact
that this life is scene Of toll and struggle. By
ten O'Clock every day the city is jarring with
wheels and shHhling with feet, and humming
with voices, and covered with the breath OF
moke-stacka. and q ruSh with trafickers Once
in q while you hnd man going along with fold
ed arms and with leisure step, &c though he had
nothing to do but for the most part, as you find
ness, therv is anxiety In their faces as though
they had some errand which must be executed at
the first possible moment. You are josGled by
those who have bargains to make and notes TO
sell. Up this ladder with q hod Of bricks, out of
this bank with a roll Of bills on this dray with
load goods, digging cellar or shingllag roof,
or shoeinR horse, or building a wall or mend
ing watch or binding book. Industry, with
her thousand arms, and thousand eyes, and
thousand feet, goes on singing her song Of work
work work while the mills drum It. and the
steam whistles fie It. ALI thig is not because men
love toll. Some one remarked: every man IA
~ lazy as he can afford to be-" But It is because
necessity, with stern brow and with uplifted
whip, stands over you, ready whenever you relax
your toll, to make your shoulders sting with the
lash. Can 1t be that passing up and down these
streets on your way to work and business that
you do not learn anything Of the worlds toll, and
anxiety and struggle Oil how many dropping
hearts, how many eyes on the Watca, how many
miles travelled, how many burdens carried how
many Losses suffered, how many battles fought,
how many victories gained how many defeats
suffered, how many exasperations endured-What
losses, what hunger, what Wreichednes, what
Valor, what disease, what agony, what despair
Sometimes have stopped at the corner Of the
street as the multitudeS went hither and yon, and
It has seemed to be great pantomime and as
looked upon 1t my heart broke. This great tide
ofhuman life that goes down the streetisa rapid
tossed and turned aside, and dashed ahead, and
driven back-beautiful in its confusion and con.
fused in Its beauty. In the cLrpeted asles Of the
forest, In the woods from which the eternal
shadow is never lifted, on the shore of the sea
whose iron coast tOsses the targed foam, sprlnk.
ling the cracked cliffs with a baptism of whirl
wind and tempest, is the best place to study God;
but In the rushing, swarmiDg raving street is the
pest place to study man Going down to your
place Of business and coming home again,
charge you look abOut-see these signs Of poverty,
Of wretohedness Of hunger, Of sin, Of bereave.
ment-and as you go through the streets, gather