Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-05-26
Tabernacle Sermon.
'The Labor Question.

Tabernacle Sermon.
''The Labor Question"
BROOKLYN, N. Y, May 16.-Rev. T
Dewitt Talmage D. D., to-day began 6
series of Sabbath morning discourses, in the
Brooklyn Tabernacle, on the all-absorbinl
Labor Question" He discusses the fol
lowing subjects in the series: "The Battle
for Bread" "The Rights of Capital anc
Labor" "The Hardships of the Work
ing Classes" GLOW Employers and EN-
ployes Ought to Treat Each Other" and
''The Greatest Foe of Labor'-five in all
The opening hymn of the service this
morning begins
Arm of the Lord, awake awake!
Put on thy strength, the nations shake!
And let the world adoring see
Triumphs of mercy wrought by Thee.
After expounding appropriate passages
of Scripture DR.. Talmage gave out the text,
Genesis l., 2: "The earth was without form
and void; and darkness was upon the face
deep. And the Spirit of God moved upor
the face of the waters" DR.. Talmage
said
Out in space there hung great chunk
of rock and and mud and water and shell
Thousands of miles in diameter, more
thousands of miles in circumference. A
great mass of ugliness, confusion, anG
distortion, uselessness, ghastliness and
horror. 1t seemed like Q great commons or
which smashed-up worlds were dumped
1t was what poetry and prose, scientist and
Christian agree in calling Chaos. Out ot
that black, rough, shapless egg our beauti
full world was Matched. God stood over
that original anarchy of elements and said
'Atlantic Ocean, you go right away and lie
down there =! Pacific Ocean, you sleeI
there! Caucasian range of mountains, you
stand there Mount Washington, you be
sentinel there Mount Blanc, you put or
your coronet of crystal there !. Mississippi,
you march there and Missouri you marry it
there ~ And he gathered in His Almighty
hands the sand and mud and rock, and roll
ed and heaved and moulded and dented and
ed them in four places; and the one was
and another was Europe, and another Asia,
Africa, and another America-North and
South.
That original chaos was like the confu.
oAOA dhO dhdAOhy lhUo WAlCA GuO AuHldu
race ever and anon has tendency to
plunge. God has said: "Let there be light
of law, light of justice, light of peace
light of love p' 'sNo, no p' say anarchic
voices; 'let there be darkness, let there be
cut-throatery, let there be eternal imbro.
Clio, let there be chaos.''
Such social condition many are expect
ing because of the overshadowing contest
between Labor and Capital; there has not
been an intelligent man or woman during
the last two months who has not asked the
question: "Shall we have bloody revolu
tion in this country?" l have heard many
answer the question in the affirmative;
answer it in the negative.
There may be and there have been terrific
outbursts of popular frenzy, but there will
be no anarchy; for the Church of Christ,
the mightiest and grandest institution OF
the planet, shall, laying hold of the
strength of the eternal God, come out and,
putting one hand on the shoulder of Labor
and the other on the shoulder of Capital,
say: 81 come in the name of the God who
turned chaos into magnificent order to
settle this dispute by the principles of eter-
nal justice and kindness, and now COM
mand you take your hands Off each others
threats." The only impartial institution
on this subject is the Church, for it is made
up of both capitalists and laborers, and was
founded by Christ, who was carpenter,
and SO has right to speak for all laborers,
and who owns the earth and the solar
system and the universe, and so can speak
for the capitalists.
AS for myself, as an individual l have a
right to be heard My father was farm
er and my grandfather, and they had to
work for living; and every dollar I own
earned by the sweat of my own brow, and 1
owe no man anything, and if any obliga-
tion has escaped my memory, come and
present your bill when I descend from this
pulpit and l will pay you on the spot. l
am going to say all that think and feel
on this subject, and without any reserva-
ton, asking your prayers that l may be
divinely directed in this important series of
Sabbath morning discourses.
That Labor has grievances I will show
you plainly before I get through this
course of sermons. That Capital has had
outrages committed upon it will make
evident beyond dispute. But there are
right and wrong ways of attempting re-
formation.
When say there will be no return to So
cial chaos do not underrate the awful peril
Of these times. We must admit that the
tendency is toward revolution. Great
throngs gather at some points of disturb
ance in almost all our cities. Rail-trains
hurled over the rock. Workmen beaten to
death within sight of their wives and chill
dren. Factories assailed by mobs. The
faithful police of our cities exhausted by
vigilance night and day. In some cases the
military called out. The whole country
asking the question, s'What next ?" An
has with one hand taken hold
of this continent at the Pacific beach, and
with the other hand has taken hold of the
continent at the Atlantic beach, and shaken
it till every manufacturing, commercial,
agricultural, literary, and religious interest
has trembled. A part of Belgium one
great riot. Russia and Germany and
Austria keeping their workmen quiet only
by standing armies so vast that they are
eating out the life of those nations. The
only reason that Ireland is in peace is be-
cause she is hoping for home rule and the
triumph of Gladsteneism. The labor quar-
rel is hemisphere, aye, worldwide quar-
rel, and the whole tendency is toward
anarchy.
But one way in which we may avoid an
archy is by letting the people know what
anarchy is. We must have the wreck
pointed out in order to steer clear of it,
Anarchy is abolition Of right of property
1t makes your store and your house and
your money and your family mine, and
mine yours. 1t is wholesale robbery. 1t
is every mans hand against every other
man. 1t is arson and murder and rapine
and lust and death triumphant. 1t means
no law, no church, no defence, no rights, no
happiness, no God. 1t means hell let loose
on earth, and society combination Of
devils incarnate. 1t means determination
of everything good and the coronation Of
everything infamous. Do you want it p
Will you have it? Before you let it get 8
good foothold in America take a good look
at the dragon.-Look at Paris, where for a
few days it held sway-the cutters red will
blood and the walks down the street a
stepping between corpses; the Archbishop
shot as he tries to quell the mob, and every
man and woman armed with knife or pis
tol or bludegeon. Let this country take
one good, clear, scrutinising look at anarchy
before it is admitted, and it will never be
allowed to set up its reign in our borders.-
No; there is too much good sense dominate
in this country to permit anarchy. AL
good people will, together with the officers
e m