The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-10-21
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
THE VICTORY" is THE FAMOUS
DIVlNE'S SUBJECT.

Hymn--The LegiOns Of Christ Will Can
ture Every Stronghold of sin-,rore
Churches and 1Iyriads of Worshipers.
BROOKLYN, Oct. 17.-The congrega-
( tlonai singing at the Tabernacle this morn
ing was led by Professor Browne, organist
and Professor Ali, cornet precentor Six
thousand voices joined in singing the opening
hymn, which begins:
The morning light is breaking,
The darkness disappears.
Vast numbers of people could not get inside
the building. The multitudes of such per-
sons on ordinary Sabbaths, morning and
night, are constantly increasing.
The Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage, D. D., took
for his subject "The Victory" and for his
text, Zechariah, viii, 5: "And the streets of
the city shall be full of boys and girls play
ing in the streets thereof" He said:
Glimpse of our cities redeemed. Now boys
and girls who play in the streets run such
risks that mulitudes of them end in ruin. But
in the time spoken of our cities will be so
moral that lads and lasSes shall be as safe in
the public thoroughfare as i'll the nursery.
For purpose of rousng the people to the
work to be done l have preached some SER
mons about the dark shadows of the city
Pulpit and printing press for the most part
in our day are busy in discussing the condi-
ton of the cities at this time; but would it
not be BEAUTIFULLY encouraging to all Chris
tian workers, and to all who are toiling to
make the world better, if we should this
morning. for a little while, look forward to
the time when our cities be revolutionized by
the gospel of the Son of God, and all the
darkness of sin and trouble and crime and
suffering shall be gone from the sky.
Every man has pride in the city of bis
nativity or residence, if it be a city distin-
guished for any dignity OF proves. Caesar
boosted of his native Rome, Virgil of Mantua,
Lycurgus of Sparta, Demosthenes of Athens,
Archimedes of Syracuse and Paul of Tarsus.
| should have suspicion of base heartedneSs in
a man who had no especial interest in the city
of his birth or residence-no eXhilaration at
the evidence of its prosperity, or its artistic
embellishments, or its scientific advance
ment.
Ihave noticed that man never likes city
where he has not behaved well! Swartout
did not like New York, nor did Parkman like
DOSUOll, anu pcOpl6 VIII hdNO ~ llCC llNC III
the prison van never like that city that fur
nishes the vehicle When l find Argos and
Rhodes and Smyrna trying to prove them
selves the birthplace of Homer, conclude
right away that Homer behaved well. He
liked them and they liked him. We must not
war on laudable city pride, or, with the idea
of building ourselves up, at any time try to
pull others down. Boston must continue to
point to its Faneuil hall and to its Common
and to its superior educational advantages.
, Philadelphia must continue to point to its In
dependence hall and its Mint and its Girard
college,
If | should find a man coming from any
city, having no pride in that city, that city
having been the place of his nativity, or now
! being the place of his residence, would feel
like asking him right away: "What mean
thing have you been doing there! What
outrageous thing have you been guilty of
that you do not like the places"
New York is goodly city. 1t is on both
sides the river, the East river only the main
artery of its great throbbing life. We or
our children will live to see two or three
bridges spanning that river, and more and
more, as the years go by, we will be one; SO
when say in my sermon New York, l mean
well on 2,OOO, 900 population, and everything
from Spuyten Duyvel creek to Gowanus
That which helps one city will help the
other: that which blasts one city will blast
the other. Sin is giant, and when it comes
to the Hudson or the East river it steps
across it as easily as you step across inquire
in carpet Gods angel of blessing has two
WINGS, and one wing hovers over that city
and the other wing hovers over this city.
In infancy our metropolis was put down
by the banks of the Hudson. 1t was as feeble
as Mo es in the ark of bullrushes by the
Nile. and, like Miriam, there our fathers
stood and watched it. The royal spirit OF
American commerce came down to battle.
She took it up in her arms and 1t waXed
strong, and foreign ships brought silver and
gold to its feet and it has stretched itself up
into a great metropolis, looking up to the
mountains and off upon the sea, the mlghtlest
energy in American civilization.
Every city is influenced by the character of
the men who founded it, Romulus impressed
his life upon Rome The pilgrim fathers will
never relax their grasp from New England.
William Penn left a legacy of fair dealing
and integrity to Philadelphia, and you can
now, any day, on the streets of that city, see
his customs, MS llldllneIS, ulo liiOieio hlo hoo'
his wife's bonnet and his meeting house. SO
! fine Hollanders, founding New York, left
their impression on all the following genera
lions.
What southern thoroughfare was ever sinit-
ten by pestilence, and our physicians did not
throw themselves on the sacrifice What
foreign nation was ever struck with famine,
and our ships did not put out laden with
breadstuffs What national struggle, and
our citizens did not pour their blood into the
trenches What street of Damascus, or Bey-
rout, or Madras has not resounded with the
stem of orr missionaries What gallery OF
art and our painters have not hung IN IL
their pictures What department OF science
or literature, and our scholars have not made
to it contributions
I need not talk to you of our public Schools
where the children of the cordwainer and the
mechanic and the glassblower sit side by slde
with the favored sons of milllonalres ana
merchant princes. Nor need | tell you OF the
asvluns for the insane on these Islands, where
those who cut themselves among the tomhS
come forth clothed in their right mind. Nor
need tell you of the asylums for the bllnd'
the deaf. and the dumb, and the orphans the
widows, the outcasts
thank God for the place OF our residence,
IL l, OF