The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-12-02
A SERMON ON RAILROADS.

Pastor Scudder Addresses Engineers and
Eiremen Especially.
"Railroads and Their lessons" was the
novel theme of an interesting address by
Pastor Scudder at the Tabernacle last
evening. An audience that filed the edi-
fee were interested listeners and doubt
less thought as l did, at its conclusion,
that it was too brief. A number of rail
road engineers and firemen were present.
I'VE are all engineers and french"
began Mr.. Scudder. and in all our jour
negs it is frequently necessary to stop
and take in coal. We will stop now and
take in coal in the form of a collection"
During the collection the choir sang.
At Its conclusion the services proceeded.
"He rode upon q cherub and did fly;
aye, he flew like the wind" from Psalms
xviii, 10, was Mr.. Scndder's text.
II don't know how fast a cheruh can
fly" said Mr.. Scudder, 'ibut i do know
that one of Jul modern express trains can
fly faster than the wind. A locomotive
can travel a mile in forty-six seconds,
When the wind attains such a. velocity it
is termed a hurricane. Now a mother
calls her curly haired boy a cherub. A
lover calls his best girl a cherub. When
an engineer speaks of his giant horse 1t is
with tender emotions and words OF love.
II / were an engineers wife would be
jealous"
And Their Mr.. Scudder dwelt on mans
ingenuity and on the perfect mechanism,
rapid gait and ~hereulean strength OF
modern locomotives. "Whoeyer does a
giants work must eat a giants meal"
said Mr.. Seudder, Il then he told of he
vast quantities of coal and wood con-
sumed by one of those montrous ma
chimes, and gave a brief history OF the
railroads since their institution. tThey
cost nine thousand millions of dollars.
BY FASTING thesasdollars edge to edge
they would makea tWo-line track to the
moon and return, and leave many thou
sands of dollars with which to pay for a
journey over them.
"A well-knoWn poet, when railroads
were first introduced, said they were the
invention of the devil. A prominent Liv-
erpooI gentleman said, when Stephenson
first bfoaehed the subject of railroads to
an English Parliament, that If an engine
could be made to go faster than ten miles
! an hour he would eat a driving wheel for
breakfast. Every one was ~incFedulous OF
the success of such things, and the eX-
periments that followed simply as
founded the community. And these
things happened not centuries ago, but
while some in the audience tonight were
boys and girls.
Railroads are one of the principal civil
| izers of the world and can be regarded as
the handmade of Christianity. h
| Church should have the systematic or
ganization Of railroad companies. Some
churches lack adequate organization.
| Every man, woman and child should have
a specific work to do, and this more than
anything would insure perfect organize
ton. In this we would do well to imi-
tate railroad men,. Their life is a hazard
Gus one and they know not at what mo
ment they may be called to render
their account to God. l don't know
- =. L 49, fao1 aI44.< IL h.I+ II 1r,,Axr ID
be nervous when / thought that at any
bend in the road might leap into eter-
nifty"
In conclusion, Mr.. Scudder said:-"We
are all engineers and may draw multi
tudes to heaven, or we may lack wisdom
and fidelity and wreck our train"
After an invitation to the engineers to
come every Sunday evening and to make
the church their roundhouse, the services
concluded with q hymn.