The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-09-21
STREET LESSONS.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Discourses On
an Every Day Topic.
What Can BE Learned From Our Great
business Thoroughfares-AIl Equal
in the Street.-The World of
the Future.

u Street-Ehe WORTH Oh
the Future.
In a recent sermon at BROOKLYN DR..
Talmage took for his subject: THE City
Streets" His text was: ''Wisdom crieth
without; she uttereth her voice in the
streets" Proverbs /. 30. He said:
Wea are all ready TO listen to the voices of
nature-the voices of the mountains, the
voices of the sea, the voices of the storm,
the voices of The star. As in SOM of the
cathedrals in Europe there is an organ at
either end of the building. and the one
instrument responds unsteady to the
other, so in the great cathedral of nature
DAY responds to dav, and night to night
and flower to fl lower, and star to star, In
the great harmonies of the universe. The
springtime is an evangelist in blossoms
preaching of Gods love; and the winter
10 o pr~ophet-white bearded-denouncing
woe against our sins. We are all ready to
listen to the voices OF natures; but how
few of us learn any thing from the voices
Of the noisy and dusty street. You go to
your merchandise, your mechanism. and
to your work, and you come back aguin-
and often with an indifferent heart you
pass through the streets.
Are there no things for us to learn from
these pavements over which we pass?
Are there no TUFTS of truth growing up
betwoen these cobhlestones, beaten with
the feet of toll, and pain. and pleasure.
and the slow tread of old age. and the
quick step Of childhoodP Aye, there are
great harvests to be reaped; and now I
thrust In the sickle because the harvest Is
ripe. "Wisdom crieth without; she utter
eth her voice in the streets"
In the first place the street impresses
me with the fact thai this life is a scene
OF toll and struggle. BY ten o'clock every
day the city Is j%arriDg with wheels, and
shutting with feet and humming with
voices, and covered with the breath of
smokestacks and srush with trafickers.
Once In awhile you find a man going along
with folded arms and with leisurely step,
as though he had nothing to do;
but for the most part, as you find
men going down these streets, on the
way to business, there is anxiety in their
faces, as though they had some erraud
which must be executed at the first posi-
BILE moment. You are jostled by those
who have bargains to make and notes to
sell. Up this ladder with a hod of bricks,
out of this bank with a roll Of bills, on this
dray with a load of goods, digging a cell
lar, or shingling a roof, or shoeing a horse,
or building a wall. or mending a watch, or
binding a book. Industry, with her thou
sand arms. and thousand eyes, and thou
n feet, goes on singing her song of
work! work! work. while the mills drum
IT. and the steam whistles fife 1t, All this
fs not because men love toll. Some one
remarked: EVERY man is as lazy as he
can afford to be-" But it Is because neces-
city, with stern brow and with uplifted
whip, stands over them ready whenever
they relax their toll to make their shoul-
ders sting with the lash. Can 1t be that,
passing up and down these streets on
your way to work and business, you do
not learn any thing of the worlds toll,
and anxiety, ana struggle?
%, how many dropping hoarts, how
many eyes on The watch. 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 exas-
perations endured-what losses, what
hunger. what wretchedness. what pallor,
what disease, what agony, what despair.
Sometimes 1 have stopped at the corner
of the street as the multitude went hiiher
and yon. it has seemed to be a great pam
tomime. and as / looked upon it my heart
DTOkS. 1Ulb RTedb blu6 VI uumdH llIo LHuL
goes down the street i, a rapid, tossed
and turned aside, and dashing ahead and
driven back-beautiful In its confusion
and confused in its beauty. In the car
peted aisles of the forest, in the woods
from which the eternal shadow is never
lifted, on the shore of the sea over
whose iron coast losses the tangled
foam, sprinklIng he cracked cliffs
with a baptism OF whirlwind and
tempest is the best place to study
God; but in the rushing, swarming, raw
ing street is the best place to study man.
Going Town to your place of business and
coming home again, l charge you look
about-see these signs of poverty, OF
wretchedness, Of hunger, of sin, of be
reayement-and as you go through the
streets and come bach through the streets,
gather up in the arms of your prayer all
the sorrow, all the losses. all the suffer
ing, all the bereavements of those whom
you pass, and present them In prayer be-
fore an all sympathetic God. Then In the
great day of eternity there will be thou
sands OF persons with whom you in this
world never exchanged one word who
will raise up and call you blessed; and
there will be a thousand fingers pointed
at you In Heaven, saying: THAT is the
man, that is the woman, who helped me
when ] vas hungry, and sick, and wan
dering. and lost. and heart-broken. Thai
IN the man, that is the woman" and the
blessing will come down upon you as
Christ shall say: : I was hungry and ye
fed me, l was naked and ye clothed me.
was sick and In prison and we visited me
inasmuch as ye did it to these poor waif,
of the streets, ye did It to me-"
A~afn the atraafi rnnraaaao NJ 18th a.,
fact that all classes and conditions OF so.
cIety must commingIe. We sometimes
culture a wicked exc~lusiveness. I~ntellec
despises ignorance. Refinement will av,
nothing to do with boorishness Glove,
hate the sunburned hand, and the higl
forehead despises the fat head; and tn
trim hedgerow will ave nothing to d,
with the wild copsewood. and Athen
hates Nazareth. This ought not to be 50
The astronomer must come down from hi
starry revelry and help us in our naviga
tion. The surgeon must come away from
his study Of the human organism and Sc
our broken bones. The chemist must com
away from his laboratory, where he ba
been studying analysis and synthesis, an
help us to understand tho nature Of tn
soil. l bless God that all classes of PEG
pie are compelled to meet on the street
The glittering coach wheel clashes agains
the s~cavenger's cart. Fine robes rul
againot the peddler's pack. Every elias
OF people meets every other class. indie
p~endence and modesty, pride and humili
ty, purity and beastliness, frankness an
hypocrisy. meeting on the same block, !
the same street, In the same city. OF tina
f. what Solomon meant whe
he said: 1.-THE rich and tn
poor meet together; the Lord is the Make
Of them ALL" like this democratic prir
ciple Of the gospel Of Jesus Christ whic
recognizes tho flct that we stand befoI
God on one and the same platform. ID
not take on any airs; whatever po'ltio
you have gained In society, you are hotu
ing but a man, born of the same paren
~regenerated by the same Spirit. cleanse
by the same blood, to lie down in III
same dust, 10 get up in the same resurre'
tion. 1t Is high time that we all ncknow
edged not only the fatherhood Of God, bi
the brotherhood of man.
Again. the street impresses me with u
fact that it Is a very hard thing Tor a ma
TO keep his heart right and to get
eaven Infinite temptations spring up'
us from these places of public concours
Amid SO much afluence o much tempt
ton to covet BUSINESS, and TO be DISCO
tented with our humble lot. Amid
many opportunities for overTeachln
what temptation to vanity. Amid so ma
saloons of strong drink, what allureme
to dissipation. In the mneIstroms OF I
street, how many make quick aud etern
shipwreck. II a man OF war comes ba
from o battle, and Is lowed into the ma
yard, we go down to look at the splinter
spars and count the bullet holes, and 10
with patriotic admiration on the flag tn