The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1889-11-29
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvUNE's SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject. ~rhe City Streets

TEXT "Wisdo1s erieth icitholtt; she ut
teTeth her voice in the streets. prov. l.. 20.
We are all ready to listen to the voices
Of nature-the voices Of the mountain, the
voices Of the sea, the voices of the storm, the
voices Of the star. As in some Of the
cathedrals in Europe there is an organ at
either end Of the building, and the one
instrument responds musically to the
other, so in the great cathedral Of nature
day responds to day, and night 10 night
and flower to flower, and star TO star,
in the great harmonies OF the universe
The spring time is an evangelist in
blossoms preaching of Gods love; and the
winter is a prophet-white bearded
denouncing woe against our sins We are
all ready to listen to the voices Of nature;
but how few Of Us learn anything from
the voices of the noisy and dusty street.
You go TO your merchandise, and your mech
anism, and to your work, and you come back
again-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 pass2 Are there no tufts of
truth growing up between these cobblestones,
beaten with the feet of toll, and pain, and
pleasure, the slow tread of old age, and the
quick step Of childhood Aye, there are great
harvests to be reaped; aud now trust in the
sickle because the harvest is ripe. Wisdom
crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the
Streets
In the first place the street impresses me
with the fact that this life is a scene of toll
and struggle. By 10 o'clock every day the
city is EARRING with wheels. and shufiing
with feet, and humming with voices, and
covered with the breath of smOkestacks, and
rush with trafIickers. Once in a while you
hnd a man going along with folded arms and
with leisurely step, as though he had moth
ing 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 errand
which must be executed at the first
possible moment. You are jostled by those
who have bargains to make and notes to sell.
Up this ladder with bod of bricks, out Of
this bank with a roll of bills, on this dray
with 4 load OF goods, digging a cellar, or
Singing roof, or shoeing horse, or
building wall, or mending a 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 il, and the steam
whistles fife it. All this is not because men
love toll. Some one remarked: Every man
Is as lazy as he can afford to be-
But it is because necessity, with stern
brow and with uplifted whip, stands over
NAAN--
make their shoulders 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 anything Of the worlds toll,
and anxiety, and struggle? OH how many
dropping hearts how many eyes on the
watch, how many miles Travelled, how many
burdens carried, how many losses suffered,
how many battles fought, how many vic
tories gained, how many defeats suffered,
how many exasperations endured
what losses what hunger, what
HretchednesS what pallor, what
disease what agony, what despair
Sometimes 1 have stopped at the corner of
the street as the multitude went hither and
yon, and it has seemed to be a great panto-
mime, and as I looked upon it my heart
broke This great tide of human life that
goes down the street is q rapid, tossed and
turned aside, and dashing ahead and driven
back-beautful IN its confusion and confused
in its beauty. In the carpeted 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 the cracked cliffs
with a baptism Of whirlwind and tempest is
the best place to study God; but in the rush
ing, swarming, raving street is the best place
20 study man. Going down 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
reavement-aud as you go through the streets,
and come back through the streets gather
up IN the arms of your prayer all the sorrow,
all the losses all the suffering. all the bereave-
ments Of those whom you pass and present
them in prayer before an all sympathetic
God. Then in the great day of eternity there
VIII be thousands Of persons with whom you
in this world never exchanged one word who
will rise up and call you blessed: and there
Will be thousand fingers pointed at you in
heaven, saying: THAT Is the man. that il
the woman, who helped me when l was hun
CRY and sick and wandering, and lost, and
heart broken. That is the man, that is the
woman and the blessing VIII come down
upon you as Christ shall say: y was hungry
and We fed Ne, was naked and We clothed
Ne, I was sick and in prison and ye visited
Me; inasmuch as We did TO these poor waits
of the streets, We did it to Ne"
Again, the street impresses me with the.
fact that all classes and conditions Of society
must commingle. We sometimes culture
wicked exclusiveness Intellect despies ig-
norance. Refinement will have nothing to
do with bOorishness Gloves hate the sun
burned hand, and the high forehead despises
t-e fiat head. and the trim hedgerow VIII
have nothing to do with the wild cOpsewOOd,
and Athens bates Nazareth. This ought not
TO be so. The astronomer must come dO=u
navigation. The surgeon must come aw~--
from his study Of the human organism and
set our broken bones The chemist must come
away from his laboratory, where he has been
analysis and synthesis, and help Us
to understand the nature Of the soils. 1 bless
God that all classes of people are compelled
to meet on the street. The glittering coach
wheel clashes against the scavengers cart.
Fine robes run against the peddlers
pack. Robust health meets wan sickness.
Honesty confronts fraud. Every class. of
people meets every other class. Independ-
ence and modesty, pride and humility, pur-
ity and beastliness, frankness and hypocrisy,
meeting on the same block, in the same street.
n the same city. OH that is what solomon
meant when he said: THE rich and the poor
meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them
lu.n like this democratic principle of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ which recognizes the
TACT that we stand before God on one and
the same platform. Do not take on any airs;
whatever position you have gained in So
,iety, you are nothing but man, born OF the
same parent, regenerated by the same Spirit,
;leansed by the same blood, to lie down in the
iame dust, to get up in the same resurrection.
It is high time that we all acknowledged not
Inly the FatherhoOd of God, but the brother
lood of man.
Again, the street impresses me with the
del iNaI II Il q very 0aTu tnlnB lOf q man 10 !
leep his heart right and to get to heaven. In !
mite temptations spring upon US from these
,laces of public cOncourse. Amid so much |
lfluence how much temptation to covetous-
less and to be Disconnected with our humble !
OF. Amid 50 many opportunities for over
eaching, what temptation to extortion 1
Amid so much display, what temptation TO |
-anity Amid so many saloons Of strong
rink, what allurement to dis /
ipation. In the maelstroms of the street.
low many make quick and eternal ship
wreck. If man-of-war comes back from n
'attle, and is lowed into the navy yard, we
% down to look at the splintered spars and
cunt the bullet holes, and look with patri-
tic admiration on the flag that fioated in
ictory from the masthead But that
ian is more Of a curiosity who has
one through thirty years of the sharp
hooung Of business life, and vet sails
n, victor over the temptations of the street.
lh! how many have gone down under
he pressure, leaving not so much as
he patch Of canvas to tell where they
erishe1. They never had any peace
heir dishonesties kept tolling in their
irs Ii | had an Ak, and could split open
he beams of that fine house, poltnps 1
'suld find in the very heart Of it a skeleton.
u his very best wine there is a smack of the
cor mans sweat. '0hi is it strange that
hen man has devouISd widows houses, he
J disturbed with indigestion? All the forces
nature are against him The floods are
eady to drown him, and the earthquake to