The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-09-18
''THE CITY STREETS"
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage, d. D.
He Gives His Impressions Of the Sights
Seen I'm the City sireets-scenes Of
Toll and strnggls-A Great Field
for Christian Charity and
the study of Mankind.

The subject Of Rev. DR. Talmage's recent
sermon at the Brooklyn Tabernacle was
The City Streets" and his text: Wisdom
crieth without; she uttereth hervoice in the
streetsn-Prov. /. 90 The preacher said:
We are 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 in
strUment responds musically TO the other, so
In the great cathedral Of nature day re-
spends to day, and nightto TO night, and flower
to flower, and star TO star, in the great har-
monies Of the universe. The springtime is
an evangelist in blossoms preaching of Gods
love; and the winter is 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 any thing
from the voices Of the noisy and dusty street
You 90 to your merchandise, and your me-
chanism, and 10 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
Npavements over which we passi 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 childhoodi
Aye, there are great harvests to be reaped;
and now l trust in the sickle because the
harvest is ripe. "Wisdom crieth out; she
uttere.h her voice in the Streets"
In the first place the street impresses me
with the fact that this life is scene Of toll
and struggle. By ten o'clock every day the
city is tarring with wheels and shufIling
with feet, and humming with voices, and
covered with the breath Of smokestacks, and
\ rush with traffickers. Once in a while
you find 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 errand which
must be executed at the first possible mo-
ment You are iostled by those who have
bargains to make and notes to sell. Up this
ladder with hod Of bricks, out OF this
bank with roll Of bills, on his dray with q
load Of goods, digging a cellar, or shingling
arOof, or shoeing horse. or building wall,
or mending watch, or binding book. In
dustry, with her thousand arms, and thou
sand eyes, and thousand feet goes on sing
ing her song Of work. work! work. while
the mills drum It, and the steam whistles
fife IL All this is not because men love 10
toll. Some one rem arked: every man is
as lazy as he can afford to be-" But IL Is
because necessity, with stern brow and
with uplfted whip, stands over them ready
whenever they relax their toll TO make their
shoulders sting with the lash. Can IL be
that, passing up and down these streets To
work and business, you do not learn anything
Of the worlds toll and anxiety, and strug.
giei o, 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 wretchedness,
what pallor, what disease, what agony,
what despairl Sometimes / have stopped
at the corner Of the street as the multitudes
went hither and yon, and Il has seemed 10
be a great pantomine, and as looked upon
II my heart broke. This great tide Of hu-
man life that goes down the street Is a
rapid, tossed and turned aside, and dashing
ahead and driven back-beautiful 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 tosses the tangled foam.
sprinkling the cracked cliffs with baptism
Of whirlwind and tempest is the best place
10 study God; but in therushing, swarming,
raving street IL the best place 10 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-
roavement-And as you 20 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 bereavements Of those whom you
pass, and present them In prayer before an
all sympathetic God. Then In the great
day Of eter nifty there will 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 thou
sand fingers pointing at you in Heaven,
saying: That Is the man, that Is the wo-
man, who helped me when I was hungry
and sick, and wandering, and lost, and
heart broken. That Is the man, that is tho
woman" and the blessing win come down
upon you as Christ shall say: 81 was
hungry and ye fed me, / was naked and ye
clothed me. was sick and In prison and
ye visited me; inasmuch as ye did IL to
these poor waits Of the street, ye did It 10
me"
Again, the street impresses me with the
fact that all classes and conditions OF 80
tat