The Penn's Grove record., 1889-09-28
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Brooklyn Divine's Sum
day Sermon.
subjeot--"Tne City Streets"

NaatL
Subiect--"Tne City Streets"
TEXT: "Wisdom crieth Uithott:: see us.
tereh her poice 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
responds musically to this
other, so in the great cathedral of nature
day responds to day, and night to 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 IL prophet-whito bearded-
d~enouncing woe against sins. We are
all ready to listen to the voices Of nature;
but how few of rs learn anything from
voices of the noisy n dusty street.
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 passf Are there no tufts Of
truth growing up between there cobblestones,
pleasure. the slow tread Of old age, and the
quick step Of childhood? Aye there are great
harvests to bereaped; and now ] trust in the
sickle because the harvest b ripe. "Wisdom
crieth without; she uttersth her voice in the
In the first place the street impresses me
with the fact that this life Is a scene of toll
city Is EARRING with wheels, and shutting
with feet, and humming with voices, and
covered with the breath Of mokestAcks, and
a rush with trafickers. Once in q while you
find a man going along with folded arms and
with l~eisurely step, as though he had moth
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 n notes to sell.
Up this ladder with a hod of bricks, out of
this bank with a roll of bills, on this dray
with q load of goods, digging . cellar, or
singing q roof, or shooting q horse, or
building a wall, or mending a watch, or
binding abook. Industry, with her thousand
arms, and thousand eyes. and thousand feet,
goes on singing her song Of work! work!
work. while the mills drum 1t, and the steam
whistles fife 1t. All this Is not because men
love toll. Some one remarked: Every man
is as lazy as he can afford to be.n
But it is because necessity, with stern
brow N with uplifted whip, stands over
them ready whenever they relax their toll to
make their shoulders sting with the lash.
Can it be that, passing up and down these
streets on your way to work M business,
you do not learn anything of the worlds toll
and anxiety, and ~struggies Oil nov 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,
hn1 u n~u- srxru av.l.rr-nd =
wretchedness, what paflor, what
disease, what agony, what despair!
Sometimes / have stopped at the corner Of
the street as the multitude went hither and
yon, and it has seemed to be q great panto-
mime, and as l looked upon It my heart
broke. This CREST tide Of human life that
yoes down the street is a rapid, tossed and
turned aside, and dashing ahead q 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 y never lifted, on the
s bsF ta 81 Sas f sss Sy spr MaGss i In e sas : i Cliffs
With a baptism Of whirlwind and tempest, is
the best place to study God; but in the rush
ing, swarming, raving street Is tbe best place
to study q Going down to your place of
business and coming home again, l charge
you look about-see thsss Gsnsi of poverty,
SUI
and cone back through tho stfegbs, gather
up in the Arms Of your prayer al tie sorrow,
all the Losses, all thesu3ain Al ths bereave-
ments of those whom you pass, and present
them in prayer before " 4lf .Eysnpathetic
God Thsnin t4e gFeat day Of etfrnity there
in this world never ~exchanged'on word who
will rise up and call you blessed; and there
will be . thousand fingers pointedat you in
heaven, saying: ''That is the man, that Is
the woman, who helped me when T was hun
CRY and sick, and wandering, and lost, and
heart broken: That is the man, that is the
woman" and the blessing win come down
you as Christ shall say: u was hungry
and We fed Me, l was naked and ye clothed
Me, l was sick and In prison and We visited
Me; inasmuch as We did to these Door waits
of the streets, ye did it to Ne"
Again, the street impresses me with the
fact that all classes and conditions Of society
must commingle. We sometimes culture c
wicked exelusfveness Intellect despies ig-
Refinement will nave nothing to
do with boorishness. Gloves hate the sum
burned hand, and the high forehead despises
the Cat head; and the trim hedgerow will
nothing to do with the wild copsewood,
and Athens hates Nazareth. This ought not
to be 60. The astronomer must come down
from his starry revelry n help US IN our
The surgeon must come away
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. / bless
God that all classes Of people are compelled
meet on the street.. Ihe glitter1ng coach
wheel clashes against the scavengsfs cart,
Fine robes run against ths peddler's
pack. Robust health meets wan sickness.
Honesty confronts fraud. Every class OF
people meets every other clAa. .Independ-
ence and modesty, pride and humility pur-
ity and beastliness, f~fankness and hypocrisy,
meeting on the same block, I'm the same street,
meant when he said: ssThe rich and the poor
meet together; the Lord Is the Maker Of them
all" like this democratic principle Of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ which recognises the
fact that we stand before God ON one and
the same platform. Do not take on any airs;
position you. have gained In so
ciety, You are nothing but . man, born Of the
parent, regenerated by the same Spirit,
by the same blood, to lie down IN the
dust, to get up in the same resurrectjpn.
1t is high time that we all acknowledged not
only h Fatherhood Of God, but the brother
Of man.
Again, the street impressss me with the
TACT that it Is a very hard thing for q man to
Keep his heart right and to get to heaven. In.
mite temptations spring upon us from these
places OF public ooncourse. Amid 50 much
sfffuence how much temptation to coyetous-
less and to be diScontented with our humble
ct. Amid so many opportunities for over
what temptation to extortion.
so much display. what temptation to
yanity. Amid 50 many saloons OF strong
rink, what allurement to dis
In the maelstroms Of the street,
iow many make quick and eternal ship
wreck. IFS man-of-war comes back from a
,attle, and Is lowed into the navy yard, we
20 down to look at the splintered q and
cunt the bults.: halss and look with. patri-
'tic admiration on the dag that foated in
from the masthead. But that
nan i more of a curiosity who has
zone through thirty years OF the sharp
hooting Of business life, and yet sails
m, victor over the temptations of the stree.
Oh! how many have gone down under
he pressure leaving not so much as
he patch Of canvas to tell where they
They never had any peace.
Their dishonesties kept telling in their
ars. II I had an AZ, and could split open
he beams of that fine house, perhaps 1
would tind IN the very heart Of it 4 skeleton.