The Penn's Grove record., 1891-04-24
eET. DR.. lALNAGE'S SERMON.
Subject: "7he Plague Of Crime"

TEXT: "Au ths ,caters taat. mere in IN,
lrtref- ,oere turned to biood."-Exodus vii.
Among all the Egyptian plaques none coult
5ave been worss than this. The Nile is tn,
wealth OF Egypt. Its fish the food, its water,
The irrigation Of garden AMI fields. Its con
Idition decides the prosperity or the doom o.
the empire. What happens to the Nile hap
pens to all Egypt. And now in the text tina
great river is incarnadined. 1t is a red gast
ACROSS an empire. In poetic license we sDeal
of wars which turn the rivers into blood
But my text is not a poetic license. 1t was
fact, a great crimson, appalling condition
described. The Nile rolling deep of blood
Can you imagine a more awful plagues
The modern plague which nearest CORE
spends with that Is the plague of crime in
al y cities. 1t halts not for bloodshed;
1t shrinks from no arnage. 1t bruises and
cuts and strikes down and destroys. It re,
vels In the blood Of body and soul, this plagus
OF crime rampant for ages, and never holder
or more rampant than now.
The annual police reports Of these cities as
! examine them are to me more suggestive
than Dante's Inferno, and all Christian people
IS well as reformers need to awaken to a pres.
ent and tremendous duty. If you want this
Plague Of Crime" to stop there are several
kinds Of persons you need to consider. First,
the public criminals. You ought not to be
surprised hat these people make up a large
portion in many communities. The vast
majority Of the criminals who take ship from,
Europe come into our own port. In 1859, Of
the f~orty-nine thousand people who were iu-
carcerated in the prisons of the country
Ithirty-two thousand were Of foreign birth.
Many Of them were the very d~esperadoes Of
society, oozing into the slums Of our city,
waiting for an opportunity to riot and steal
and debaucb, joining the large gang Of
American thugs and cIt-throata
There are in this cluster of cities-New
York, Jersey City and Brooklyn-four
thousand people whose entire business in
life ID to commit suicide. That is as much
their business as Jurisprudence or medicine
or merchandise is yonr business To 1t they
bring al their energies Of body, mind and
soul, and they look upon the intervals which
they spend In prison as 30 much unfortunate
loss OF time, just as you look upon an attack
OF influenza and rheumatism which fastens
you In the house for a few days. 1t Is their
lifetime business to pick pockets and blow
up safes and shoplift and ply the panel game,
and they have as much pride Of skill in their
business as you have in yours When you up.
set the argument OF an opposing counsel, or
cure gunshot fracture which other sur
Eeons have given up, or foresee q turn In the
market as you buy goods just before they go
up twenty per cent. 1t u their business to
commit crime, and I do not suppose that
once In year the thought Of the immortality
| strikes them.
Added to these professional criminals,
American and foreign. there are a large
class OF men who are more or less industrious
In crime. In one year the police In this
cluster of cities arrested ten thousand people
/ for theft, and ten thousand for assault and
battery, and fifty thousand for i~ntoxication.
Drunkenness is responsible for much Of the
theft, since 1t confuses a mans ideas Of
property, and he gets his hands on things
that do not belong to him. Rum is responsi.
BILE for much of the assault and battery, in,
spring men to sudden bravery, which they
must demonstrate though 1t be on the face
Of the NEXT gentleman.
Ten million dollars worth Of property
stolen In this cluster Of cities in one year
You cannot Is good citizens be Independent
OF that facl 1t viii touch your pocket, since
] have to give you the fact that these three
cities pay about eight million dollars worth
Of taxesa year to arraign, try and support
the criminal population. You help to pay
thtaf that matches q spool of cotton up to
some man who swamps q bank. More than
that, it touches your heart In the moral de
preston OF the community. You might as
well think to stand In Q closely confined
room where there are fifty people and yet
not breathe the vitiated air, as to stand In
q community where there is such q great
- y aNplA AbhUA ooAi0
what being contaminated. What Is the fire
that burns your store down compared with
the confaeration which consumes your
moralsf What is the theft of the gold and
silver from your money safe compared with
the theft Of your children's virtuef
We are all ready to arraign criminals,
We shout at the top Of our voice. stop
thiefF' and when the police get on the track
We come out hatless aud In our slippers, and
assist in the arrest. We come around the
bawling rufian and hustle him Of to justice,
and when he gets in prison what do we do for
himf With great gusto we put ON the hand
snns and the hoPpies; but what preparation
cuns and the hopples come Off Society
seems to say to these criminals, william, &c
IN there and rot" when It ought tc say,
"You are an offender against the law, but
We mean to give you an opportunity to re
pent; we mean to help you. Here are Bibles
and tracts and Christian influences. Christ
died for you. Look n live"
Vest improvements nave been made by
introducing industries into the prison; but
We want something more than hammers
and shoe lasts to reclaim these people. Aye,
we want more than sermons on the Sabbath
day. Society must impress these men with
the fact tina Y does not enjoy their sui.
and elevate them. The majority of Grimm.
ais suppose that society has a grudge against
them, and they in turn HAYES grudge against
society.
They are harder In heart and more infuri.
ate when they come out Of jail than when
they went In. Many Of the people who &c
to prison go again and again and again.
Some years ago, Of fifteen hundred prisoners
who during the year had been in Sing Sing,
four hundred bad been there before. In q
HOUSE OF correction in the country, where
during Q certain reach of time there had
been five thousand people, more than three
had been there before, So. in one
case the prison, and in the other the house Of
correction, left them just as bad as they were
The secretary of one Of the benevolent
of New York says alad fifteen years
Of age had spent three years Of his life in
prison, he said to the lad. "What have
"Well," replied the lad, .the first time ]
brought up before the judge he said,
ought to b ashamed Of yourself And
then ! committed q crime again, and l was
brought up before the same judge, and he
said, You rascalr And after q while ]
committed come other crime, and 1 was !
brought before the same Judge and he said,
ought to be hanged" That wss ali
hey bad done for him in the way of reforma-
lion and salvation. .0h." you say, "thess
people are in~corrigible." l suppose there
ire hundreds OF persons this day lying In the
prison hunks who would leap up at the
Of reformation il society would !
'niy allow them a way into decency and
'espectabi.ity.
"Ob," YOU say, 81 have no patience with
hese rogu.s." l ask you in reply, how
much better would you have been under the I
anne circumstances suppose your mother
lad bssn a blasphemer and your father q {
OF and you mad started life with a body
tuffed with evil proclivities, and you had
pent much OF your time in q cellar amid
and cursing, and II at ten years
t age you had been compelled to go out and
teal, battered and banged at night if you
anne In without any spoils, and suppose
our early. manhood md womanhood had
cen covered with rags and filth and decent
had turned It's back upon you an
ut you to ecnsort with vagabonds and
'harf rats-how much better would you
ave been, l have no sympathy with that
~clenency which would let crime
On loose, or which would sit In the gallery
I 3 court room weeping because some hard
earted wretch Is brought to Justice; but l
0 say that the safety and life OF the cem-
unity demand more potential influences II
~lslf ~ n.shI{n offoodara L