The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-02-25
THE TEN CITY PLAQUES.
Dr.. Talmage Begins . Series Of
Sermons on Municipal Curses.
The Plague Of Gambling and Its EVIL
Effects on All Glasses Of People
Eighty Millions OF Dollars
wsgered Every Day on
00 Schemes Of Chance.

OF sermons by DR.. Talmage on munich
pal curses, commenced last Sunday.
His text was taken from Exodus TX, 10,
n: ''Let my people 60 that they may
serve mo; for will at this time send
all my plaques" Following is the ser
mon: lr#
Last winter in the museum at Cairo,
Egypt, saw the mummy or embalmed
body Of Pharaoh, the oppressor of the
ancient Israelites. Visible are the very
teeth that he gnashed against the Is
raelitish brickmakers, the sockets Of the
merciless eyes with which he looked
upon the overburdened people OF God,
the hair that foated In the breeze off
the Red Sea, the very lips with which
ne commanded them TO make bricks
without straw. Thousands of years
after, when the wrappings Of the mummy
were unrolled, old Pharaoh lifted up his
arm as II In imploration, but his skinny
bones can not again clutch his shattered
scepter. II was TO compel that tyrant
70 let. the oppressed go free that the
memorable Ten Plaques were sent sail
ing the Nile; andwallsing amid the ruins
of Egyptian cities, saw no remains Of
those plaques that smote the water or
the air. None Of the frogs croaked in
the one, none OF the locusts sounded
their rattle In the other, and the cattle
bore no sign Of the murrain, and
through the starry nights lowering
about the pyramids no destroying angel
swept his wing. But there are ten
plaques still singing and befouling and
cursing our cities and like angels Of
wrath shifting not only the first born
but the last born.
Brooklyn, New York, and Jersey City,
though called three, are practically one
The bridge already fastening two Of
them together will be followed by
other bridges and by tunnels from both
New Jersey and Long Island shores;
until what Is true now, will, as the
years go by, become more emphatically
true. The average condition of public
morals In this cluster Of cities is as good
II not better than In any other part Of
the world. Pride Of city is natural TO
men, at all times, II they live or have
lived in metropolis noted for dignity
or prowess. Cesar boasted Of his native
Rome; Lycurgus of Sparta; Virgil Of
Andes; Demosthenes of Athens; Arch
imedes Of Syracuse; and Paul Of Tar
sus. should suspect a man Of base
heartedness who carried about with
him no feeling Of complacency in regard
TO the place Of his residence; who glo-
ried not In It's arts, or arms, or behavior;
who looked with no exultation upon It's
evidences Of prosperity, It's artistic en-
bellishmeuts, and it's scientific attain
ments
have noticed that men never like a
place where they have not behaved
well. Men who have free rides in prison
vans never like the city that furnishes
the vehicle. When I see In history Ar
COS, Rhodes, Smyrna, Chios, Colophon,
and several other cities claiming Homer,
conclude that Homer behaved we'll.
Let US not war against this pride Of
city, or expect TO build up ourselves by
pulling others down. Let Boston have
lis Commons, It's Faneuil Hall, and It's
magnificent scientific and educational
institutions. Let Philadelphia talk
about It's mint, and Independence Hall,
and Girard college, and its old families,
as virtuous as venerable. When find
man living in one Of those places, who
has nothing to say In favor of them, /
feel like asking. him: "What mean
thing did you do, that you do not like
your native cityp" New York is a
goodly city, and when say that, Imean
the region between Spuyten Duyvil
creek and Jamaica In one direction, and
Newark Flats in the other direction.
That which tends 10 elevate part ele-
Yates all That which blasts part
blasts all. Sin is giant; and he comes
10 the Hudson or Connecticut river,
and passes II as easily as we step across
figure In the carpet. The blessing OF
God Is an angel; and when II stretches
out It's two wings, one of them hoyers
over that and the other over this.
In infancy the great metropolis was
laid down by the banks Of the Hudson.
It's infancy was as feeble as that OF
Moses, sleeping In the bulrushes by the
Nile; and, like Miriam, there our fathers
stood and watched t. The royal spirit
ofAmerican commerce came down 10 the
water TO bathe; and there she found II.
She took II In her arms and the child
grew and waxed strong; and the ships
of foreign lands brought gold and spices
TO It's feet; and stretching itself up into
the proportions Of . metropolis, II has
looked up 10 the mountains, !, and of upon
the sea, the mightiest Of the energies OF
American civilization. The character
Of the founder Of city viii be seen for
many years In its inhabitants. Romu-
lus impressed his life upon Rome. The
Pilgrims relaxed not their hold upon
cities Of New England. William Penn
has left Philadelphia an inheritance OF
honesty and fair dealing; and on any
day In that city you may see in the
manners, customs and principles Of its
people, his tastes, his coat, his hat, his
wife's bonnet and his plain meeting
house. The Hollanders still WELD an
influence over New York.
Grand old New York; What Southern
thoroughfare was ever smitten by pesti-
lence, when our physicians did not
throw themselves upon the sacrifice?
What distant land has cried out In the
agony OF famine, and our ships have not
put out with breadstuffs2 What street
Of Damascus, or Beyrout, or Madras
that has not heard the step Of our mis-.
sionaries? What struggle for national
life, In which our citizens have not
poured their blood into the trenches?