Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1891-02-28
PLAQUES j1ll5j OF THE CITIES.
AsLEs SERMON DELIVERED BY DR..
T. DE WITT IALMAGE.

Tho Full Tito of tie sorics. of Which
This Discourse Is O4e, Is Tho Ten
Plaques of the Thrco cI.ios," and Gam
blirg IsTouchcd on This Time.
tNRw York, Feb. ga decided SEN
salion was produced in this city and in
Brooklyn today by DR.. Talmage's an
nouncelnent of series of sermons
which he proposes to preach on 1.-The
Ten Plagncs of These Tlirc. Cities. !"
Iii this sermon. which is the first of the
serics.sh he paysllis attention totlic prev
alcnt> curse Of gambling. lie preached
it. sinIls;thc Academy of ilusic in Brook
iynsi the morning, and again this
evening nit The Christian Herald scrv:
Ices in.tlis city. His text was taken
from I:x IL, Is, "A: Let iny people go
tiiatt heyslnaY Seryo ;lne;; for 1 will at
this end. ~ llasgtiesss
winter, il tile iii nIn at lsairoi h
,Ksspt, / saw the mummy or einbalmcd
| body of Pharaoh, the oppressor of the
ancient lsraelites. Visible arc the very
teeth that lie CRASHED against the Is
,saelitish brick makers, the sockets OF
the mcrciless eyes with which he looked
upon the overburdencd people of God,
l;thc hair that iloatcd in the breeze off
the Red sea, tho very lips with which
he commanded them to make bricks
without straw. Thousands Of years
after, when the wrappings of the mum
smy were unrollcd. old Pharaoh lifted
Ijup his arm as if in ilnplorat:on. but his
Skinny bones cannot as:lin clutch his
1sahattcred sccptor. 1t was to compel
ithat tyrant to let the oppressed go free
iithat the memorable ten plaques were
l.sent.
L. Sailing the Milo and walking amid
1.-the ruins Of Egyptian cities, | saw no
lsrenains of those plaques that slnote
ltthe water or the air. None of the
Efro;?s croallcd in the one, mono of the
tlocusts sounded tlsoir rattle in tho other,
lland the cattls bore no sign OF the
Imurrain. and through the starry rights
ihovering through the pyramids no de-
i.stroying angel swept his wing, but there
are ten plaques still singing and befoul-
| ing and cursing our cities, and like
|angcls OF wrath shifting not only the
first born but the last born.
BROOKLYN, New York and Jersey
City, though called three, arc practi-
cally one The bridge already fasten-
Ling two of them together will be fol-
lowed by other bridges and b. tunnels
from both New Jersey and Long Island
shores, until what is truo now will, as
tho years go by, become moro EN-
phatically true. The average, condi-
ton of public morals in this cluster OF
cities is as good, if not better, than in
I:any other part of tho world.
Pride of city is natural to men in all
Etilnes if thoy live or have lived in a
metropolis noted for dignity or Prov
ess: Cesar boastcd of his native Rome,
II'zE;ycurgus- OF Sparta, Virgil of Andes,
Demosthenes of Athens, Archlinedes of
Syracuse, and Paul of Tarsus. should
suspect man of base heartedncss who
carried about with him no feeling of
cornplaccncy in regard to the place of
his residence, who gloried not in its |
arts or arms or behavior, who looked
with no exultation upon its evidences
of prosperity, it's artistic cmbcllish-
ments and it's scientific attachments.
THE PRIDE OF CITY.
Ihave noticed that men never like
place where they have not behaved
well. Men who have free rides in pris-
on vans never like tho city that fur
nishes the vehicle. When sec in his |
tory Argos, 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, not expect.to
build up ourselves by pulling Others
down. Let Boston havo its Commons,
its Faneuil hall and its magnificent
scientific and educational institutions. |
Let Philadelphia talk about its mint
and Independence hall and Girard col |
lege and its old families, rs virtuous as
venerable.
When / find man living in one of
those places who has nothing to say in
favor of them, i feel like asking him,
'eWhat mean thing did you do that
you do not lf,Sc your native citya" New
York is a goodly city, and, when I say
that, l mean tho region between Spuy-
ten Duyvil creek and Jamaica in one
direction and Newark flats in the |
other direction. That which tends to
elevate q part clcvates all. That which |
blasts part blasts oil Sin is q giant,
and he comes to the Hudson or Con-
necticut river. and passes it, as easily
as we step across figure in the carpet.
The blessing of God is en- angel, and
when it stretches out its two wings one
of them bowers over that and the other
over this.
In infancy tho great metropolis was
laid down by the banks of the Hudson.
Its infancy was as feeble as that of |!
Moses sleeping in the bulrushcs by the
Nile, and, like Miriam, there our fathers
stood and watched 1t. The royal spirit
of American commerce came down to
the water to battle, and there she
found it. She took it in her arms and
the child grew and waxed strong, and
the ships Of foreign lands brought gold
and spices to its feet, and stretching it.
sclf up into the proportions of a me
trpofis it has looked up to the mount
aims ms! off upon the seattle might
est of the energies of American civiliza-
ton
The character of the founder of n