The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1893-10-26

l. o,r,nfta and n ~ TYRE The next Sc
| nnIcber OF great capital is covered WIZ,
| rrcattered columns and deiaced sphlnXes anu
| H. lands of the desert, and it is Thebes. AS
~ roee on find the resting place Of MycenR,
ritv of which Homer sang, and Corinth,
Itch rejected Paul and depended upon her
| fortress Acrocornthus, which now hes dle-
| mantled on the hill, and I move on IN ms
| cemetery of cities, and [ find the tomos OF
sordis and Smyrna and Persepohs ana
sTen1nbis and Baalbek and Carthage. and
] bere are the cities OF the plain and Hercu.
| ioreurn and Stabia and Pompeii. Some OF
| tbern have mighty sarcophagus and Nero
| yIvnbie entablature, but they are dead ana
| buried never to rise. -.
! mt tbe cemetery of dead cities is not yet
| elIcd. and If the present cities of the world
! foroef God and with their indecencies shock
| he heavens let them know that the God who
| nm the a4eh of August, 70, dropped on city
| If italy a superincumbrance that stald there
| seventeen centuries is still alive ana mates
! sin now as much as lie dld then anu mas at
/ His command all the armament oil destruc-
ION With which He whelmed their injurious
- -~as only p few summers ago that Brook
49,, ord Now York felt an earthquake throp
| tbo+ sent the people affrlghted INTO inc
sfreets and that suggested that there are lo1ces
of nature now suppressed or helo III cnecA,
-.,fob easier than a child in nursery
'-,ole down a row of block houses could
-,ro7trata a city or engulf CONTINENT deeper
nan ponDeii was engulfed. Our hope Is IN
tbe mercy of the Lord continued 10 our
II annazes me that this city, which has the
nuietest Sabbaths on the continent and the
best order and the highest tone OF morals OF
any city that I know OF, is now having
brought into as near neighborhood as Coney
island carnivals of pugilism as debas1ng as
anv of the gladiatorial interests OF Pompei1.
What a precious crew that Coney Island Ath-
letic Club is. under whose auspices these
orgies are enacted What degradation 70
+he adjective "athletic," which ordinarily
suggests health and muscle developed for
useful purpose? Instead Of calling 1t an
aehletic club they might better style 1t 1.-The
Puffian Club For Smashing the Human
Visage."
Vile men are turning that Coney Island,
which is one of the finest watering places on
all the Atlantic coast. into place for the
ofYscouring of the earth to congregate, the
low horse Jockeys and gamblers, and the
nugiists and the pickpockets and the bloats
regurgitated from the depths of the worst
wards of these cities. They invite delegates
from universal loaferdom TO come to their
carnival of knuckles. But 90 not beleve
that the pugiism contracted for and adver-
tsed for next December will take place IN
our neighborhood.
Evil sometimes defeats itself by going one
s+ep too far. You may drive the hoop OF
barrel down so hard that it breaks. l Will
not believe that the international prize tght
will take place on Long Island or in the State
of View York until I see the rowdy rabble
rolling drunk off the cars at Flatbush avenue
and with faces banged and cut and bleeding
from the imbruting scene. Against this in
fraction of the laws of the State OF New YORK
lift solemn protest. Thecurse OF Almighty
God will rest upon any community tnat con
thirk it cannot be stopped, and that the con-
stabuary would be overborne? Then let
Governor Flower send down there regiment
of State militia, and they will clean out the
nuisance in one hour.
Warned by the doom of other cities that
have persisted for their ruffianism, or their
cruelty. or their idolatry, or their dlssolute-
ness, let all our American cities lead the right
way Our only dependence is on God and
Christran influences. Politics will do moth
ing but make things worse. Send'polit1cs to
mOral2e and save a city, and you send
smallpox to heal leprosy or Il carcass to re-
lieve the air of maodor For what politics
will do I refer you to the eight weeks OF
qualification enacted at Washington by our
American senate.
American politics will become a reforma-
tory power on the same day that pandemonl-
um becomes a church. But there are, am
glad to say. benign and salutary and gra-
cious influences organized in all our cities
which will vet take them for God and right
eousness. Let us ply the gospel machinery
to its utmost speed and power. CITY evan
gelization is the thought. Accustomed as
are religious pessimists TO dwell upon statlS-
tics of evil and dolorous facts, we want some
one with sanctiied heart and good digestion
to put in long line the statistics OF natures
transformed. and prohiSacies baked, ana
souls ransomed, and cities redeemed.
Give us pictures of churches, of schools,
of reformatory associations, of asylumS OF
mercy Break in upon the "Misereres" OF
complaint and dependency with lie
Deums" and "Jubilates of neral and re-
ligious victory" Show that the DAY IS CON-
ing when great tidal wave OF salvation will
roll over all our cities. Show now Pompeii
buried will become Pompeii resurrected.
Demonstrate the fact that there are millions
OF good men and women who Will give
themselves no rest day nor night until cities
that are now of the type OF the buried cities
OF Italy snail take type from the New
Jerusalem coming down from God out OF
heaven. 1 mai the advancing mor2l
make the same proclamation Uo-day that
Gideon made to the shivering towards OF his
army ''Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let
him return and depart early from Mount
Gilead." Close up the ranks. Lift the Cos
pel standard. Forward into this, Arranged
don that is now opening and lettthe word
run all along the line Brooklyn for God
All our cities for God America, for God
The world for God The most of us here
gathered, though born in the country, will
die in town.
Shall our last walk be through streets
where sobriety and good order dominate, or
grogshops stencil the air2 Shall our last
look be upon city halls where justice reigns,
or demagogues plot for'the stuffing OF ballot
boxes? Shall we sit for the last time in some
church where God is worshiped with the
contrite heart, or where\cold Journalism goes
through unmeaning genulexons? God save
the cities Righteousness is life iniquity is
death. Remember picturesque, terraced,
tnnnnlad scnlrfnred hoastful, God defYing