Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-04-14
DARK SIDE OF LIFE.
DR. rALMAok PREAcAEs ON
THIS ABSORBING SUBJECT.
Some Sad Pictures From Lilo In
Great City-"And the Darkness He
Called Light"-A Lesson from Gene
sis.

one of sunlight, the other of shadow;
the one for work, the other for rest;
the one type of every thing glad and
beautiful, the other used in all Ian
guages as a type of sadness, and affiic-
ton, and sin. These two divisions
were made by the Lord himself.
Other divisions of time may have
nomenclature of human invention,
but the darkness held up its dusky
brow to the Lord and he baptised it,
the dew dripping from his fingers as
he gave it a name-"and the darkness
he called night" My subject is mid
night in town.
The thunder of the city has rolled out
of the air. The slightest sounds cut
the night with such distinctness as
TO attract your attention. The tink-
ling of the bell of the street car in the
distance, and the baying of the dog.
The stamp of horse in the next
street. The slamming of a saloon
door. The hiccough of the drunkard.
The shrieks of the steam whistle. five
miles away. OH how suggestive, my
friends; midnight in town.
There are honest men passing up
and down the street Here is a city
missionary who has been carrying a
scuttle of coal to that poor family in
hat dark place. Here is an under
talSer going up the steps of build
ing from which there comes a bitter
cry which indicates that the destroy
ng angel has smitten the trst-born.
ere is minister of religion who has
been giving the sacrament to dying
Christian. Here is physician passing
ilong in great haste, the messenger a
ew steps ahead hurrying on TO the
household. Nearly all the lights have
gone out in the dwellings. That light
n the window is the light of the
watcher, for the medicines must be
administered, and the fever must be
watched, and the restless tossing off of
the coverlid must be rt sisted, and the
| ice must be kept on the hot temples,
and the perpetual prayer must go up
from hearts soon TO be broken. Oh!
the midnight in town.! What stu
pendous thought whole city at
| reStl
Weary arm preparing for to-mor-
rows toll. Hot brain being cooled off.
Rigid muscles relaxed. Excited nerves
soothed. The white hair of the octo-
| genarian in thin drifts across the pill
low, fresh fall of flakes on snow al
ready fallen. Childhood with it's
dimpled hands thrown out on the pill
| low. and with every breath taking in a
new store of fun and frolic. Gods
| slumber ess eye will look. Let one
great wave of refreshing slumber roll
over the heart of the great town, sub
merging care. and anxiety, and worri-
ment, and pain.
Let the city sleep. But, my friends,
| ha IanaiyaH frbarn will he
thousands tonight who will not sleep
at all. Go up that dark alley, and be
cautious where you tread, lest you fall
over the PROSTATE form of drunkard
lying on his own doorstep. Look
about you, lest you feel the garroter's
hug. Look through the broken win
dow-pane, and see what you. can see.
You say, Nothing" Then listen.
What is it? God help usr' No foot
lights, but tragedy ghastlier and
mightier than Ristori or Edwin Booth
ever enacted. No light, no fire, nc
bread, no hope. Shivering in the cold,
they have had no food for twenty-fouI
hours You say, "Why don't they
beg?" They do, but they get nothing
You say, "Why don't they deliver
themselves over to the almshouse?'
All! you would not ask that if you ever
heard the bitter cry of man or q
child when told he must go to the
almshouse.
OH you say, "they are the viciou;
poor, and, therefore, they do not de
mand our sympathy" Are they
vicious? So mu;h more need they
your pity. The Christian poor, Goo
helps them. Through their night
there twinkles the round, merry stai
of hope, and through the broken win
dow pane they see the crystals o.
he aven: but the vicious poor, they are
more to be pitied. Their last light ha,
go ne out. You excuse yourself from
helping them by saying they are 81
bad, they brought this trouble on them
selves. l reply, where give ten pray
ers for the innocent who are suffering
/ will give twenty prayers for the
guilty who are suffering. The fisher
man, when he sees vessel dashinl
into the breakers, comes out from hi
hut and wraps the warmest flannel.
around those who are most chilled anC
most bruised and most battered in tn,
wreck; and l want you to know tina
the Sc vicious poor have had two ship
wrecks-shipwreck of the body, ship
wreck of the soul-shipwreck for time
shipwreck for eternity. Pity, by al
means, the innocent who are suffering
but pity more the guilty.
Pass on through the alley. Open tn,
door. oh" you say, cit is locked.
No, it is not locked; it has never beer
locked. No burglar would be tempted
to go in there to steal anything. The
door is never locked. Only broker
chair stands against the door. Shove
IL back. Go in. Strike match. Now
look. Beastliness and rags. See thost
, glaring eyeballs. BE careful now wha'
you say. Do not utter any insult, dC
not utter any suspicion, II you valu,
your life. What is that red mark OF
the wall? II is the mark of muir
derer's hand! Look at those two eve.
rising up out of the darkness and GU
from the straw in the corner, coming
toward you, and as they come neal
you your light goes cut. Strike anoth
er match. All! this is a babe, not like
the beautiful children of your house
hold, or the beautiful children smiling
around these affairs on baptismal day
This little one never smiled; it never
will smile. A flower flung on an aw.
fully barren beach. Obi Heavenly
Shepherd, fold that little one in thy
i