The Penn's Grove record., 1893-04-14
REV. DR.. TALMAGR.
The Brooklyn Diyine's
Sunday Sermon.
SUI jec,: 'Tle Dark Side of City Life.

sunlight, the other of shadow: the one for
work, the other for rest: the one a typa Of
everything glad and beautiful. the other
used in all languages as a typo of sadness
and affection and sin. These two divisions
of time may ave nomenclature of human
invention. but the darkness held up its dusky
brow to the Lord, aud He baptiz ID it, the
dew dripping fro His fingers as He gave il
name, And the darkness He called night
My subject is midnight in town. The
thunder of the city has rolled out of the
air. Tn slightest SQUAD cut the night
with such distInctness as to attract your
attention. The tinkling of the bell of the
street car in the distance and the bayiug
of the dog. The stamp of a horse in the
next street. The slamming of a saloon
door. The h%iccoush of the drunkard. The
shrieks of the steam whistles five miles
away. o., how suggestive, my friends
midnight in town.
There are honest men passing up and down
the street. Here is a city missionary WAC
has been carrying a scuttle of coal to that
poor family in that dark place. Here is an
undertaken going up the steps of a building
from which there comes a bitter cry which
indicates that the destroying angel has smit-
ten the first born. Here is a minister of re-
ligion who has been giving the sacrament
to a dying Christian. Here is a physician
passing along in great haste, the messen-
ger a few steps ahead hurrying on to
the household. Nearly all tue lights
have gone out in the dwelling. That light
in the window is the light of the watcher,
for the medicines must lie administered, and
the fever must be watched. and the restless
tossing off of the coverlid must be resisted,
and the ice must be kept on the hot tenn
Piles, and the perpetual prayer must go Up
from hearts soon to be broken. Oh, the
midnight in. town. What a stupendous
tbought-a whole city at restl
Weary arm preparing for to-morrow's
toll. Hot brain being cooled off. Rigid
muscles relaxed. Excited nerves soothed.
The white hair OF the ocuogenarian in thin
drifts across the pillow, fresh fall OF flakes
on snow already fallen. Childhood with its
diinpled hands thrown out on the pillow, and
with every breath taking in a new store of
fun and trolic. Gods slunberless eve will
look. Let one great wave of refreshing
slumber roll over the heart of the great
town, submerging care and anxiety and
worrIment and pain.
Let the city sleep; but, my friends, be not
deceived. There will be 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 a drunk
ard lying on his own doorstep. Look about
you lest you feel the garroter's hug. Look
through the broken window pane and sec
"hhb OAu a SCt. " say. ANUJllnR.'
Then listen. What is it? God help usp'
No footllghts, but tragedy ghastlier and
mightier than Ristori or Edwin Booth ever
enacted. No light, no fire, no bread, no
hope. Shivering in the cold, they nave had
no foo | for "a hours. You say, why don't
they beg?' They do, but they get nothing
You say, ''Why don't they deliver them.
selves over TO the almshouseY' Alb, you
would not ask that il you ever heard the
hiftar nry of q M nr a child Ahon fnlA ba
must go TO the almshouse.
"Oh," you say, "they are the vicious poor,
and therefore they do not demand our sym
pathy." Are they viciousf So much more
need they your pity. The Christian poor,
God helps them. Through their night there
wrinkles the round, merry star of hope, and
through the broken window pane they see
the crystals of heaven, but the vicious poor,
they are more to he pitSe1. Their last light
helping them by saying they are so bad they
brought this trouble On themselves. l re-
ply, where | give 10 prayers for the inuo-
cent who are suffering | will give 20 prayers
for the guilty who are suffering.
The fisherman, when he sees a vessel DASH
ing into the breakers, comes out from his
hui and wraps the warmest flnneis around
those who are most chile and most bruised
and most battered in the wreck. And |
"uIh 1bu ~ hhcF NAAs 1%1 ''Nicuo PoP
nave had two shipwrec IS -shipwreck of the
boiy, shipwreck of the soul-shipwreck for
time, shipwreck for eternity. Pity, by all
means, the innocent who are suffering, but
pity more the guilty.
Pass ON through the alley. Open the door.
'tOb," you say, ut is lcckei." No, it is not
locked; it has never been locked. No burglar
would be tempted to go in there to steal
anything. The door is never locked. Only
a hrnkan chair gfanha AGAINST fha hnAr
Shove it back. Go in. Strike a match.
Now look. Beastiiness and rags. See those
glaring eyeballs. Be careful now what you
say. Do not utter any insult, do not inter
any suspicion, il you value your life.
What is that red mark OH the wallr 1t /.
the mark of a murderer's handl Look at
those two eyes rising up out of the darkness
and out from the straw in the corner COM
ing toward you, and as thev come near you
your light goes out. Strike another match.
All! this is a babe, not like the beautiful
children of your household, or the beautiful
children smiling around these affairs on bap-
tismai day. This little one never smiled; it
never will smile. A flower flung on an
awiully barren beach. o Heavenly Shep'
herd fold that little one in Thine arms
Wrap around you your shawl or coat
tighter, for the cod night wind sweep.
through.
Strike another match. Ahii is it possibl,
that that young woman's Scared and
bruised face was ever looked into by ma
terms tenderness? Utter no scorn. Utter
no harsh word. No ray of hope has dawned
OIL that brow for many a year No ray oil
hope ever will da wn on That brow. But the
light has gone out. Do not strike another
light. 1t would be mockery to kindle an
other light in such a place as that, Pass oui
and pass down the street. Our cities oI
Brooklyn and New YORK and all our great
cities are full of such homes, and the worst
time the midnight. Do you know it Is in
The midnight that criminals do their worst
work.
At half past 8 o'clock you will find then
in the drinking saloon, but toward ]:
o'c,o,k they go to their garrets, they gel
out their tools, then they start on the street.
Watching oil either side for the police, they
go to their work of darkness. THIS lisa bur,
glar. and the false key will seon touch the
store lock-. This is an incendiary, and be
fore morning there will be u light on the
sky and cry OF "Firel Fret" This is an as.
sass,n, and tomorrow morning there will be
a dead body in on OF the vacant lots. Dur
ing the daytime thess villains in our cite:
lounge about, some asleep II some awake,
but when the third watch of the night ar
rives, their eye keen, their brain cool, their
arm strong, their foot feet to fly or pursue,
they are ready.
Many of these poor creatures were brought
Ut in that way. They were born in a thieves
gaTret. Their childish toy was a burglar
dark lantern. The first thug they remem
her was their mother ~bandagiug the brow oil
their father, struck by the police club. They
began oy robuins boys pockets, and nov
they have co ne TO dig the underground pas
sage TO the cellar OF the bank and are pre-
pairing to blast the goli vault.
just so long as tpere are neglected chill
dren OF the street, just so long we will have
these desperadoes. Som one, wishing Il
MAKE a cool Christian point and to quota q
passage OF Scripture, expecting to get
Script lral passage in answer. said to one o
these poor lads, cast out and wretched
"W hen your father and mother forsak,
you, who then will take you uuY' and tn
ooy said, ''rne periice, the periice."-
In the Midnight gambling does its wors
work. What though the hours be sliPpin.
away and though the wife be waiting in th
cherries homer Stir no the fire. Bring o
more drinks. Put up more stakes. Ths
commercial house that only a little Will
Z put out a sign Of c~opartnershio wi
this season be wrecked on a gamblers table
There win be many a money till that wi
spring a leak. A Member of Congress
gambled with a Member-elect and wo
$3.50, 600. The old way OF getting a living l
50 slow. The old way OF getting a fortune
% stupid. Come, let US toss UP aud see VIII
ahall kAzA "A And 50 .ha work woaa or