Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-04-13
'rABERNACLB PULPIT,
STRANGERS IN TOWN" THE
SUBJECT OF SERMON.
II Was n Stranger and Ye Took ne In"
Matt XIV. 35-Dangers and Pitfalls
Which Besst the Christian on His Visit
to the MetropoIis-An Instructive Talk.

uO duOlthCc III LllC NOIlh COuld SuCh -
sermon as Rev. DIR. Talmage preached
to-day be so appropriate as in the
Brooklyn tabernacle, where It Is estl-
mated that 10000 strangers attend
every year 1t was sermon that had
for them a special interest The text
selected was Matthew XIV 35. 81 was
stranger and ye took me in"
1t is a moral disaster that jocosity
has despoiled so many passages Of
scripture, and my text is one that has
suffered from irreverent and misap-
piled quotation. 1t shows great
poverty of wit and humor when peo-
pie take the sword of divine truth for
game at fencing, or chip off from
the Kohinoor diamond of inspiration
a sparkle to decorate a FOOLS cap. My
text is the salutation in the last judg-
ment to be given to those who lave
shown hospitality, and kindness, and
Christian helpfulness to strangers
BY railroad and steamboat the popula-
tion of the earth are all the time in
another, our cities are crowded with
visitors. Every morning on the
tracks of the Hudson river, the Penn
sylvania, the Erie, the Long Island rail-
roads there come passenger trains more
than can number; so that all the de-
pots and the wharves are a-rumble and
a-clang with the coming in of great
immigration of strangers. Some of
them come for purposes of barter,
some for mechanism, some for artistic
qualification, some for sightseeing. A
great many of them go out on the
evening trains, and consequently the
city makes but little impression upon
them; but there are multitudes who,
in the hotels and boarding houses,
make temporary residence They tarry
here for three or four days, or as many
weeks They spend the days in the
stores and the evenings in sightseeing.
Their temporary stay will make or
break them, not only financially but
morally, for this world and the world
that is to come. Multitudes of them
come into our morning and evening
services. l am conscious that stand
in the presence of many this moment
/ desire more especially TO speak
to them. May God give me the
right word and help me to utter 1t in
the right way.
There have glided into this house
those unknown to others, whose his
tory, if told, would be more thrilling
than the deepest tragedy, more excit-
ing than PATHS song, more bright
than spring morning, more awful
than 4 wintry midnight If they could
stand up here and tell the story of
their escapes, and their temptations
and their bereavements, and their dis
asters, and their victories, and their
defeats, there would be in this house
such commingling of groans and ac-
carnations as would make the place
uncomfortable.
There is man, who, in infancy, lay
in a cradle satin-lined Out yonder is a
man who was picked up, founding,
on Boston Common. Here is man who
is coolly observing this religious SER
vice, expecting no advantage and
caring for no advantage for him
self; while yonder is a man who has
been for ten years in an awful confa-
grafton of evil habits, anl he is mere
cinder of destroyed nature, and he is
wondering if there shall be in this
service any escape or help for his inn
mortal soul Meeting you only once,
perhaps, face to face, / strike hands
with you in an earnest talk about
your present condition, and your
eternal well-being. St PauPs ship at
Melita went to pieces where two seas
meet; but we stand to-day at a point
where a thousand seas converge, and
eternity alone can tell the issue of the
hour
The hotels Of this country, for
beauty and elegance, are not sur
passed by the hotels in any other
land; but those that are most cele-
brated for brilliancy of tapestry and
mirror can not give to the guest any
costly apartment unless he can afford
parlor in addition to his lodging.
! The stranger, therefore, will generally
! find assigned TO him a room without
any pictures, and perhaps any rocking
chair! He will find box of matches
/
on a bureau, and an old newspaper
left by the previous occupant, and
that will be about all the ornamental
ton. At o'clock in the evening,
after having taken his repast, he will
look over his memorandum book OF
the days work; he will write letter
to his home, and then desperation
will seize upon him to get out You
hear the great city laundering under
your windows, and you say, II must
join that procession" and in ten min.
utes you have joined it. Where are
you going? "oh," you say, 81 haven't
made up my mind yet" Better make
up your mind before you start Per-
haps the very way you go now you
will always go. Twenty years ago
there were two young men who came
down the Astor house steps and started
out in wrong direction, where they
have been going ever since.
"Well, where are you go1ng?" says
one man. 81 am going TO the Academy
TO hear some music" Good. / would
like to join you at the door. At the
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