The Bossier banner., 1894-05-24
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Dangers That Beset the Footsteps
Of the "Stranger in Town"
How Sunday is Spent in the Great Me-
tropolis-A Man Can Not Afford to
Break the Sabbath-Effects
of Summing.

| trOpoIS-A Man Can Not AFFORD to
Break the Sabbath-Effects
| of Summing.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage delivered
the following sermon on the perils be-
setting the stranger in a great city to
a congregation that filed the Brook
! lyn tabernacle. 1t was based on the
text:
wa. q stranger and ye took me in.-Mat-
thew xAv. 35
1t is moral disaster that jocosity
has despoiled SO many passages of
Scripture, and my text is one that has
suffered from irreverent aud misap-
piled quotation. 1t shows great pow
| erty of wit and humor when people
take the sword of Divine truth for
game at fencing, or chip off from the
| Kohinoor diamond of inspiration
sparkle to decorate FOOLS cap. My
text is the salutation in the last judg
ment to be given to those who have
shown hospitality, and kindness, and
Christian helpfulness to strangers. BY
railroad and steamboat the population
of the earth are all the time in motion,
and from one years end to another, our
cities are crowded with visitors. Ev-
cry morn ing on the tracks of the Hud-
son River, the Pennsylvania, the
Erie, the Long Island railroads
there come passenger trains more than
can number, SO that all the depots
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
|
conscious that I stand in the presence
of many this moment desire mrre
especially to speak to them. May God
give me the right word and help me to
utter it in the right way.
The hotels of this country, for
beauty and elegance, are not surpassed
by the hotels in any other land; but
those that are most celebrated for
brilliancy of tapestry and mirror can
not give to the guest any costly apart
ment, unless he can afford parlor in
addition to his lodging. The stranger,
therefore, will generally find assigned
to him room without any pictures,
and perhaps any rocking chair! He
| will find q box of matches on a bureau
and an old newspaper left by the
previous occupant. and that will be
about all the ornamentation. At I
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, anC
then desperation will seize upor
him to get out. You hear the great
city laundering under your windows
and you say, Il must join that process
sion," and in ten minutes you have
joined it. Where are you going
oh" you say, II haven't made up my
mind yet" Better make up your minc
before you start Perhaps the very
way you go now you will always go
Twenty years ago there were TIVE
young men who came down the Asto
house steps and started out in +;
wrong direction, where they have beer
going ever since.
''Well, where are you going?" say
one man. 81 am going to the academy
to hear some music" Good. l woult
like to join you at the door. At the
tap of the orchestral baton all tn
gates of harmony and beauty will opel
before your soul. l congratulate you
Where are you going? "Well," yo1
say. 81 am going up to see some ad
yertised pictures Good. l shoul
like to go along with you and lool
over the same catalogue and stud
with you Kensett and Bierstadt an
Church and Moran. Nothing more ele
waiting than good pictures. Where ar
you going? WELL" you say, II am &C
ing up to the Young Mems Christia
| association rooms" Good, You will fin
there gymnastics to strengthen th
muscles and books to improve tn
mind and Christian influence to say
the soul. I wish every city in tn
United States had as fine palace Il
it's Young Mems Christian associatio
as New York has. Where are you gC
ing? ''Wen," you say, Il am going
take long walk up Broadway, and $
turn around into the Bowery. I al
going to study human life" Goo'
A walk through Broadway at eigf
o'clock at night is interesting, edl
eating. fascinating, appalling, e,
hiiarating to the last degree. Ste
in front of that theater, and ST
who goes in. Stop at that saloon an
see who come out. See the great tid
= of life surging backward and forwar
and beating against the marble of u
curbstone, and eddying down into tt