The Penn's Grove record., 1894-01-12
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Thc Bread Question"

TEXT: "le hare he poor al,oays ,oits
you. "--Matthew XVI, II.
Who said that? The Christ who never
owned anything during His earthly stay. His
cradle aud His grave were borrowed. Every
fig Ha ale was from some one else's tree.
Every drop of water He drank was from
tax, which was very small. only BIZ cents,
He had to perform a miracle and make a
fish pay 1t. All the heights and depths n
lengths and breadths of poverty Christtmeas-
ured in His earthly experience. aud when
He comes TO speak of destitution He always
then is as true now-''Ye have the poor al
ways with you"
For 6000 years the bread question ahas been
the active and absorbing question. Witness
the people crowding up to Joseph's store
house in Egypt. Witness the famine in Sa-
maria and Jerusalem Witness the 1000 hun-
cry people for whom Christ multiplied the
loaves. Witness the uncounted millions OF
people now living, who, l believe. have
never yet had one full meal of healthfnl and
nutritious food in all their lives. Think Of
the 1854 great famines in England. Think of
the 25, 900, 600 people under the hoof OF
hunger year before last in Russia. The fall
ure of the Nile TO overflow for seven years
in tho eleventh century left those regions
AAtpO L III 1ot lh 1t
Plague OF rats in Madras Presidency. Plague
of mice in Essex. Plague of locusts In China.
Plague OF grasshoppers in America. Deyas-
tation wrought by drought, by deluge, by
frost, by war, by hurricane, by earthquake,
by comets dying too near the earth by change
in the management of National finances,
by baleful causes innumerable. l pro-
coed to give you three or four reasons why
my text is markedly and graphically true in
this year 1894.
The first reason VIC nave always the poor
with us is because OF the perpetual overhaul
ing OF the tariff question, or, as 1 shall call
it. the tariflc controversy. There is a need
for such q word, and so I al the RESPONSE
bility OF manufacturing 1t. There are millions
Of people who are expecting that the present
Congress Of the United States will do some
thing one way or the other to end this dis
cussion, but it will never end. When
L WIS five years of age, I remem-
Der hearing my father and his neigh
bors in vehement discussion OF this very
question. 1t was high tariff or low tariff or
no tariff at all. When your great-grandchiid
dies at ninety years of age, it will probably
be from o~ver-exertion in discussing the
tariff. On the day the world Is destroyed,
there will be three men standing on the post
Office steps-one a high tariff man,
another a low tariff man, and the other a
free trade man-each one red in the face
ilOlh tAlitot 20 4 III thhS 6uO-
ject. Other questions may get quieted, the
Mormon question. the silver question, the
pension question, the civil Service question.
All questions of annexation may come to
peaceful settlement by the annexation of ISL
lpds two weeks voyage away and the heat
of their volcanoes conveyed through pipes
under the sea made useful in warming our
continent, or annexation of the moon, de-
throning the queen of night, who is said to
be dissolute, and bringing the lunar popula-
tons under the influence Of our free institu-
tons yea, all other questions, National and
International, may be settled, but this traffic
question mover. 1t will not only never be
settled, but it can never be moderately quiet
for more than three years at a time, each
party getting into power taking one Of the
6pur years to fix it up, n then the next
purity will fix it down, Our finances cannot
get we'll because or too many doctors. 1t is
with sick Nations as with sick individuals.
Here.is a man terribly disordered as to his
body. A doctor is called in, and he admin
listers a febrifuge, a spoonful every hour.
But recovery is. postponed, n the anxious
friends call in another doctor, and he says
''What this patient needs is blood letting
| now roll up your sleeve !" and the Inn set
flashes. But still recovery is postponed, and
a homeopathic doctor is called in, and he
administers some small pellets and says
A the patient wants Is rest"
hcCpNtIy III pOSlBOICis II lhlulJ say
that such small pellets cannot amount to
much anyhow, and an allopathic doctor Is
called in. and he says. ''What this patient
wants Is calomel and jalap." Recovery still
postponed, a ~hydropathic doctor is called in,
and he says: "What this patient wants is
hot and cold baths, and he must have them
right away. Turn on the faucet and get
ready for the shower baths Recovery is
still postponed, an electric doctor is called
in, ami ne brings all the schools to bsar
upon the poor sufferer, and the patient, after
a brave struggle for life, expires What
killed hiuf2 Toe man doctors. n that
is what is killing our National finances My
| personal friends; Cleveland and Harrison
| and Carlisle and Mckinley and sherman, as
| talented and lovely and splendid men as
| walk the earth. all good doctors, but their
| treatment OF our languishing finances is 81
| different that neither treatment has full op-
| portunity, and under the constant changes il
4 Is simply wonderful that the Nation still
| lives. The tariff question will never be set
1 tied because of the fact--which l have never
| heard any one recognize, but nevertheless
| the fact--that high tariff is best for some
! people and free trade is best for others. This
/ t~arific controversy keeps business struck
4 through with uncertainty, and that uncer.
1 tatnty results in poverty and wretchedness
form vast multitude ofpeople. 1.-THE eternal
l Cab on this question could have been fash
L lOnHu INC lUdNtS Vi bEtdu, tittp WDuiu nOl
I be a hungry man or woman or child on al
| the planet. To the end of time, the words
| Of tie text will be kept true by the tariffit
controversy-''Ye havethe poor always with
you"
Another cause OF perpetual poverty is the
cause alcoholic. The victim does not last
long. He soon crouches into the drunkari'H
grave. But what about his wife and chi
/ dren? She takes In washing, when she car
| get t., or goes out working on small wages,
| becaus, sorrow and privation have left heI
l incapa sitatad to do a strong woman'S work.
l The children are thin blooded and Gauni
and pale and weak, standing around in colo
| rooms, or pitching pennies on the street cor
ner. and munching a slice OF ~unbu;tered
bread when they can getit, sworn at by pass
/ ersby because they do not get out OF the
\ way, Kicked onward toward manhood oil
l~womanhood, for which they have no prep
] aration, except "A depraved appetite and
frail constitution, candidates for aim
house and penitentiary. Whatever
other cause of poverty may fail, the saloon
may be depended on to furnish an ever in
c~reasing throng of paupers. oh, ye grog-
shops OF Brooklyn and New York and Of all
the cities We mouths of hell, when will ye
cease to crauneh and deyour2 There is nc
danger OF the liquor business falling. Al
other styles of business at times fan. Dry
| goods stores go under. Hardware stores &c
1 u1ucrs GrOcefy siOtCS 20 uuucr- EIdTufSs
makers fail, druggists fail, bankers fail
butchers fail. bakers fail, confectioners fail
but the liquor dealers never. 1t is the only
secure business / know of. Why the per.
manenee OF the alcoholic trade? Because,
in the first place, the men in that business
II tight up for money, only nave to pul
into large quantities of water more strych'
J nine and ~logwooi and nux vomica and Wit
riol and other congenial concomitants fol
1 adulteration. One quart OF the real genuine
p~andemoniac elixir will do to mix up witt
several gallons OF milder Gamnatlon. Besides
that, these dealers can depend on an increase
of demand on the part of their customers
The more OF that stuff they drink, the thirst,
Ter they are. Hard times, which stop othel
business, only increase that business, for mel
go there to drown their troubles. They taxi
the spirits down to keep their spirits up
There Is an inclined plane down which a.co
holism slides its victims-elaret, champagne
port, z whisky, tom and jary. SOU
mash. on and down until II Is a sEt OF mix
lure of kerosene oil, turpentine, toadstools
swiil. essence OF the horse blankets and gen
eral nastiness. With its red sword Of flame
that liquor power marshais its process
sion, and they move on in ranks Ions
enough to girdls the earth, and the pro
eession is hesded by tho nose blotchet