The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-01-24
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "The Bread Question"

TEXT: "Ye hare the poor Always 'cith
you." Matthew XVI. II.
Who said that? The Christ who never
owned anything during His earthly stay. HE
cradle and His grave were borrowed. Every
fiS He ate was from some one elses tree.
Every drop OF water He drank was from
some one else's we'll. To pay His personal
tax. which was very small, only 314 cents.
He had to perform 4 miracle and make
fish pay it. All the heights and depths and
lengths and breadths OF poverty Christ meas
ured in His earthly experience. and when
He comes to speak OF destitutiou He always
speaks sympatheticallv. and what He said
then is as true now-''Ye have the poor al
ways with you"
For 5000 years the bread question has been
the active and absorbing question. Witness
the people crowding up to Josephs store
house in Egypt. Witness the famine in Sa-
maria and Jerusalem. Witness the 1000 hun
gry people for whom Christ multiplied the
loaves. Witness the uucounted millions OF
people now living. who, believe. have
never vet had one full meal OF healthful and
nutritious food in all their lives. Think OF
the 354 great famines in England. Think OF
the 25,0O0, 600 people under the hoof OF
hunger year before last in Russia. The fall
ure OF the Nile to overflow for seven years
in the eleventh century left those regions
depopulated. Plague OF insects in England.
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 delu9e, by
frost. by war, by hurricane. by earthquake,
By comets flying too near the earth, by change
In the management OF National finances
by baIeful causes innumerable. I pro-
ceed to give you three or four reasons why
my text is markedly and graphically true in
this year 1894
The first reason we have always the poor
with US is because Of the perpetual overhaul
Ing of the tariff question. or, as shall call
II, the tarifflc controversy. There is need
for such word. and so take> the responsi.
bility of manufacturing it. 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
was Ave years OF age, I remem-
Der hearing my father and his neigh
bors in vehement discussion of this very
question. It was high tariff or low tariff OF
no tariff at all. When your at-grandchild
dies at ninety years of age, it will probably
be from over-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 low tariff man. and the other
free trade man-each one red in the face
from excited argument on this sub
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
ands two weeks voyage away and the heat
fof 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-
lions under the influence OF our free instttu-
lions yea. all other questions, National and
International, may be settled, but this traffic
question never. It will not only never be
settled, but it can never be moderately quiet
for more than three years at time, each
party getting into power taking one OF the
tour years to fix it up, and then the next
party will Ak 1t 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.
isters febrifuge. spoonful every hour.
But recovery is postponed. and the anxious
friends call in another doctor, and he says:
"What this patient needs Is blood letting
now roll up your sleever' and the lancet
q homeopathic doctor Is called in. and he
administers some small pellets and says:
gall the patient wants is rest"
Recovery still postponed, the family 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, o hydropathic doctor Is called in,
and he says: What this patient wants is
hot nd bath ha ncf hox fhop,
Right away. Turn on the faucet and get
ready tor the shower baths" Recovery is
still postponed. an electric doctor Is called
In, and he brings all the schools to bear
upon the poor sufferer, and the patient, after
. brave struggle for life, expires. What
killed himp Too many doctors. And that
ls what is killing our National finances. My
personal friends, Cleveland and Harrison
and Carlisle and Mckinley and Sherman, rs
talented and lovely and splendid men as
walk the earth, all good doctors. but their
treatment Of our languishing finances Is 80
different that neither treatment has full op-
portunity, and under the constant changes 1t
ts simply wonderful that the Nation still
lives. The tariff question will never be set
tied because of the fact-which have never
heard any one recognize, but nevertheless
the fact-ehat high tariff Is best for some
people and free trade is best for others. This
through with uncertainty, and that uncer.
tainty results in poverty and wretchedness
Tor vast multitude of people. 1.-THE eternal
CAB on this question could have been fash
loned into loaves OF bread. there would not
be hungry mum or woman or Child on all
the planet To the end of time, the words
Of the text will be kept true by the tariffc
eontroversy-'Ye have the poor always with
Fou."
Another cause Of perpetual poverty is the
cause alcoholic. The victim does not last
long. H. soon crouches into the drunkards
grave. But what about his wife and chill
dren? She takes In washing, when she can
get 1t, or goes out working on small wages.
because sorrow and privation have left her
lncapacitsted to do a strong woman's work.
The children are thin blooded and gaunt
and pale and weak. standing around in cold
sooms, or pitching pennies on the street cor
ner and munching slice OF unbuttered
breau when they can getit, sworn ut by pass
ersby because they do not get out OF the
way, kicked onward toward manhood or
womanhooi. for which they have no prep
aration, except q depraved appetite and
Trail 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
ereasing throng OF paupers. Oh, ye groc-
shops OF Brooklyn and New So-S aud OF all
the cities ye mouths of hell, when will ye
cease to craunch and devour? There Is no
danger OF the liquor business failing. All
other styles Of business at times fail. Dry
goods stores 90 under. Hardware stores go
under Grocery stores 60 under. Harness
makers fail, druggists fail bankers fail,
butchers fail. bakers fail, confectioners fail,
but the liquor dealers never. 1t Is the only
secure business I know Of. Why the per-
manence Of the alcoholic trade? Because,
in the first place, the men in that business,
il tight up for money, only have to put
Int 10 ~ H..