The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1895-08-24
TALMAGE's SERMON.
The Gates Of Hell and OF What
They Are Made.
Impure Literature. the Dissoluts Dance
Indiscre~t Apparel and Alcoholic
Bss ersges All Pnssago-
ways to Perditton.

He'll" was delivered 1T Mason City, Ia,
It was based on the text:
The gates Of hell shall not prevail against Il
Matthew xvi. ID
Entranced, until we could. endure nc
more of the splendor. we have OFTEN
gazed at the shining gates, the gates
of pearl, the gates of Heaven. But we
are for awhile to look in the opposite
direction, and see swinging open and
shut the gates Of hell.
remember, when the Franco Ger
man war was going on, that stood
one day in Paris looking at the gates
of the Tuilleriesyand was 80 absorbed
in the sculptufing at the top OF the
gates-the masonry and the bronze
that forgot myself, and after awhile,
looking down, l saw that there were
officers Of the law scruitinizing me,
supposing. no doubt, / was German,
and looking at those gates for adverse
purposes. But, my friends, we shall
not stand looking at the outside of the
gates of hell. In this sermon l shall
tell you of both sides, and / shall tel
you what those gates are made OF.
With the hammer of Gods truth
shall pound on the brazen panels, and
with the lantern of Gods truth shall
flash light upon the shining hinges
Gate the first: Impure literature
Anthony Comstock seized twenty tons
of bad books, plates and letter press
and when our Professor Cochran, Of
the Polytechnic institute, poured the
destructive acids on those plates, they
smoked in the righteous annihilation'
And yet great deal of the bad litera.
ture of the day is not gripped of the
law. 1t is strewn in our parlors; it IL
in your libraries. Some of your chill
drcn read it at night after they have
retired, the gas-burner swung as near
as possible to their pillow. Much OF
this literature is under the title of sci
entific information. A book agent
with one of these internal books,
CLOSED over with scientific nomen-
clature, went into hotel and sold in
one day hundred copies, and sold
them all TO women! 1t is appalling
that men and women who can get
through their family physician all the
useful information they may need. and
without any examination, should wade
chin deep through such accursed liter.
AZURE under the plea OF getting
useful knowledge, and that print
ing presses, hoping to be called
decent, lend themselves to this
infamy. Fathers and mothers. be
not deceived by the title medical
works. Nine-tenths of those books
come from the lost world, though they
may have on them the names OF the
publishing houses of New York, Chi
cago and Philadelphia. Then there Is
all the novelette, literature of the day
flung over the land by the million. A
there are good novels that are long, SC
suppose there may be good novels
that are short, and so there may be a
good novelette,. but it is the exception.
No one mark this-no one system
atically reads the average novelette, Of
this day and keeps either integrity or
virtue. The most of these novelties
are written by broken-down literary
men for some compensation, on the
principle that, having failed in litera.
ture elevated and pure, they hope tc
succeed in the tainted and the
nasty. OIL this is a wide gate
of hell Every panel is made
out of bad book, or newspaper.
Every hinge is the interjoined type Of
\ corrupt printing press. Every bolt
or lock of that gate is made out of the
plate of an unclean pictorial. In other
words, there are million men and
women in the United States to-day
reading themselves into hell! When,
in one of our cities, prosperous fam
lily fell into ruins through the mis-
deeds of one of its members, the
amazed mother said to the officer OF
the law: ''Why, never supposed there
was anything wrong. never thought
there could be anything wrong" Then
she sat weeping in silence for some
time, and said: ''Oh! / have got ii
now! know. know! 1 found in her
bureau, after she went away, a bad
book. That's what slew her." These
leprous booksellers have gathered up
the catalogues of all the male
and female seminaries in the
United States, catalogues contain.
ing the names and residences of all
the students, and circulars of death
are sent to every one, without any ex.
ception. Can you imagine anything
more dreadful? There is not young
person, male or female, or an old per.
son, who has not had offered to him OF
her bad book or bad picture.
Scour your house to find out whether
there are any of these adders coiled on
your parlor comfortable, or coiled
amid the toilet set on the dressing
case. adjure you before the sun
goes down to explore your family
libraries with an memorable scrutiny.
Remember that one bad book or bad
picture may do the work for eternity.
want to arouse all your suspicious
about novelettes. want to put you
on the watch against everything that
may seem like surreptitious CORE
spondence through the post Office.
want you to understand that impure
literature is one of the broadcast, high
est, mightiest gates of the lost.
Gate the second: The dissolute
dance. You shall not divert me to the
general subject of dancing. Whatever
you may think of the parlor dance OF
the methodic motion of the body tc
sounds of music in the family or the
social circle, am not now discussing
that question. ! want you to unite
with me this hour in recognizing the
fact that there is dissolute dance.
You know of what ! speak. 1t iSseer
not only in the low haunts of death, but