Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-07-12
SERMON
INTERESTING THEME nv rHF
MN YORK PREA'HER.
subject; "The Gates of Hell"

nupo,itr direction and see, swinging open
anu shut. the gatrs II hell.
I rsnenter. when the Franco Prussiau war
was going On. that l stood one day In Paris
Leaking al the gates of the luileries, and |
Ma. II absorbed iu the scuipiUring al the
ton of the gate--ihe masonry andthe bronze
that | forgot myself, aud after awhile,
lacking down saw that there were officers
of The law scruiiutEug me, supposing no
dault 1 was a German aud looking az those
gates Tor adverse purposes. but. my lrlrhds.
We shall not stand looking al the outside 81
the gates Of hell. In this sermon shaH tell
YOU ni both sides. and ] shall tell YOU what
those gates are made Of Win the hammer
of Gods truth | shall pound on the brazen
panels, and with the lantern OF God s truth l
shall flash a light upon the shining hinges.
Gate the First Impure literature. An
thony Com,tock seized twenty tons Of bad
books. plates and lettcrpre~s, and when our
Professor Cochran. Of the POLYTECHNIC llst-
tute poured the destructive acids On those
plates they smoked in the righteous ahnihl-
ialion. and vet great deal OF bad literature
of the day is not Cripped OF the law. IL Is
strrwn in your parlors. IL is IN your IL
braries Some of your children read 1t al
night after they have retired, the gas burner
swung a. near a. possible To their pillow.
Much of this literature L. under the title OF
scientific Information. book agent with
one of these Internal books CLOSED over
with scientific nomenclature. went into
hotel and sold in one day 100 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 contamina-
ton. should wade chin deep through such
accursed literature under the plea OF getting
useful knowledge, and that printing presses,
hoping to be called decent, lend themselves
TO this nfamv. Fathers and mothers, be not
deceived by the title, medical works.
Nine-tenths of those books come hot from the
lost world, though they may have On them
the names of the publishing houses ol New
York, Chicago and Philadelphia. Then there
is all the novelette, literature Ofthe day flung
over the land by the million. As there are
good novels that are long, so, | suppose,
there may be good novels that are short,
and so there may be Il good novelette,,
but it is the exception. No one-mark this
no one Systematically reads the average
novelette, of this day and keeps either in
| tegrity or virtue. The most of these novel
! cites are written by broken-down literary men
! for small compensation, on the principle
| that having failed in literature elevated and
| pure, they hope to succeed in the tainted
| and nasty. Oh this is a wide gate Of hell
| Every panel is made out Of a bad book or
newspaper Every hinge is the interioined
type of a 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 Il million men and women in the
United States to-day reading themselves int
hell!
When in one of our cities prosperous
family fell into ruins through the msdeeds
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 it now, ]
know, know. found in her bureau after
she went away bad book. That's what
slew her These leprOus booksellers have
gathered up the catalogues OF all the male
and female seminarie, in the United States,
catalogues containing the names and resi-
dences OF all the students, and circulars OF
| death are sent to every one, with
out any exception. Can you imagine
anything more beautiful? There i.
not young person, male or female
or an old person, who has not had offered tC
him or her a bad book or a bad picture
Scour your house to find out whether there
are any of these adders coled ON your par
lor center table or coiled amid the toilet set
on the dressing case. | allure you before
the sun goes down to explore your family Ii
brares with an memorable scrutiny. Re
member that one bad book or bad picture
may Go the work for eternity. | want 4
arouse all your suspicious about novelties
] want to put you on the watch agains
everything that may seem like surreptiOu,
correspondence through the postoflce
want you to understand that impure litera
ture is one of the broadest. highest might
est gates Of the lost.
Gate the Second--The dis7outo dance.
You shall not divert to the general subje I
Of dancing Whatever you may think of the
parlOr dance or the methodic motion of the
body TO sounds Of music in the family or tht
social circle, am not now discussing that
question. | want you to unite with me this
hour in recognizing the fact that there is a
absolute dance. You know Of what
speak. 1t is seen not only in the low
haunts of death, but in elegant man
sionS 1t is the first step to eternal ruin
for Il great multitude Of both sexes. You
know, my friends, what postures am
attitudes and figures are suggested OF the
devil. They who glide into the dissolute
dance glide over an inclined plane. and the
dance is swifter and swifter, wilder and
wilder, until, with the speed of lightning
they whln OIL the edges OF a decent life into
fiery future This gate OF hell SWING
across the administer of mary fine parlol
and across the ballroom OF the summer
watering place. You have no right. m,
brother my sister, you have no right to tax,
an attitude to the SOund of music which
would be unbecoming in the absence o
music. No Chtckering grand of city parlol
or fiddle of mountain picnic can consecrat,
that which God hath cursed.
Gate the Third-Indiscreet apparel. Tn
attire Of woman for the last few years ha
been beautiful and graceful beyond anything
| have known, but there are those who viii
always carry that which is right into the ex
traordnary and indiscreet. | charge Chris
tian women, neither by style Of dress nor al
justment of apparel, to become almnistra
tive of evil. Perhaps none else will dare t.
tell you, so [ will tell you that there are null
titudes of men who owe their eternal dam
nation to what has been at diiferen
times the boldness Of womanly at
tire, Show me the fashion plate
of any age between this and tn
time Of Louis XVI of France and Henry VII
of England, and l will tell you the tyte o.
morals or immorals of that age or that year.
No exception to it. Modest apparel means
righteous people. Immoiest apparel al.
ways means a contaminated and deprave,
society. You wonder that the city Of Tyre
was destroyed with such terrible destruc
ton. Have you ever seen the fashion plat
OF the city Of Tyre2 | will show it to you:
"Moreoyer. the Lord saith. because tn
daughters of Zion are naughty and wal
| with stretched forth neckS and wantOn eye:
walking and mincing as they go, and max
ing tinklinS with their feet, in that day thu
Lord will take away the bravery of thei
ttnklng ornaments about their feet. AM
their cauls. and their round tires like thu
moon, the rings and nose jewels, tn
changeable suits of apparel, and tn
NANTES, and the wimples, and the crispinl
pins"
That Is the fashion plate of ancient Tyre
And do you wonder that the Lord God in Hi
Indignation bLotted out the city. 50 tina
fishermen to-day spread their nets wher
that city once stood?
Gate the Fourth--Alcohoic beverage Or
the wine cup is the patron of impurlty TIL
officers OF the law tell us that nearly all tn
men VINO so into the shambles Of death go j
intoxicated. the mental and the spiritul