Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-07-06
attitudes and figures are suggested q

and the dance is swifter and swifter,
wilder and wilder, until, with the speed
of lightning, they whirl off the edges OF
o decent life into fiery future This
gate of hell swings across the administer
Of many a fine parlor and across the
ballroom Of the summer watering place.
You have no right, my brother; my sis
ter, you have no right to take an attitude
to the sound of music which would be
unbecoming in the absence of music. No
Chickering grand Of city prlor or fiddle
cf mountain picnic can consecrate that
which God hath cursed.
Gate the Third. --Indiscrcet apparel
Tho attire Of woman for the last few
years has been beautiful and graceful
tcyond anything / have known, but
there arc these who will always carry
that which is right into the extraordi-
nary and indiscreet charge Christian
women, neither by style of dress nor adj
justmcnt of apparel, to become admin
istrative of evil Perhaps none else will
dare to tell yen, SO will tell you that
there are multitudes Of men who owe
their eternal ELIMINATION to what has
been at different times the boldness of
womanly attire. Show me the fashion
plates Of any age between this and the
time of Louis XVI of Franco and Horny
VIII of Eng land, and viii tell you
the type Of morals or immorals Of that
age or that year. no exception to it.
Modest apparel means righteous peo-
pie. Immodest apparel always means
contaminated and depraved society. You
wonder that the city Of Tyre was de
stroyed with srch terrible destruction.
Have you ever seen the fashion plate OF
the city of Tyre? will show it TO you.
Moreover, the Lord saith, because
the daughters of Zion ire naughty and
walk with stretched forth rccks and
wanton eyes, walking and mincing as
they so, and making a tinkling with
their feet. in that day the Lord will
take away the bravery of their tinkling
ornaments about their feet, and then
cauls, and their round tires like the
moon, the rings and nose jewels, the
changeable suits of apparel, and the
mantles, and the wimples, and the crisp
ing pins.
That is the fashion plate of ancient
Tyre. And do you wonder that the Lord
God in his indignation blotted out the
city, so that fishermen today spread
their nets where that city once stood?
A stupendous Gate.
Gate the Fourth. lcoholic beverage.
Oh, the wine cup is the patron Of i'm.
purity! The officers of the law tell us
that nearly all the men who go into til.
SHAMELESS of death go i'll intoxicated, the
mental and the spiritual abolished, that
the brute may triumph. Tell me that
young man drinks, and know the whole
story. If he becomes captive of the
wine cup, he will become captive Of
all other vices. Only give him time. No
one ever runs drunkenness alone. That
is carrion crow that goes in a flock, and
when you see that beak ahead you may
know the other beaks are coming. In
other words, the wine cup unbalances
and dethrones ones better Judgment,
and leaves one the Irey of all the evil
appetites that may choose to alight upon
his soul. There is not a place of any
kind of sin in the United States today
that does not find its chief abettor in the
chalice of inebriety. There is either
drinking bar before, or one behind, OF
one above, Or one underneath. These
people escape legal penalty because they
are all licensed to sell liquor. The
courts that license the sale of strong
drink license gambling houses, license
hbertinisin, license disease, license
death, license all sutferings, all crimes,
all despoliations, all disasters, all nur-
dels. all woe. It is the courts and the
Legislature that are swinging wide open
this grinding, crcaky, stupendous gate
of the lost.
Bat you say: lyon have described
these gates Of hell and shown us how
they swing in to allow the entrance to
the doomed. Will You not, please, be.
fore you get through the sermon, tell US
how these gates of hell may swing ont
to allow the escape of the penitent?'
reply, But very few escape. Of the thou
sand that 60 in 999 perish. Suppose
one of these wanderers should knock at
your door. Would you admit her? Sup
pose you knew where she came from.
Would you ask her to sit down at your
dining table? Would you ask her to be-
come the governess of your children;
Would you introduce her among your nc
quaintanceships? Would you take the
responsibility Of pulling on the outsids
of the gate of hell while the pusher OH
the inside of the gate is trying to get
ont? You would not. Not one of thou
sand Of you would dare to do so. Yod
would write beautiful poetry over Eel
sorrows and weep over her misfortunes,
but give her practical help you never
will But, you say "Are thereno ways
by which the wanderer may escape?"
Oh, yes Three or four. The one way is
the sewing girls garnet, dingy, cold,
hunger blasted. But, you say, SIS there
no other way for her to escape?" Oh,
! yes Another way is the street that
leads to the river at midnight, the end
| of the city dock, the moon shining down
on the water making it look SO smooth
she wonders if it is deep enough. 1t is.
! No boatman near enough TO hear the
/ plunge No Waterman near enough to
pick her out before she sinks the third
| time. No other way? Yes; by the curve
! Of the railroad at the point where the
engineer of the Lightning express train
cannot see hundred yards ahead to
| the form that lies across the track. He
may whistle "down brakes" but not
soon enough to disappoint the one who
! seeks her death. But. you say, Isn't
God good, and won Lie forgiven" Yes,
| but man will not, woman will not, So
Getty will not. The church of God says
/ it WILL but 1t will not. Orr work, then,
must be prevention rather than cure.
4 Call to Christians.
Those gates of hell are to he Frustrated
just Us certainly rs God aud the Bible
are tue, but it will not be done until
christian men and women, quitting
she;r prudery and squeamishncss i'll this
matter. rally the whole Christian senti-
! n n n i n