The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-07-05
GATES TO PERDITI0N.
HOW THEY SWING IN TO GIVE EN-
TRANCE TO THE DOOMED,

the Dissolute Dance. Indisereet Attire
sooiety-God's Infinite Mercy.
NEW York, June 30. In his sermon
for today DIR, Talmage chose momen-
tous and awful topic, "The Gates of
He'll, the text selected being the ia
miliar passage in Matthew xvi, Is, 1.-THE
gates of hell shall not prevail against
1t.
Entranced, until we could endure no
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 direc-
ton and see, swinging open and shut, the
gates of hell.
Iremember, when the Franco-Prussian
war was going on, that l stood one day
in Paris looking at the gates of the TUT
leries, and | was so absorbed in the
sculpturing at the top of the gates-the
masonry and the bronze-that forgot
myself and after awhile, looking down,
| saw that there We're officers Of the law
scrutinizing me, supposing no doubt |
was German and looking at those gates
for adverse purposes But, my friends,
| we shall not stand looking AT the out
side of the gates of hell In this sermon
| shall tell you of both sides, and l
shall tell 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 l
shall, flash a light upon the shining
hinges.
A Mighty Gate For the Lost.
Gate the First,-Impure literature.
Anthony Comstock seized 90 tons of
bad books, plates and letterpress, and
when our Professor Cochran of the Poly
technic institute poured the destructive
acids on those plates they smoked in the
righteous humiliation, and yet great
deal OF the bad literature Of the day is
not gripped of the law. 1t is strewn in
your parlors. 1t is in your libraries.
Some Of your children read it at night
after they have retired, the gas burner
swung as near as possible to their pill
low. Much of this literature is under
the title of scientific information. A
book agent with one of these Internal
books, CLOSED over with scientific no
menclature, went into a hotel and sold
in one day 100 copies and sold them all
to womenl 1t is appalling that men
and women who can get through their
family physician all the useful infor-
nation they may need, and without any
contamination, should wade chin deep
through such accarsed literature under
the plea of getting useful knowledge,
and that printing presses, hoping to be
called decent, lend themselves to this
infamy. Fathers and mothers, be not
| deceived by the title, medical works y
Nine-tenths of those books come hot
from the lost world, though they may
have on them the names of the publish
ing houses of New York, Chicago and
Philadelphia. Then there is all the nov
elette literature of the day flung over
the land by the million. AS there are
| good novels that are long, so, l suppose,
there may be good novels that are short,
and so there may be good novelette,,
but it is the exception. No one-mark
this-no one systematically reads the
average novelette, of this day and keeps
eithsr integrity or virtue. The most of
these no7elettes are written by broken
down literary men for small compensa-
ton, on the principle that, having fail
ed in literature elevated and pure, they
hope to succeed III the tainted and nasty
Oh, this is a wide gate Of hell Every
panel is made ont of bad book or
newspaper. Every hinge is the inter
joined 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 million men
and women III the United States today
reading themselves into hell!
When in one of our cities prosperous
family 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 any
thing wrong Inever thought there could
be anything wrong" Then she sat weep
ing i'll silence for some time and said
ooh, have got it now! l know, /
know found i'll her bureau after she
went away bad book That's what
slew her. Z" These leprous booksellers
have gathered up the catalogues of all
the male and female seminaries in the
United States, catalogues containing the
names and residences of all the students,
and circulars of death are sent to every
one, without any exception. Can you
imagine anything more beautiful? There
is not d young person, male Or female,
or an old person, who has not had offer
ed to him or her bad book or a bad
picture. Scour your house to find out
whether there are any of these ladders
eoiled on your parlor center table, or
cooled amid the toilet set on the dressing
case. adjure You before the suu goes
down to explore your family libraries
with an memorable scrutiny. Remember
that one bad book on bad picture may do
the work for eternity. | want to arouse
all your suspicious about novelties. l
want to put you on the watch against
everything that may seem like surrepti-
tious correspondence through the post
office / want you to understand that
impure literature is one of the broadcast,
highest, mightiest gates of the lost
Improper Dancing.
Gate the Second. The dissolute dance
You shall not divert to the general sub
ject of dancing Whatever you may
think Of the parlor dance or the method
ic motion of the body to sounds of mu-
SIC 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 dis
solute 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 great multitude of both sexes. You
know, my friends, what postures and
attitudes and figures are suggested o.
the devil Ther who glide into tie dis.
folute dance glide over an inclined plane
and the dance is swifter and swifter,
wilder and wilder, until, with the speed