Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-07-05

of mountain picnic can consecrate that
which God hath cursed.
Gate the Third. apparel
The attire Of woman for the last few
years has been beautiful and graceful
beyond anything l have known, but
there are those who will always carry
that which is right into the extraordi-
nary and indiscreet. charge Christian
women, neither by style Of dress nor ad-
jnstment of apparel, to become admin
istrative Of evil Perhaps none else will
dare to tell you, so / will tell you that
there are multitudes Of men who owe
their etevnal damnation to what has
been at different times the holiness Of
womanly attire Show me the fashion
plates of any age between this and the
time of Louis XVI of France and Henry
VIII of England and l will 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 a
contaminated and deprayed society. You
wonder that the city Of Tyre was de-
stroyed with such terrible destruction.
Have you ever seen the fashion plate Of
the city Of Tyre? 1 will show it to you
Moreover, the Lord saith, because
the daughters of Zion are naughty and
walk with stretched forth necks and
wanton eyes, walking and mincing as
they 90. and making tinkling with
their feet, in that day the Lord will
take away the bravery Of their tinkling
ornaments about their feet, and their
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. Aud 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. Alcoholic 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 the
shambles of death go in intoxicated, the
mental and the spiritual abolished, that
the brute may triumph Tell me that a
young man drinks, and know the whole
story. If he becomes captive Of the
wine cup, he will become a captive OF
all other vices. Only give him time. No
one ever runs drunkenness alone. That
is a carrion crow that goes in flock, and
when you see that beak ahead you may
know the other beaks are coming. In
other words, the wine cup unba lances
and dethrones ones better judgment,
and leaves one the prey 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, or
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
libertinism, license disease, license
death, license all sufferings, all crimes,
all despoliations, all disasters, all muir
ders. all woe 1t is the courts and the
legislature that are swinging wide open
this grinding, creaky, stupendous gate
of the lost.
But you say: "You 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 out
to allow the escape Of the penitent! l
reply. But very few escape. Of the thou
sand that 90 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 ac-
ouaintanceships? Would you take the
responsibility Of pulling on the outside
of the gate Of hell while the pusher on
the inside Of the gate is trying to get
out? You would not. Not one Of thou
sand of you would dare to do so. You
would write beautiful poetry over her
sorrows and weep over her misfortunes'
but give her practical help you never
will But, you say, "Are there no ways
by which the wanderer may escape!'
Oh, yes Three or four. The one way Is
the sewing girls garret, dingy, cold.
hunger blasted. But, you say, is there
no other way for her to escape!" Oh
yesl 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 watchman near enough to
nick her ont 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. DE
may whistle "down brakes, " but not
soon enough to disappoint the one who
seeks her death. But, you say, Ism t
God good, and won't he forgive" Yes,
but man will not, woman will not, So
ciety will not. The church Of God says
it will, but it will not. Our work, then,
must be prevention rather than cure.
A Call to Christians.
Those gates of hell are to be prostrated
Just as certainly as God and the Bible
are true, but it will not be done until
Christian men and women, quitting
their prudery and squeamishneSs in this
matter, rally the whole Christian senti-
ment Of the church and assail these great
evils Of society. The Bible utters Its de-
nunciation in this direction again and
again, and yet the piety OF the day is
such namby pamby sort Of thing that
You cannot even quote Scripture with
out making somebody restless. As long
| in