The Princeton union., 1895-07-11

l. 4
Gate the third: Indiscreet apparel.
| The attire of women for the last few
years has been beautiful and graceful
beyond anything have known; but
| there are those who will always carry
that which is right into the extraor-
| binary and indiscreet. | charge Chris
| tian women, neither by style of dress
| nor adjustment OF apparel, to become
administrative of evil. Perhaps none
else will dare to tell you, SO will tell
| you that there are multitudes of men
! who owe their eternal damnation 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
France and Henry VIII. of England
and will tell you the type Of morals
or immorals OF that age or that year.
No exceptions to it. Modest apparel
means righteous people. lmmodest
| apparel always means a contaminated
and depraved society. You wonder
that the city of Tyre was DESTROYED
with such a terrible destruction. Have
you ever seen the fashion plate of the
city of Tyre? l will show 1T to you: 4
'Moreover, the Lord saith, because
the daughters Of Zion are naughty
and walk with stretched-forth necks
and wanton eyes, walking and mine
ing as they go, and making tinkling
with their feet, in that day the Lord
will take away the bravery or their
tinkling ornaments "bout their rect,
| and their cauls, and their round tires
like the moon, the rings and nose jew
| els, the changeable suits OF apparel,
| and the mantleS, and, the WlmpleS,
and the crisping-pins.'
There 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 to-day
spread their nets where that city once
! stood? su. g.r@
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 60 into
the sha1nbles Of death,go In intoxlcat-
ed, the mental and the spiritual abol-
ished, that the brute may triumph.
| Tell me that q young nan drinks, and
I know the whole story. If he be-
comes a captive of the wine-cup, he
| will become a captive Of al! othef
vices. and only give him time. No one
ever runs drunkenness alone. That Is
q carrion-crow that goes in a flock,
and when you see that beak ahead,
you mays know the other beaks are
,, coming. In other words, the winc-cup
! unbalances and dethroIes ones better
Judgment. and leaves one the prey Of
all evil appetites that may choose to
alight upon his soul. There is not
place Of any kind Of sin.in the United
States to-day that does not find it's
| chief abettor in the chalice Of inebri-
acy. There is either a drinkingbar
before, or one behind. or one above,
or one underneath. These people es-
cape legal penalty because they are
all licensed to sell liquor. The courts
| that license the sale Of strong drink,
license gambling houses. license liber-
| tinism, license disease, license death.
| license all Sufferings, all crimes, all
| despollatiOns, all disa sters, all mur-
| ders, all woe. 1t is the courts and the
! legisla ture that are swinging wide
open this grinding, creaky, stupendous
| gate of the lost. ..ss
But you say, "You4 have described
these gates of hell and shown us how
swing in to allow the entrance of the
doomed. Will you not, please, before
you get through the sermon, tell us
how these gates of hell may swing
; out to allow the escape of the peni-
tent?" I reply, but very few escape
OF the thousand that go in, nine hun
, dred and ninety-nine perish. Suppose
Ole Of these wanderers should Knock
at your door would you admit her?
Suppose you know where she came
from, would you ask her to sit down
of 4 int, 4o11 II
her to become the governess of your
children? Would you introduce her
among your acQuaintances? Would
you take the responsibility of pulling
on the outside of the gate of hell while
the pusher on the outside of the gates
is trying to get out? You would not,
not one Of thousand of you would
dare to do so. You would write beau
tiful poetry over her SORROWS, and
weep over her sorrows, and weep over
her .misfortunes, but give her practi-
cal 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-blast-
ed. But you say, "Is there no other
way for her escape?' Oh, yes. An
other 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 pick her out before she sinks the
third time. No other way? Yes By
curve of the railrod at the point where
the engineer of the lightning express
train can not see a hundred yards
ahead to the form that lies across the
track. He may whistle 'dowu
brakes but not soon enough to disap.
point the one who seeks her death
But you say, 'Isn't God good, and
won't he forgiven Yes; but man will
not, woman will not, society will not
The church Of God says it will, but il
2 will not. Our work, then, must be
prevention rather than cure
Those gates of hell are to be pros
trated just as certain as God ard the
Bible, are true, but it will not be done
until Christian men and women, quit
ting their prudery and ,squeamishness
in this matter, rally the whole Chris
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