Connecticut western news., 1895-07-04
GATES TOPERDITION.
HOW THEY SWING IN TO GIVE EN- i TRANCE TO THE DOOMED.

Rov. Dr. Talmase on Impure Literature,
 the Dissolute Dance, Indiscreet Attire
 and Alcoholic Beverage-Great Evils of
 society-God's Infinite Mercy.
 NEW YORK, June 30-In his sermon for today Dr. Talmage chose a momen- tous and awful topic, "The Gates of Hell," the text selected being the fa- miliar passage in Matthew xvi, IS, '"The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
 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- tion and see, swinging open and shut, the gates of he'll
 Iremember, when the eFranco-Prussian war was going on, that stood one day in Paris looking at the gates of the Tui- leries, and 1 was so absorbed in the sculpturing at the top of the gates-the masonry and the bronze-that 1 forgot myself, and after awhile, looking down, I saw that there were 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 he'll In this sermon I shall tell you of both sides, and I shall tell you what those gates are made of. With the hammer of Gods truth I shall pound on the braZen panels, and with the lantern of Gods truth I shall flash light upon the shining hinges.
 A Mighty Gate For the Lost.
 Gate the First.-Impure literature. Anthony Comstock seized 20 tons of bad books, plates and letterpress, and when our Professor Cochran of the Poly technio institute poured the destructive acids on those plates they smoked in the righteous annihilation, and yet great deal of the bad literature of the day is not gripped of the law. It is strewn in your parlors. It 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, glossed over with scientific no- menclature, went into hotel and sold in one day 100 copies and sold them all to womenl It 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 accursed 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. 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, suppose, there may be good novels that are short, and so there may be good novelette,, but 1t is the exception. No one-mark this-no one systematically reads the average novelette, of this day and keeps either integrity or virtue. The most of these novelettes are written by broken down literary men for small compensa- tion, on the principle that, having fail ed in literature elevated and pure, they hope to succeed in the tainted and nasty Oh, this is wide gate of he'll Every panel is made out of bad book or newspaper. Every hinge is the inter joined type of 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 a million men and women in the United States today reading themselves into he'll
 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 in silence for some time and said: "Oh, have got it now! I know, knowl found in her bureau after she went away a bad book. That's what slew her" 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 deathful? There is not young person, male or female, or an old person, who has not had offer ed to him or her bad book or bad picture. Scour your house to find out whether there are any of these adders coiled on your. parlor center table, or colled amid the toilet set on the dressing case. I adjure you before the sun goes down to explore your family libraries with an inexorable scrutiny. Remember that one bad book or bad picture may do the work for eternity. want to arouse all your suspicious about novelettes. I 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 broadest, highest, mightiest gates of the lost.
 Improper Dancing.
 Gate the Second. The dissolute dance You shall not divert to the general sub Jecb OI udHCluB. WHdCeYoT you Hity 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. I want you to unite with me this hour in recognizing the fact that there is dis solute dance. You know of what I speak It is seen not only in the low haunts of death, but in elegant man. sions. It is the first step to eternal ruin for great multitude of both sexes. You know, my friends, what pastures and attitudes and figures are suggested of the devil They who glide into the dis solute dance glide over an inclined plane, and the dance is swifter and swifter, wilder and wilder, until, with the speed of lightning, they whirl off the edges of decent life into fiery future. This