The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-07-05
GATES TO PERDITION.
HOW THEY SWING IN TO GIVE EN-
TRANCE TO THE DOOMED.

the Dissolute Dance, Indiscreet Attire
and Alcoholic Beverage-Great Evils of
society--Godys Infinite Mercy.
NEW YORK, June 30.-In his sermon
for today DR.. Talmage chose a momen-
tous and awful topic, "The Gates Of
He'll, l." the text selected being the ia
miliar passage in Matthew xvi, IS, "The
gates of hell shall not prevail against
it, F"
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 hell
remember, when the Franco-P russian
war was going on, that I 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,
I saw that there We're officers of the law
scrutinizing me, supposing no doubt I
was a 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
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
shall flash a light upon the shining
hinges.
A Mighty Gate For the Lost.
Gate the First Impure literature.
Anthony Comstock seized 20 tons of
bad hooks, 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 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
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, |
ther, may be good novels that are short, |
and so there may be a good novelette,, |
but it is the exception. No one-mark !
this-no one systematically reads the
tbNGlcSO hONC1CbUO VI U1lln ucl( Gll1Nl hCCDS
either integrity or virtue. The most Of
these novelties 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 in the tainted and nasty.
Oh, this is a wide gate of hell! Every
panel is made out of bad book or
no ENUa,,xy hiyrpa 10 &lo s,,+a |
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 million men
and women in the United States today
reading themselves into hell
When in one of our cities a 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:
'Oh, l have got it nowl know, 1
know | 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 beautiful? There
is not a young person, male or female,
or an old person, who has not had offer
ed to him OF her a bad book OF bad
picture. Scour your house to find out
whether there are any of these adders
1oiled on your parlor center table, or
,olled amid the toilet set on the dressing
case. adiure you before the sun goes
down to explore your family Libraries
with an iuexorable scrutiny. Remember
that one bad book or bad picture may do
ihe work for eternity I want to arouse
all your suspicious about novelties. I
want to put you ON the watch against
everything that may seem like surrepti-
Nous correspondence through the post
office. 1 want You to understand that
impure literature is one of the broadcast,
highest, mightest gates of the lost
Improper Dancing.
f1a+o t1,a era.r.,41 rT1,e .7see,lr,t, ,74,,,,., /