The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-01

plate Of the city Of Tyre? will Snow it
20 you:
Moreover. the Lord saith, because the
daughters 81 Zion are naughty and walk
with stretci ad-forth necks and wanton
eyes, walking and n..ncing as they go.
and making q tinkling with their feet
10 that dey the Lord viii take away the
bravery of their tinkling ornaments about
the.r feet. and their caul-. and their
round tires like the moon. the rings and
nose jewels. the changeable suits OF APP
parci, and the mantles. and the wimples
and the crisping-pins"
That 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?
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
young man drinks. and I know the whole
story. If he becomes a 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 a flock. and
when you see that beak ahead, you may
know the other beaks are coming. In
other words, the wine cup unbalances and
dethrones ones better judgment, and
leaves one the prey Of evil appettes 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
its chief abettor in the chalice Of inebri-
acy. There is either drinking car be-
fore, or one behind, or one above. or one
underneath. These people escape legal
penalty, because they are all licensed 10
liUnor "a lfeauqa 40 en- a
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 of the doomed
VIII you not, please, before you get
through the sermon, tell US how these
gates Of he'll may swing out to allow the
escape of the penitent2' ! reply, but very
few escape. OF the thousands that 90 in
nine hundred and ninety-nine perish. Sup
pose 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
dinner table? Would you ask her to be-
y
Would you introduce her among your ac-
quaintanceships? Would you take the re-
sponsibility 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 a thousand 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 wan
derer may escape?" Oh yes; three or
four. The one way is the sewing-girl's
garrett dingy, cold, hunger-blasted? But
you say rs there no other way for her
TO escape?' oh, yes 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 Il look so
smooth she wonders If It is deep enough.
1t is. NO boatman near enough to hear the
plunge. NO Waterman near enough TO
PICK her out before she sinks the third
time. No other way? Yes. BY the curve
of the railroad at the point where the en-
sineer Of the lightning express train can
not see hundred yards ahead to the form
that lies across the track. He may whis-
tie down brakes" but not soon enough to
dlsappont the one who seeks her death.
But you say, isn't God good, and won't
ne forgiven Yes; but man will not, wo-
man Will not, society will not. The church
OF God says 1t will, but 1t will not. our
WORK then, must be prevention rather
than cure.
Those gates Of hell are to be Frustrated
just as certainly as God and the Bible are
true, but II Will not be done until Christian
men ana women, quitting their prudery
and squeamishness in this matter. rally
the whole Christian sentiment of the
church and assail these great evils OF
society. The Bible utters its denunciation
IN this direction again and again, and
yet the piety of the day is such a namby-
pamoy sort OF thing that you cannot even
quote Scripture without making some
body restless. As long as this holy imbe-
Guilty reigns in the church of God, sin
VIII laugh you to scorn. l do not know
but that before the church wakes up
matters will get worse and worse, and
that there will have to be one lamb sac
rihced from each of the most carefully
guarded folds and the wave of unclean-
ness dash to the spire of the village church
ana the top of the cathedral tower
Ffophets and patriarChs, and apostles
ana eVangelists, and Christ himself have
Numbered against these sins as against
no other, and yet there are those who
think we ought to take, when we sneak
of these subjects. a tone apologize. |
put my foot on all the conventional rhet-
ORC on this subject, and tell you plain
~ that unless you give up that sin your
doom is sealed, and world without end
you VIII be chased by the anathemas of
an incensed God. / rally you to a besiege
ment of the gates of hell. We want in
this besieging host no soft sentimental
lists, but men who are willing to take and
give hard knocks. The gates Of GAIA were
carried of; the gates of Thebes were
battered down; the gates of Babylon
were destroyed. and the gates of hell are
going to be Frustrated
The Christianized printing press will he
rolled up as the chief battering-ram. Then
there viii be a long list of aroused null
pits, which shall be assaiing fortresses
and Gods red-hot truth shall be the av
ing ammunition of the contest; and tho
sappers and the miners will lay the train
under these foundations OF sin and ~
just the right time God who leads on
the fray, will cry: Down with the gates.'
and the explosion beneath will be an
swered by all the trumpets of God on high
celebrating universal victory
But there may be one wanderer that
would like to have a kind word calling
homeward. l have told you that society
has no mercy. Did l hint, at an earlier
point in this subject. that God will have
mercy upon any wanderer who would
like to come back to the heart of infinite
love?
cold Christmas night in a farmhouse
Father comes in from the barn. knocks
he fVn,. l.