The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-10-07
REV. DR.. TAIMAGE.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subject: "The Coming Redemption"

TEXT: And the streets OF the city snail be
full OF boys and girls playing in the streets
thereof. ."-Zachariah viii, 5.
Glimpses OF our cities redeemed! Now,
boys and girls who play in the streets run
such risks that mutitVdes of them end in
ruin. But, in the coming time spoken OF,
our cities will be 80 moral that lads and
lasses shall be as safe in the public thorough
fares as In the nursery.
Pulpit and printing presses for the most
part In our day are busy In discussing the
condition Of the cities at this time; but would
1t not be BEAUTIFULLY encouraging to all
Christian workers. and to all who are toll
ing to make the world better, if we should
for little while look forward to the time
when our cities shall be revolutionized by
the Gospel OF the Son of God. and oil the
darkness Of sin and trouble and crime and
suffering shall be gone from the world?
Every man has a pride in the city OF his
nativity or residence. II it be city distin-
guished for any dignity or prowess. Caesar
boosted OF his native Rome, Virgil OF Mantua,
Lycurgus of Sparta, Demosthenes OF Athens,
Archimedes of Syracuse, aud Paul OF Tarsus.
should have suspicion Of observation-disclosures
in man who had no especial interest in the
city OF his birth or resiience-no eXhi!ara-
. tion of the evidence OF its prosperity or its
artistic establishment, or its intellectual ad-
vancement.
I have noticed that man never likes
city where he has not behaved we'll, People
who have had a free ride in the prison van
never like the city that furnishes the vehicle.
When find Argos and Rhodes and Smyrna
trying to prove themselves the birthplace OF
Homer. I conclude at once that Homer oe-
haved we'll. He liked them and they liked
him. We must not war on laudable city
pride, or, with the idea Of building ourselves
up al any time, try to pull others down:
Boston must continue to point TO its Faneull
Hall and to Its Common. and to its superior
educational advantages Philadelphia must
continue 10 point to its Independence Hall
and its mint, and its Girard College. Wash
ington must continue to point TO its Won
drous Capitoline buildings. I'll should find
a man coming from any city, having no
pride in that city, that city having been the
place of his nativity, or now being the place
OF his residence, I would feel like asking:
"What mean thing have you done there?
What outrageous thing have you been guilty
of that you do not like the place?'
T think we ought-and I take 1t for
granted you are interested in this great work
OF evangelizinG the cities and SAVING the
worli-we ought to toll with the sunlight In
our faces. We are not fighting in miser-
able Bull Run of defeat. We are on our way
to inal victory. We are not following the
rider on the black horse, leading US down to
death and darkness and doom, but the Rider
on the white horse, with the moon under
His feet and the stars Of heaven for His tiara
Hail, Couqueror, hail!
know there are sorrows, and there
are sins, and there are sufferings all around
about us; but as in some bitter, cold winter
day, when we are threshing our arms around
us to keep our thumbs from freezing, we
think Of the warm spring day that will after
awhile come; or In the dark winter night we
look MP and see the northern lights, the win
dows OF heavon Illuminated by some great
victorv-just so We look up from the night
of suffering and sorrow and wretchedness
in our cities, aud we see a light streaming
through from the other side, and we know
We are on the way to morning--more than
that. on the way to "a morning without
Clouds"
I want you to understand. all you who are
toiling for Christ, that the castles OF sin are
all going to be captured. The victory for
Christ in these great towns is going to be so
complete that not man on earth or an
angel in heaven, or devil in hell will dis
pute it. How do know? I know just as
certainly as God lives aud this Is holy truth.
The old Bible is full OF it. II the Nation Is
to be saved, OF course all the cities are to be
saved" It makes great difference with you
and With me whether we are toiling on to-
Wd.u oeieal, VI toiuno ou tV""io 'Ao-
tory.
Now. in this municipal elevation Of which
+ I speak. I have to remark there will be
greater financial prosperity than our cities
have ever seen. Some people seem to have
morbid idea Of the millennium, and they
think when the better time comes to our
cities and the world people will give their
time up to psalm-singing and the relating OF
their religious experience, and, as all social
10 - anI xhnr will hn 10 NV
and, as all business will be purified, there
will be no enterprise. There is no ground
for such an absurd anticipation. In the
time Of which I speak, where now one for
tune is made. there will be a hundred for
tunes made. We all know business pros
perity depends upon confidence between
man and man. Now when that time comes
OF which I speak, and when all double deal
ing, all dishonesty, and all fraud are gone
dence will be established and there will be
better business done, and larger fortunes
gathered, and mightier successes achieved.
The great business disasters OF this country
have come from the work Of goddess specu-
lators and Infamous stock gamblers. The
great foe to business Is crime. When the
right shall have hurled back the wrong, and
shall have purified the commercial code, and
shall have thundered down fraudulent estab-
of honest men the keys OF business, blessed
time for the bargain makers. am not talk
ing an abstraction, am not making guess.
lam telling you Gods eternal truth.
In that day of which speak, taxes will be
mere nothing. Now, our business men are
taxed for everything. City taxes. county
taxes, State taxes, United States taxes, stamp
taxes, license taxes, manufacturing taxes
taxes. taxes, taxes! Our business men have
/ 90 olya a ortp RI
their taxes. What fastens on our great in
dustries this awful load? Crime, individua
and official. We have to pay the board o
| the villains who are incarcerated In our priS
ons. We have to take care OF the orphans O.
those who plunged into their graves through
sensual indulgencies. We have to suppor
the municipal governments, which are vas
and expensive just in proportion as the Grim
inal proclivities are vast and tremendous
Who support the almshouse, and police sta
tions, and all the machinery Of municipa
government? The tax payers.
But IN the glorious time of which speak
grievous taxation will all have ceased. There
will be no need Of supporting criminals there
will be no criminals. Virtue will have takeI
the place of wee. There will no orphan asy
lums. for parents will be a0!e 10 leave com
potency to their children. There will be NJ
voting Of large sums OF money Tor SOM
municipal Improvement, which moneys be
! fore they set to the improvements drop int
the pockets of those who voted them. M
Oyer and Terminer kept up at vast expens
70 the people. No impaneling Of iuries t.
try theft and arson and murder and slande
and blackmail Better factories. Grand ar
chitec,ure. Finer equipaGe. Larger lor
tunes. Richer opulence. Better churches
In that better time, also, coming to tbos
cilias. Christ's churches will be more M
marous and they will be larger, and they b.
more devoted to the Gospel Of Jesus Christ
/ and they will accomplish greater influence