The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-27
DR. %ARKHURSTS DIATRIBE
AN AMAZING SERMON FROM THE
TEXT, THANEPUJ.n

ne Starts with ConiuEal FaithIessness.
Deuounces Society Women, and Winds
Up By Calling Conl Dealers Demons.
B"ioodsuckers, Thieves. and Murdcrers.
The Rev. DR.. Charles IL. Parkhurst, In tho
Madison Square Presbyterian Church yesterday
morning, delivered n vigorous sermon to a largo
congregation. lie took for his text, BE Thank
full Unto Him and Bless His Name; for tho
Lord is Good" Psalms c., %.5l He said in
part:
~ do not know how many unfaithful hus-
bands or wives there nro In this community, but
! should calculate that there might be well on
toward n quarter of a million. Tho lovo be-
tween husband and wife is kept true in some
cases by the possession of chlldren: but l have
learned enough to know that in tho case of any
couple that might present Themselves before mo
TO be married ! would not at any rate of pre-
MUM issue an insurance policy on their conju-
gal felicity good for moro than five years unless
on the contingency Of offspring or on the basis
OF their common faith in God. C~onjugal devo-
zion that is not braoed by something besides the
direct regard of each person for the other-in
other words. %conjugal devotion that Is both
ohiidless and atheistio. lacks just that consum-
mating ingredient OF tenacity which can alono
secure marriage from being anything but .
sentimental experiment..
Educating a man does not change his iui-
pulses any more than whetting steel converts
It into willow. or sharpening q VOLTS teeth
makes OF him n kitten. Look at the condition
Of Europe at the present time. Almost every
nation Is studying It's own distinctive interests
with n concentration OF intensity that Is ter
rife, and every one almost Of the great powers
would like to get the other by the throat, and
We are all imagining that one Of these days there
will como q grand convulsion that will tear
Europe into geographical flinders. There would
be nothing strange in that. That is only the
natural outcome Of egotism educated TO the
II you do not look upon your neighbor as .
brother you are to all intents and purposes
peculierities in the quality or at least in the
form of modern civilization we arc less lik ely
than our ancestors a few hundred years back to
deal with outlaws in a manner offensive to re-
hned tastes, and 70 string them UP suinnarily
or to E chop them into nap odds ana lend ends eat so that
they were legitimate spoil. II n lady goes 10
the ntore and buys, an article that she
Is lure is marvellously cheap. and cannot
gods can be procured At 50 pitia6ie a
about the world she lives In and the indus
trial conditions that prevail, that some poor
for heriwork. and she. the elegant lady going
slhopplng in her carriage, gets the benefit OF II.
city. She does not kin the tiri outright, but she
helps to kill her By inches. And then, when she
she has halt paid for and that the sewing girl
has paid the Other, half OF By her health per-
hal 6sps and very Possibly IS im, b by In, her ,h virt shs IS she so en-,
bloodsucker and a murderess by Joining n relief
or rescue soeiety and packing Oh tlis unayaii;
able portions OF her wardrobe TO be distributed
among the poor servant girls In the back alley.
You ladies want to think OF that sometimes
when you are swarming around n bargain
If a number OF men engaged, for instance,
in the mining OF coal agree together to cut tho
output TO such and such a figure, and to put the
price mp to such q corresponding, figure. and do
T. hu n2a because raen the isF' bma s,s s y fhsv OF ba ,Re
things in their own hands. and because the e1.
possd veins Of the people are supposed TO be
easy opportunity to drink and II then the mem
bers OF the coal mining company are able &c, go
through the winter in warm and comfortable
elegance. aided thereto by tho money of the
poor. who through January and February shiyer
cause coal is so high they cannot afford enough
to keep warm; then, tho suffering that ac-
the outcome OF it are chargenble directly to the
coal magnetes. have put this sentence TO-
accusation and no jumping at conclusions. | am
only saying that II coal companies or coal
S SS niiNssus Ss ,G Ser' power STaG" to the end of dyyaw Tns
Off into their own treasury as much Of the poor
mans money as they can or dare, to the impoy.
comfort, and TO the sapping of the currents of
health and life. then such companies are pos
sessed. OF the demon or THEFT ana murder, and
there is no other just and Saxon way of char
RcteriZlng II. And this Is no more applicable to
dealers IN coal than to the dealers IN any other
commodity.
I'VE are profoundly grateful to-day that we
have passed thestrain ofrecent struggle without
national disaster. but that gratitude should set
us to Contem plating in temperate and Affection
alto earnestness n situation which is still serious.
There is an element, Of course. in every country
who have an eccentric way or imagining that
the world owes them n living whether they earn
Il or not. but that Is not the tone of mind of the
great middle and lower classes of the American
people. They want a fair chance and they have
q right to 1t.