The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-09-24
]. ! Hl.ILllMHoE's SERuoH.
And the streets Of the city shall be full
Of boys and girls playing in the streets,
thereof. Ia chariah wifi. s.

Of them end IN ruin: But in the COM
ing time spoken of our cities will be So
moral that lads and 1asses shall be as
safe in the public thoroug fares as in
the nursery. #
Pulpit and printing press for the
most part in our day are busy in dis
cussing the condition Of the cities at
this time; but would it not be health
fully encouraging to all Christian
workers, and to all who are toiling to
make the world better, if we should
for a little while look forward to the
time when our cities shall be revolu-
tionized by the Gospel Of the Son of
God, and all the darkness Of sin and
trouble and crime and suffering shall
be gone from the world?
Every man has pride in the city of
his nativity Or residence, if it be a
city distinguished for any dignity or
prOWess. Caesar oasted of his native
Rome, Virgil of Mantua, Lycurgus Of
Sparta, DemOsthenes of Athens, Archi-
medes of Syracuse and Paul of Tarsus.
[ should have suspicion Of base-heart-
edness in a man who had no special in
terest in the city of his birth or resi-
dence-no exhilaration at the evidence
of it's prosperity or it's artistic embel-
lishments or it's intellectual advance
ment.
I have noticed that man never likes
a city where he has not behaved well!
People who have had free ride in the
prison van never like the city that fur
nishes the vehicle. If 1 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 Lave
you done there? What outrageous
thing have you been guilty of that you
do not like the placer"
I think we ought-and [ take it for
granted you are interested in this great
work Of evangelizlng the cities and
saving the world-we ought to toll
with the sunlight in our faces. We
are not fighting i'll miserable Bull
Run defeat. We are on our way to
final 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, Con
queror, hail! a
" l 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 thrash
ing 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 up and see the Northern lights,
the windows Of heaven Illuminated by
some great victory Just so we look up
from the night of suffering and sorrow
and wretchedness in our cities, and we
see a ghtsstreaming 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."s
[ want you to understand, all you
who are toiling for Christ, that the
castles Of sin are all going to be cap
tured. 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 a devil in hell will dispute
it, How do know? I know just as
certainly as God lives and that this
is holy truth The ole Bible is full Of
it. If the nation is to be saved, of
course all the cities are to be saved.
It makes a great difference with you
and with me whether we are toiling
on toward defeat, or toiling toward
victory.
Now, in this municipal elevation Of
which I speak 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 experiences, and, as
all social life will be purified, there will
be no hilarity, 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 [
speak, where now one fortune is made,
there will be hundred fortunes made
We all know business prosperity de-
ponds upon confidence between man
and man. Now, when that time comes
Of which speak, and when all double
dealing, all dishonesty and all fraud
are gone out of commercial circles,
thorough confidence will be establish
ed 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 spectators 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 Numbered down fraudulent es-,
adjustments, and shall have put into
the hands Of honest men the keys Of
business, blessed time for the bargain
makers. I am not talking an abstrac-
ton. am not making a guess ] am
telling you Gods eternal truth.
s. In that day Of which speak, taxes
will be a mere nothing. Now, our bus
mess men are taxed for everything
City taxes, county taxes, state taxes,
United States taxes, stamp taxes, IL
eense taxes, manufacturing taxes
taxes, taxes, taxes! Our business men
have to make a small fortune every
year to pay their taxes. What sfastens
on our great industried this awful
load? Crime, individual and official.
We have to pay the board Of the vii
lains who are incarcerated in our prfs-
ons. We have to take care of the or
phans Of those who plunged into their
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