The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-12-28
WORLDLY ATTRACTIONS
Pastor Allen Talks to the Green
vile Boys Brigade
About Aims.

Pastor Allen, Of the Greenvnle Re
formed Church. last evening preached a
sermon to the Second Company of the
Boys Brigade. The church was crowded
to its very doors. A very gratifying
feature was the sight Of so many young
people present, particularly young men.
As his text the pastor selected Genesis
A:43, And he made him ruler over all
the land of Egypt" During his sermon
he said
:! am intent upon aiding you young men
TO become successful as Joseph did My
effort is not the less diminished because
l am shoulder to shoulder with you in the
struggle. One of the greatest pleasures
know Is that OF giving g lift III I
CAN 1t often costs much. II more often
costs nothing, either of which fact may
entice every young mar here to dedicate
his heart and hand to the great business
OF brOtherly assistance A future PTesi-
dent of the United States may be here or
a future Vice-President or a Cabinet off,
Ger on a Congressman, or a leading bust
ness man, or a lawyer or minister or a
statesman OF soldier. That probability
IS not wild, not when you think Of Jo-
seph, who at IS years of age, when most
young men are entering college, or nicely
fixed in business and just as nicely xed
perhaps in the heart of a sweet young
10Q2s WAS INV u CA fAtlO q Rttt lkC SUN ~
the Ishmaelftes bound for Egypt, Who
at thirty. without a particle of prospect
jumped into favor with a king and actu-
ally became Vice-Regent Of a whole em-
pire. What is the use of searching a Ii
brary for fiction out of which to get q
fnorsel of encouragement in this busy
world, when here in the great volume of
truth is a narration of actual fact con-
tanning a whole cargo of food?
young men,, you are very different
from the most of you fellows. if you are
indifferent to such romano as this. Most
young men love romance. That is the
reason why the theatre gets both their
money and their presence, while the
church gets neither. It's almost an Inn
possibility to get people to choose in
favor of the prayer meeting if there is a
good play in town. The ministers great
est competitor is the actor. The churen's
greatest competitor is the theatre. The
pulpit'S greatest competitor is the stage,
and the Gospels greatest competitor IS
the comedy, tragedy, farce. / have never
denounced the theatre, ard ! never viii
with Christ for a guide. God has been
the thing patronized by he people Is al
a the product of the peoples demand;
the thing to handle is that demand.
of the saloon and the club and the cor
ner, all places, all conditions, all forms
of sin. That which always to be borne
in the mind by any, reformer is the .rea-
SON why and not the thing which, The
heart of man ought to be the objective
point in all reform.
s'If any young man had a chance to
There is a long gap covering the year
between his arrival in Egypt when he was
sold to Potiphar and his being cast into
prison. Prison walls do not speak. They
could tell startling stories about injus-
tee. Prison walls may intercept the
gaze of the world, but not the all-seeing
eye of God. Our country no less than
Egypt suffers the need OF men like of old
JQSarH Virfnuz inSfrlfcfjfrS and mafhndc
and politics viii not disappear until the
Josephs arrive. 1t makes a mar smile
one minute n rave the next to behold
the plight in which at the present day
cur beloved country stands.
mo one went about in Egypt Grating
and prating about the kind of men tha.
done save when conditions Of need de-
mand it. 1t Is don in this land from
sea to sea. Not a newspaper, not a lee
turer, not a stump speech. not a minister,
ing with this sort of counsel, What our
country needs is such and such a sort OF
man, and the such and such represents
as many varieties Of men as there are
prayers.
THE consequence Is there Is not a pay
ing position from Presidential supremacy
to that of a authorship that is not most
diligently sought after. And you may
write 1t down as a corolIary to one of
Gods laws that mere search<for suprem-
aey Is wrong. for there Is the origin Of
the poittcdl HIS OIL any ndtlOnS lie. Inc
search demands ingenuity. The ingenu-
ity Of one man must must be outclassed
bv hat of e1other. 1t gets to be by
fence building, button-holing, bribery,
every device of he'll brought to the front
in this great land, while merit lives on
bread and water innocent of the abuse
that is .heaped upon her. content to let
time roll on no prospect, except a worse
fate and more of it.
I'm Washington today during the pres
ent session of Congress, our Representa-
tives and Senators are hesitating in the
face of hat each of them knows to be a
humanitarian necessity. namely: that suf-
they are Weighing their responsibility and
asking, Would it be discreet to send our
army to Spain?'