The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-11-12
NENACING CLASSES
REV. DIR. TALMAGE ON DANGERS
THAT THREATEN SOCIETY

THAT 6OO1Gx4
tThe Public Criminals-Pris0n
Idle Ciasses-Ths Oppressed Poor-Dis-
cr,mio.tiou I'm Charity Putting Gar
ments to Glorious Uses. -
tCopyright, 1897, by American Press
Association.)
In this sermon DR.. Talmage, in a
startling way, speaks of the dangers
threatening our great towns and cities
and shows how the slumbering fires
may be put out. His text is Psalm
Xxx, 13. THE boar out OF the wood
doth waste it, and the wild beast OF
the field doth devour it."
BY his homely but expressive hgu-
,,re David sets forth the bad influences
which in olden times broke in upon
Gods heritage, as vita swine's loot
trampling and as with swine's snout
uprooting the vineyards of prosperity.
What was true then was true now.
There have been enough trees OF righ-
teousness planted to overshadoW the
whole earth had it not been Tor the
axmen who hewed them down. the
temple of truth would long G have
been completed had it not been for the
ieonoclast who defaced the walls and
battered down III pillars. The whole
earth would.have been an Eschol OF
ripened clusters had it not been that
1.-THE boar has wasted 1t and the wild
beast of the field devoured it."
THE DESTRUCTIVE CLASSES.
1 propose to point out to you those
whom / consider to be the destructive
classes Of society. First, the public
criminals. You ought not to be sur
prised that these people make up a
large proportion Of many communities.
In 1869 Of the AZ, 600 people who were
incarcerated in the prisons Of the
country 80, 900 wre Of Ofreign birth.
Many OF them were the very despera-
does of society. oozing into the slums
of our cities, waiting for an oppOrtu-
nifty to riot and steal and debauch,
joining the large gang Of American
thugs and cutthrOats. There are in
our cities people whose entire business
III lllc ~ l COIIIHIll u VI IL 10 oo
much their business as Jurisprudence
or medicine or merchandise is o u
business. To it they bring all their
energies of body, mind and soul, and
they look Upon the interregnums which
they spend in prison as so much unfor-
tunate loss of time, just as you look
upon an attack of influenza or rheu-
matism which fastens you in the house
for a few days. 1t is their lifetime
business to pick pockets and blow up
safes and shoplift and ply the panel
game, n they have as much pride of
skill in their business as you have in
yours when you upset the argument of
an opposing counsel or cure a gun shot
fracture which other surgeons have
given up or fOreSee a turn in the mar
ket so you buy goods just before they
go up 20 per cent. 1t is their business
to commit crime, and I do not suppose
once in a year the thought Of the i'm
morality strikes them. Added to these
professional criminals, American and
foreign, there is a large class of men
who are more or less Industrious in
crime. Drunkenness is responsible for
much Of the theft, since it confuses a
mans ideas of property, n he gets
his hand on things that do not belong
to him. Rum is responsible for much
OF the assault and battery, inspiring
men to sudden bravery, which they
must demonstrate, though it be on the
face of the next gentleman.
You help to pay the board of every
criminals, from the sneak thief who
snatches a spool of cotton up to some
man who enacts a BLACK Friday"
You might as we'll think to stand in a
closely confined room where there are
SO people and yet not breathe the Wit
lated air as to stand in a community
where there are so many Of the de-
PRAYED without somewhat being con-
taminated. What is the fire that burns
you store down compared with the
cOnflagation which your NOR
ale? What is the theft Of the gold
and silver from your money safe COM
pared with the theft of your children's
virture? We are all ready to arraign
criminals. We shout at the top of our
voice, stop thief" and when the po-
lice get on the track we come out hat
less n in our slippers and assist in
in the arrest. We come around the
bawling ruffian and hustle him off to
justice, and when ne gets in prison
what do we do for him? With great
gustO we put on the handouts and the
hopples, but what preparation are we
making for the day when the hand
cuffs and hopples come off? Society
seems to say to these criminals. will
liam. go in there n rot" when it
ought to say, you are an offender
against the law, but we mean to give
you an opportunity to repent; we NEAR
to help you. Here are Bibles and
tracts and christian influences. Christ
died for you. Look and live" Vast
improvements have been made by in
Producing industry into the prison. but
we want something more than ham
mers and shoe lasts to reclaim these
people. Aye, we want more than ser
mons on the Sabbath day.Society must
impress these men with the fact that it
does not enjoy their suffering, and that
it is attempting to reform and elevate
them. The majority of criminals sup
pose that society has a grudge against
them, and they in turn have a grudge
abainSt society.