The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-04-05
DIR. TALMAGES. SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: "Perils Of the Metropolis"-The
Luxury and the squalor OF Great Cities
Thrown Into Violent Contrast ject
Iessona Drawn From Experience.

Luxury and the squalor OF Great Cities
Thrown Into Violent Contrast-Object
Lessons Drawn From Experience.
TEXT: "Wisdom crieth without: she ut
tereth her voice In the streets; ts;"-Proverbs
l., 90.
We are all ready to listen to the voices Of
nature-the voices of the mountain, the
voices Of the sea, the voices Of the storm,
the voices OF the stab. As In some OF the
sathedrals in Europe there Is an organ at
sither end of the building, and the one In
,trument responds musically - the other,
80 in the great cathedral OF nature day re;
spends to day and night to night and
dower to flower and star to star in the
great barmonies Of the universe. The
,pringtime is an evangelist in blossoms
preaching Of Gods love, and the winter Is
, prophet-white neutrality-suspicious.
woe against our sins. We are oil ready to
listen to the voices OF nature, but how few
,f us learn anything from the voices OF the
,oisy and dusty street, You 80 to your
mechanism and to your work and to your
merchandise. and You come back again,
Ind often with how different heart you
BASS through the streets. Are there no
nents over which we pass2 Are there no
:ufts OF truth growing up between these
,obblestones, beaten with the feet OF toll
md pain and pleasure, the slow tread OF
Did age and the quick step ofchildhood?
Ave, there are great harvests to- be reaped,
md now thrust In the sickle because the
harvest Is ripe. "Wisdom crieth without:
The uttereth her voice In the streets"
In the first place, the street impresses
ne with the fact that this life Is a scene OF
soir and struggle. By ten O'Clock every day
:he city is jarring with wheels, and shuf1-
ING with feet, and humming with voices,
,tacks, and a rush with trafickers. Once
n awhile you find man going along with
folded arms and with leisurely step, as
though he had nothing to do; but for the
most part, as you find men going down
:hese streets on the way to business, there
8 anxiety in their faces, as though they
aad some errand which must be executed
at the first possible moment. You are
ostIed by those who have bargains to
make and notes to. sell. Up this ladder
With hod of bricks, out OF this bank with
roll Of bills, on this dray With load OF
goods, digging a cellar, or shingling roof,
nending watch, or binding book. In
iustry, with her thousand arms and thou
sand eyes and Thousand feet goes on sing
ING her song OF work. work, work, while
he mills drum it and the steam whistles
Qfe It. All this not because men love toll.
Some one remarked, "Every man is as lazy
az he can afford to be-" But 1t 1, because
necessity with stern brow and with uplifted
whip stand over you ready whenever you
relax your toll to make your shouIderJ
,ting with the lash.
Can it be that passing up and down
these streets on your way to work and
Al n
of the worlds toll aud anxiety and
struggle? Oh, how many dropping hearts,
how many eyes on the watch, how many
miles travelled, how muny burdens carried,
how many losses suffered. how many
battles fought, how many victories gained,
how many defeats suffered, how many e1-
ssperations endured; what losses, what
hunger, what wretchedness, what pallor.
what disease, what agony, what despairl
Sometimes I have stopped at the corner OF
the street as the multitudes went hither
and yop, and 1t has seemed;to me great
pantomime, and as I looked upon It my
heart broke. This great tide OF human life
.hat goes down the street is rapid, tossed
irIyen back-beautiiul in its confusion,
and confused IN its beauty. In the carpeted
aisles of the forest, in the woods from
which the eternal shadow Is never lifted,
On the shore OF the sea over which iron
coast tosses the tangled foam sprinkling
! the cracked cliffs with a baptism Of whirl-
wind and tempest, is the best place to
study God, but in the rushing, swarming,
taving street Is the best place IS study
nan. :
Going down to your place Of business
and coming home again, charge you fc
look about--see these signs Of poverty, OF
wretchedness, OF hunger, Of sin, OF bereave'
nent-and as you so through the streets
| and come back through the streets, gather
| dp in the arms. OF your prayer all the sor.
row. all the losses. all the sufferings, al
.he bereavemeuts OF those whom you pass
and present them in PRAYER before an all
sympathetic God. In the Great day o.
sternity there will be thousands OF person!
9ith whom you In this world neve: ex
,happed one word, will rise up and cal
you blessed, and there will be a thousand
| fingers pointed at you in heaven, saying
THAT Is the man, that is the woman, wht
nslped me when was hungry and sick ant
wandering and lost and heartbroken. Tina
is the man, that Is the woman" and th'
blessing will come down upon you a
Christ shall say: "I was hungry, and Y!
Ted Me: was naked, and We clothed Me;
was sick and in prison, and ye visited Me
| tQHSQucQ rs To oio ~ " tocoS PS0A- ""AAS ~
:he streets, ye did 1t to Me-"
Again, the street impresses me with th'
fact that all classes and conditions OF so
,iety must commingle. We sometimes cul
ture wicked exclusiveness. Intellect de
,pises ignorance. Refinement will hav'
| nothing 70 do with boorishness. Glove
hate the sunburned hand, and the higl
forebead despises the fat head, and th'
! trim hedgerow will have nothing to a.
i with the wild copsewood, and Athens hate
Nazareth. This ought not so to be. Tn
astronomer must come down from tn
starry revelry an help US In our naviSa
tion. The surgeon must come away iron
his study OF the human organism and Sc
! our broken bones. The chemist must COM
! away from his laboratory, where he ha
peen studying analysis and synthests,. ant
, help US TO understand the nature OF tn
! ,oiis. bless God that all classes OF peo
, Dle are compelled to meet on the street
The clittering couch wheels clashes agains
| the scavenger's. curt. Fine robes rul
against tbr peddler's pack. Robust bealtl
meets wan sickness. Honesty confront!
fraud. Every class o. people meets ever!
other clasa. Impudence and modesty
pride and humility, purity and beastltness
irankness and hypocrisy, meeting on th'
! same block, in the same street. IN the same
| city. Oh, TINT Is what solomon mean
when he said, "The rich and the poor NEE
together; the Lord is the Maker OF then
! ALL"
like this democratic principle at the
gospel OF Jesus Christ which recoSnlze:
the fact that we stand before God one ant
the same platform. Do not take on any
Mrs. Whatever position you have Saiaec
In society you are nothing but mar
born OF the same parent, recenerated py
the sume spirit, cleansed by the SAME
blood to lie down in the same dust, to Sc;
nm In the same resurrection. 1t IS high
time that wo all Acknowledged not oniy
the Futherhood OF God, but the brother
hood Of man.
Again. the street imprcsses me with the
hor n nj,