The Yale expositor., 1899-07-14
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE SIN OF GOSSIP, LAST
SUNDAYS SUBJECyr.
Full OF Envy, Murder, Debate, Deceit,
Mallgnity, Whisperers'-Roma Chap
ter 1, Verse 29-Ths Fire of n
Uellish Spirit.

/ ~
ana places as whisperers. They are so
called because they generally speak I'M
! der voice and in a confidential way,
their hand to the side of their mouth
acting as funnel to keep the precious
! information from wandering into the
wrong ear. They speak softly, not be-
cause they have lack of lung force, or
| because they are overpowered with the
spirit of gentleness, but because they
want to escape the consequences OF
! defamation. If no one hears but the
person whispered unto and the Of
fender be arraigned, he can deny the
whole thing, for whisperers ere al
ways first-class liars!
Some people whisper because they are
hoarse from a cold, or because they
wish to convey some useful informa-
ton without disturbing others; but the
creatures photographed by the apostle
in my text give mufIled utterance from
sinister and depraved motive. and
sometimes you can only hear the sib-
liant sound as the letter IS" drops from
the tongue into the listening ear, me
brief hiss of the serpent as it projects
it's venom.
Whisperers are masculine and feDi-
nine, with a tendency to majority on
the sides of those who are called the
lords of creation" Whisperers are
heard at every window Of bank CASH
Ter, and are heard in all counting
rooms as well as in sewing societies
and at meetings of asylum directors
and managers. They are the worst
foes of society; responsible for mis-
cries innumerable; they are the scav-
engers of the world, driving their cart
through every community, and today, |
hold up for your holy anathema and
execration these whisperers.
From the frequency with which PAU
speaks of them under different titles, |
conclude that he must have suffered
somewhat from them. His personal
presence was very defective, and that
made him, perhaps, the target of their
ridicule And beside that, he was a
bachelor, persisting in his cellbacy
down into the sixties, indeed, all the
way through, and some having failed
in their connubial designs upon him,
the little missionary was put under the
raking fire of these whisperers. He
was no doubt a rare morsel for their
standardization; and he cannot keep his
patience any longer and he lays hold
of these miscreants of the tongue and
/ pi, had eating down
in my text among the scoundrelly and
the murderous. Envy, murder, de-
bate, deceit, malignity; whisperers."
The law of libel makes quick and
stout grip of open SANDER. If should
in 3 plain way, calling you by name,
charge you with fraud, or theft, or
murder, or uncleanness, tomorrow
morning l might have peremptory
documents served on me, and l would
have to pay in dollars and cents for
! the damage l had done your character.
But these creatures spoken Of in my
| text are so small that they escape the
| fine-tooth comb of the law. They go
on, and they go on, escaping the judges
and the juries and the penitentiaries.
The district attorney cannot find them,
! the sheriff cannot find them, the grand
! Jury cannot find them. Shut them of
from one route of perfidy and they
start on another You cannot by the
| force of moral sentiment persuade
| them to desist. You might as well
read the Ten Commandments to flock
| - 20
under the force of moral sentiment
! They are to be found every where
these whisperers. / think their para
disc Is country village of about one
or two thousand people where every
body knows every body. But they also
are to be found in large quantities in
all our cities.
They have prying disposition
They look into the basement window
at the tables of their neighbors, and
can tell just what they have morning
and night to eat. They can see as far
through a keyhole as other people car
see with a door wide open. They car
hear conversation on the opposite side
of the room. Indeed, .he world tc
them is a whispering gallery. TheJ
always put the worst construction or
everything.
Some morning a wife descends into
the street, her eyes damp with tears
| and that is a stimulus to the tattlel
and is enough to set up a business fol
three or four weeks. II guess tha
husband and wife don't live happily to-
gether. l wonder IL he hasn't beer
abusing her? It's outrageous. HI
ought to be disciplined. He ought t
be brought up before the church. IL
go right over to my neighbors and III
let them know about this matter" Sh,
rushes in all out of breath to a neigh
boris house and says: 20! Mrs. Allear
have you heard the dreadful news
Why, our neighbor, poor thing, cam'
down off the steps in flood of tears
That brute OF a husband has beef
abusing her. Well, it's just as l ex
pected. l saw him the other afternoon
very smiling and very gracious to SOM
one who smiled back, and l though
then / would Just go up to him ant