The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1900-08-23
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
DISCOURSE By The EMINENT DI
VINE LAST SUNDAY


copyright 1901
WASHINGTON, D. C.-From st. Peters
burg, the Russian capital, where he was
cordially received by the Emperor and
Empress and the Empress Dowager, DR..
Talmage sends this discourse, in which he
shows the mighty good that may be done
by the cities and also the vast evil they
may do by their allurements to the unsus-
pecting and the unguarded. The text is
Zecharisa ], II: My cities through pros
perty shall yet be spread abroad"
The city is no worse than the country.
The vices of the metropolis are more evil
dent than the vices of the rural districts,
because there are more people to be bad,
if they wish to be. The merchant is as
good as the farmer. There is no more
cheating in town than out of town-no
worse cheating; it is only on a larger
scale. The countryman sometimes .preva-
ricates about the age of the horse that he
sells, about the size of the bushel with
which he measures the grain, about the
peaches at the bottom of the basket as
being as large as those at the top, about
the quarter of beef as being tender when
it is tough, and to as bad an extent as the
citizen, the merchant, prevaricates about
caiicoes or silks or hardware.
And as to villages, | think that in some
respects they are worse than the cities,
because they copy the vices OF the cities
in the meanest shape, and as to gossip, its
heaven is a country village! Everybody
knows everybody's business better than
he knows it himself. The grocery store
or the blacksmith shop by day and night
is the grand depot for masculine little tat
tie, and there are always in the village
half dozen women who have their sun
bonnets hanging near, so that at the first
item of derogatory news they can ty out
and cackle i! all over the town. Country
men must not be too. hard in their criti-
eism Of the citizen, nor must tbs pillow ! run
Cain was the founder of the first city,
and l suppose it took after him in morals.
1t takes a city a long while to escape from
the character of the founder. Where the
f2gclaeers 81 city are criminal ezles, the
filth, the vice, the prisons, are the shadow
of those founders. It will take centuries
for New York to get over the good inhu-
the founders whose prayers went up IN
the streets where now banks discount,
and brokers bargain, and companies de-
clare dividends, and smugglers swear Gus
tom house lies, and above the roar of the
wheels and the crack of the auctioneer's
mallet ascends the ascription,, we wor-
ship thee, o thou almighty doliar!
Cities are not evil necessarily, as some
have argued. They have been the birth
place of civilization. In them popular lib
erty has lifted its voice. Witness Genoa
and Pisa and Venice After the death of
Alexander the Great among his papers
were found extensive plans of cities, some
to be built in Europe, some to be built IN
Asia. The cities in Europe were to be
occupied by asiatics; the cities in Asia
were to be occupied, according to his
plans, by Europeans, and so there should
be a commingling and a fraternity and
kindness and good will between the con-
tinents and between the cities. SO there
always ought to be. The strangest thing
in my comprehension is that there should
be chickering's and rlvalries among our
American cities New York must stop
caricaturng Philadelphia, and Philadel.
pima must stop picking at New York, and
certainly the continent is large enough
for st. Paul and Minneapolis. What is
good for one city is good for all the cities;
Here is the great highway of our national
prosperity. On that highway of national
prosperity walk the cities.
A city with large forehead and great
brain-that is Boston; a city with delib-
crate step and calm manner-that is Phil
adelpha; a city with its pocket full Of
change-that is New York; two cities
gong with a rush that astounds the con-
tinent-they are St. Louis and Chicago;
with it--that is Brooklyn. Cincinnati,
Louisville, Pittsburg, all the cities OF the
north, and all the cities of the south,
some distinguished for one thing, some
for another, one for professional ability,
another for afi1uence, another for fashion,
but not one to be spared. What advan-
tages one advantages all. What damages
square. Laurel Hill, Mount Auburn,
Greenwood, weep over the same grief.
The statue OF Benjamin Franklin in New
York greeting the bronze statue OF Ed
ward Everett in Boston. All the cities a
confraternity. / cannot understand how
there should go on chickering's and rival
res. | plead for higher style Of brother
hood or sisterhood among the cities
Again, in all cities l am impressed with
the fact that all classes and conditions of
society must commingle. We sometimes
cultivate a wicked exclusiveness. Intel.
lect despises ignorance. Refinement will
have nothing to do with boorlshness.
Gloves hate the sunburned hand, and the
high forehead despises the fiat head, and
the trim hedgerow will have nothing to
do with the wild copsewood, and Athens
hates Nazareth. This ought not so to be.
| like this democratic principle OF the gos-
pei of Jesus Christ which recognizes the
fact that we stand before God on one
and the same platform. Do not take on
any airs. Whatever position you have
gained in society, you are nothing but
ated by the same Spirit, cleansed IN, the
same blood, to lie down in the same dust,
TO get up in the same resurrection. 1t Is
high time that we all acknowledged not
only the Fatherhood of God, but the
brotherhood of man.
Again, in all cities | am impressed with
the fact that it is a very hard thing for
man to keep his heart right and to get to
heaven. Infinite temptations spring upon
us from places Of public coneourse. Amid
so much affluence, how much temptation
to covetousness and to be disconnected
with our humble lot! Amid so many OPP
portunities for overreaching, what temp
tation to vanity! Amid so many saloons
OF strong drink, what allurements to dis
sipation! In the maelstroms and he'll
gates of the street, how many make quick
and eternal shipwreck! If man-ofwar
comes back from battle, and is towed
into the navy yard, we go down to look
AZ the splintered spars and count the bull
let holes, and look with patriotic admira-
ton on the flag that foated in victory
from the masthead. But that man is
more of curiosity who has gone through
thirty years of the sharpshooting of bust
ness life, and yet sails on, victor over the
temptations of the street. OH how many
have gone down under the pressure, leav-
inc NOT 81 much as match of canvas to