The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-08-29
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: The MissIon OF Cities-Morally
They Are No Worse Than the Country
Vice ~ More Apparent, But Not More
PrevaIent-A Plea For Honest Living.

,
PrevaIent-A Plea For Honest Living
Copyright lsuOl
WASHINGTON, D. C.-From st. Peters
burg, the Russian capital, where he was
cordially received by the Emperor and
Talmage sends this discourse, in which he
shows the mighty good that may he 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
Z.,hariah i, =: MY cities through pros.
perity Qaall 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 larger
scale. The countryman sometimes .preva-
r;cates 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
calicoes or silks or hardware.
And as t, villages, l 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 ID a4spanEy village! Everybody
knows eNefybo9yB 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 a
half dozen women who have their sun
bonnets hanging near, so that at the tlrst
item of derogatory news they can fly out
and cackle it all over the town. Country
men must not be too hard in their crltI-
cism of the citizen, nor must the plow run
Y Cain was the founder of the first city,
land I suppose it took after him in morals.
BIT takes city long while to escape from
tthe character of the founder. Where the
founders of city are criminal exiles, the
filth, the vice, the prisons, are. the shadow
of those founders. It will take centuries
for New York to get over the good in6u-
ence Of the pious founders of that city.
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 or the
wheels and the crack of the auctloneers
mallet ascends the ascription, 1--WE wor-
ship thee, o thou almighty dollar" y.
Cities are not evil necessarily, as some
have argued. They have been the birth
place of civilization. In them popular lib.
erty has lifted it's 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 80 there should
be commingling and fraternity apd a
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 rivalries. among our
American cities, New York must stop
caricaturing Philadelphia, and Philadel;;
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; city with deli6'
crate step and calm manner-that is Phil.
adelphia; 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; q
city that takes it's wife and children along
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 abillty,
another for affluence, another for fashion,
but not ore to be spared What advan-
tages one advantages all. What damages
Boston Common damages Washington
square. Laurel Hill, Mount Auburn,
Greenwood, weep over the same grief.
The statue o: benjamin Franklin in New
York greeting the bronze statue OF Ed
ward Everett in Boston. All the cities a
confraternity. I cannot understand how
there should 60 on chickering's and rival.
ries. plead for higher style Of brother
hood or ssterhood 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 wicked eXclusveness. Intel.
lect despiscs ignorance. Refinement Will
have nothing to do with boorlshness.
Gloves hate the sunburned hand, and the
high forehead despises the flat head, and
the trim hedgerow will have nothing to
do with the wild ue;opsewood, and Athens en-
hates Nazareth. This ought not so to be.
/ like this democratic principle Of the gos-
pel of Jesus Christ which recognizes the
fact that we stand before God on one
aud the same platform. DO not take on
any airs. Whatever position, you have
gained in society, you are nothing but a
man, born of the same Parent, reSener'
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 ls
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 very hard thing for
man to keep his heart right and to get to
heavcn. Infinite temptations spring upon
us from places Of public concourse. Amid
so much affluence, how much temptation
to covetousncss and to be discontented
with our humble lot! Amid so many op'
portunities for overreaching, what temp
tation to vanity! Amid so many saloons
of strong drink, what allurements to dis,
sipation! In the maelstroms and hell
gates of the street, how many make quick
and eternal shipwreck If man-of-warr
comes back from battle, and is towed
into the navy yard, we 60 down to look
a. the splntered spars and count the bull
let holes, and 10 < with patriotic admlra-
ton on the flag that hoated in victory
from the masthead. But that man is
more of a curiosity who has gone through
thirty years of the sharpshootins Of busi,
ness life, and yet sails on, victor over the
temptations of the street. Oh! how many
have gone down under the pressure, leav'
ing not so much as a patch of canvas to
tell where they perished. Their dishones'
ties kept tolling in their ears.
Again, in all these cities am impressed
with the fact that iiie is 1ull of pretenslon
and sham. What subtcrfuge, what dou:
bic dealing, what two facedness! DO all
the people who shake hands love each