The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-08-16
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE EMINENT DIvINE's sUNDA'
DIsCOURsE
Subject The Mission of Clties-MoralIy
They Are No Worse Than the Country
Vice Is More Apparent, But Not Nor.
Prevalent-A Plen For Honest Living.

They Are No Worse Than the Country
Vice Is More Apparent, But Not More
Prevalent-A Plea For Honest Living.
copyright laOoI
WASHINGTON, ID. C.-From St Peters.
burg thc Russian capital, where he was
cordially received by the Emperor and
Empress and the Empress Dowager. DIR.
lalmagc sends this discourse, in which he
SHOWS the mighty good that may be done
ny the cities and also the vast evil they
may do by their allurements to the unsus.
pecting and the unguarded The text Is
Hechariah J. II: MY cities through pros.
perlty shall yet be spread abroad"
,r me city IS no worse than the country.
ne wees OF the metropolis are more evi.
dent than the vices of the rural districts,
because there are more people to be bad,
II they wish to be. The merchant is Az
good as the farmer. There is no more
cheating. III town than out OF town-no
worse cheating; 1t is only on larger
scale. The countryman sometimes preva.
rlcatcs about the age Of the horse that he
sells about the size OF the bushcl with
winch lie measures the grain about tho
peaches at the bottom of the basket as
belng as large as those at the top, about
the quarter OF beef as being tender when
1t IS tough, and to as bad an extent as the
clllZen, the merchant. prevaricatcs about
callcoes or silks or hardware.
And as t. villages, think that in some
respects they are worse than the cities,
because they copy the vices OF the cities
IN the meanest shane and "a to gossip, its
heaven is country VILLAGE Everybody
knows everybodys business better than
he knows it himself The grocery store
or the blacksmith shop by day and night
IS the grand depot lor masculine title tat
tie, and there are always in the village q
halt dozen women who have their sun
bonnets hanging near, so that at the first
item OF derogatOry news they can hy out
and cackle it all over the town. Country.
men must not be too hard in their crti
cism OF the citizen. nor must the plow run
too sharply against the yardstick
Cain was the founder of the first city
and | suppose 1t took after him in morals
1t takes city a long while to escape from
the character OF the founder. Where the
founders OF city are criminal eXiles, the
filth, the vice, the prisons, are the shadow
of those founders. 1t will take centuries
for New York to get over the good inhu
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 of the
wheels and the crack OF the auctioneer's
mallet ascends the ascription, I'VE wor.
ship thee, o thou almighty dollar!"
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 fraternity and 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.
phla 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; city with delib
crate step and calm manner-that is Phil
| change-that is New York: two cities
gong with a rush that astounds the con
| tinent-they are St. Louis and Chicago; a
city that takes its 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 ability
another for afiluence, another for fashion
but not one to be spared What 0dvan
tages one advantages all. What damages
| Boston Common damages Washington
| 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 g
confraternity. | cannot understand how
there should go on chickering's and rival
ries. | plead for a higher style OF brother
hood or sisterhood among the cities,
Again, in all cities ] AIN impressed witt
| the fact that all classes and conditions o.
society must commingle We sometimes
cultivate wicked eXclusiveness. Intel
lect despises ignorance. Refinement vii
have nothing to do with boorishness
Gloves hate the sunburned hand, and The
| high forehead despises the Hat head, ant
the trim hedgerow will have nothing t'
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 thu
fact that we stand before God on on'
and the same platform. Do not take OF
any airs. Whatever position you have
| gained in society, you are nothing but
man born of the same Parent, regener
ated by the same Spirit, cleansed in th
same blood, to lie down in the same dust
to get up in the same resurrection. 1t i
high time that we all acknowledged no
only the Fatherhood of God, but th
brotherhood Of man -,
Again, in all cities | am impressed will
the fact that it is very hard thing Tor
man to keep his heart right and to get t
heaven. Infinite temptations spring upol
us from places of public concourse. Ami'
so much affiuence, how much temptation
to covetousness and to be discontentet
with our humble lot! Amid so many op
portunities for overreaching, what temp
tation to vanity Amid so many saloon
of strong drink what allurements to DIS
sipation In the maelstroms and hel
gates of the street how many make quicl
and eternal shipwreck! If man-of-wa
comes back from battle, and is towe!
into the navy yard, we go down TO looii
al the splintered spars and count the bul
let holes, and look with patriotic admira
ton on the flag that floated in victor.
from the masthead. But that man j
more of a curiosity who has gone through
thirty years of the sharpshooting of busi
ness life, and yet sails on, victor over tn
temptations of the street. OH how man,
have gone down under the pressure, leay
ing not so much as patch of canvas L
tell where they perished. Their dishones
ties kept tolling in their ears.
Again, in all these cities | am impresse'
with the fact that life is full of pretensiol
i II. 4.