The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-05-06

Life-Thc Making of Criminals.
Rev T De Witt Talmage preached yes
terday morning at the Fourth Presbyte-
rian Church. At the opening of the ser
vice he spoke in eulogy CT the twenty
seven years work done for the church
and for Christ by the pastor, the Rev.
Joseph T. Kelly. who is now confined to
his home with a mild attack of typhoid
fever For the Scripture lesson of the
day DR. Talmage look the parable of the
prodigal son, translating it from its words
and deeds of olden time to words and
deeds of today God is the father in this
parable" he said. land l and you are
| the SON" He took his text from Daniel,
xi:2: THE people that do know their
God shall be strong and do exploits. He
| said in part:
"Antiochus Epiphanes came down many
times to destroy the Jews and Jerusalem.
First he came with swaying cohorts of
elephants. but he was driven back. Then
he came with n great army. Again and
again he came, and one time he WAS near
taking the city, when there appeared the
flashing legions of the Romans. with Pom
pilius in command. And Antiochus was
in doubt whether he should surrender
when Pompilius came to him. Pompilius
was a man of great exploits. He drew
a circle around Antiochus and said, I'm
til you have surrendered you shall not de-
part ont of that circle
I'VE all like exploits-and we all worship
the men who do them. We like heroes.
An exploit Is a brave deed done for the
| benefit of the world. | hear some of you
| say that you live a hum-drum life and
| you have no opportunity to do exploits.
1t may seem so. and l dare say not one of
you would ever get an opportunity to be-
| come famous. | think that wars are at
| an end. and that you and l will see the
| last gun spiked The dove is going to take
the place of the vulture.
There is no probability that you-even
| the youngest of you-will become a great
| inventor-a Sir Humphrey Davy. They
| tell me at the Patent Office that but one
| out of every hundred patents pays for
| the cost Of taking it out. Yet you may
say. 4 have no field in which to do ex-
| ploits.' / say that you have. You have
three of the greatest fields that ever
were-felds that cover the whole world.
| You can be savior-you can save the life
of man, you can save the life of wo-
| man. you can save the life of . child.
There comes a time in each mans life
| when he must choose, and when he Is
| ground between the upper and the neither
1 milestone. There comes a time when he
must choose. There are times when he
| must size up the exigency of the eircum-
| stances with all the Christ spirit there is
| in him. Let a young man be brought be-
| fore a Judge The boy has committed.
| under stress of circumstance and tempta-
ton his first crime. Shall the judge rush
| him to prison. there to become hardened
| criminal and to soak in crime that snail
| make him a worse evil-doer every day or
his life If he live to be sixty? The young
| man has no mother or father to help him.
| WHY does not the District Attorney take
him aside, tell him he has done wrong,
advise him rightly and set him free?
why is there not rivalry among the at
| torneys at the bar to take the case and
defend the boy There is an opportunity
offered to do an exploit that win live
| quadriIlions of years after the last whirl-
| wind has swept out of the armament the
| ashes Of the encindered earth. Yet as a
| rule a man steps forward TO take the
case whose advocacy itself would be
enough to condemn the poor boy.
! Il do not believe that men are all
wrong. but they are not all so thoughtful
as they might be. or 50 self-denying.
Seeing this poor hoy going into the mire'
a self-righteous man passing by would
look at him and say. There's a man in
| the ditch passing on. A man more
Christian would say, There's a poor ras-
cal in the ditch, l wish l had my working
clothes on, I'd pull him out. The true
man, who wants to do exploits, kneels
at the side of the ditch and with a strong
pull, lands the poor unfortunate on the
brink
In commercial :igencies there are ex-
I .v.Nsa4 IN
stocks up with spring goods. There is
no spring and the season jumps from
winter TO summer. As he looks at his
shelves the stock of clothing seems to
grow larger and larger. The old business
men on the block shake their heads and
say he has been foolish. Soon he is
obliged to sell out everything in an auc-
ton at a sacrifice. The merchants come
| in and buy at prices that mean ruin &c
him. He was foolish they say. and be-
sides he had no business coming to To-
| cate here near u.s. So he is ruined. But
there is another way of treating this
thing Suppose the old business men had
said, We will give you the advantage OF
our experience, and had helped him out
| a Iittle--tided him over the difficulty by
endorsing him among the wholesalers
The prospects of the young man would
| have gone from 10 degrees below zero
to SO in the shade, and the roses would
come back into his wife's cheeks. and hC
would be a new man again. That woulc
| be an exploit for the merchants, and they
would have saved a man.
You can save men from the temptation
of drink, and from the temptation Of othel
| sinsssnd vices | am sure many people
have saved men from these things, anc
know what wonderful JOY 1t is to have
| saved life.
There are exigences where a helping
hand can save the life Of woman They
| are everywhere. | remember seeing in
| newspaper in the early months Of last
winter an advertisement that a young
woman had lost purse containing $50
| all that she had in the world 1t was 3
| case that not only asked, but demanded
| sympathy, for she had no place to go and
no friends If you were employing PEG
| pie, and this woman came to you, would
you say that you had nothing Tor her e
do, that women are worthless anyhow
| ard YOU did not want herr Would yot
/. ] say to her things for which you would
kill any man If he said them TO youl
| sister? Would you turn her out into tn,
world2 Or would you give ner "A place, anC
If you had no place in your own shoT
| send her with recommendation to some
| orc else? What grinding thing the city
is All these battered women could bI
| saved If a hand were stretched to them
and they were given something TO do
| The life of the poor little seamstress
| hangs upon the thread of her needle. Il
| il breaks. she drifts away with the los
ones What is "A woman Let me define
| her Direct from God, she is delicate
| Gift OF affection. so vast that nothing
1 but the infinite bounds OF the God him
| self can limit her. Until time of troubl'
! comes we know her not-and in our an
| suish she whom we thought at first I,
| be but thoughtless butterfly turns GU
/, | TO be a comforter with limitless depth.
Of sympathy.
we all have the blessed opportunity o.