The Yale expositor., 1901-06-14
'TALMAGE'S SERMON.
ARRAIGN5 THE PRESENT ERA
OF PROFIT SEEKING.
Condemns the Methods OF Speculation
That Has - Tendency to Make Man
kind Overlook the Real Purposes of
Our LIVES

Copyright. 1901. by Louis Klopsch, N. "
Washington, June 9.-In this dis
course DR.. Talmage arraigns the spirit
OF wild speculation and gives some ac-
count of the financial ruin OF other
days Proverbs xiii, 8, Riches GER
tainly make themselves wings; they fly
away as an eagle toward heaven"
Money is golden breasted bird with
silver beak. 1t alights on the office
desk or on the parlor center table. Men
and women stand and admire 1t. They
do not notice that it has wings larger
than ravens, larger than a flamin-
go's, larger than an eagles. One wave
OF the hand of misfortune and 1t
spreads its beautiful plumage and is
gone-"as an eagle toward heaven"
! my text says though sometimes l think
1t goes in the other direction.
Wall Street Condemned.
What a verification we have had of
the flying capacity of riches in Wall
street! And Wall street is one OF the
longest streets in the world. 1t does
not begin at the foot of Trinity
church, New York, and end at the East
river, as many suppose. 1t reaches
through all our American cities and
across the sea. Encouraged by the
revival of trade and by the fact that
Wall street disasters of other years
were so far back as to be forgotten,
spectators run up the stocks from
point to. point until innocent people on
the outside suppose that the stocks
would always continue to ascend. They
gather in from all parts Of the coun
try. Large sums of money are taken
into Wall street and small sums of
money The crash comes, thank God,
in time to warn off a great many who
who were on their way thither for the
sadness of the thing is that a great
many Of the young men of our cities
who save little money for the pur-
pose of starting themselves in business
and who have $500 or 81 900 or $4,000
or $4,000 go into Wall street and
'ose all. And if there ever was time
Or the pulpit to speak out in regard 20
certain kinds of nefariou1 enterprises
now is the time
Stocks rose and fell, and now they
begin to rise again, and they will fall
again until thousands of young men
will be ruined unless the printing press
and the pulpit give emphatic utterance
! My counsel is to countrymen, so far
as they may hear of this discourse,
If they have surplus to invest it in first
mortgages and in moneyed institutions
which, though paying comparatively
small interest, are sound and safe be-
yond dispute, and to stand clear of the
Wall street vortex, where so many
have been swamped and swallowed
What compliment it is to the healthy
condition of our country that these re-
cent disasters have in no way depress-
ed trade! l thank God that Wall
streets capacity to blast this country
has gone forever.
Street with n History.
Across the island OF New York in
1856 a wall made of stone and earth
and cannon mounted was built to keep
off the savages. Along by that wall a
street was laid out, and as the street
followed the line of the wall it was ap-
propriately called Wall street. 1t is
narrow, it is unarchitectural, and yet
its history is unique. Excepting Lom-
bard street, London, it is the mightiest
street on this planet. There the gov
eminent of the United States was born.
There Washington held his levees.
There Mrs. Adams and Mrs Caldwell
and Mrs. Knox and other brilliant wo-
men CT the Revolution displayed their
charms. There WitheEspoon and Jona-
than Edwards and George Whitefield
sometimes preached. There DR.. Mason
chided Alexander Hamilton for writing
the constitution of the United States
without any God in it, There negroes
were sold in the slave mart. There
criminals were harnessed to wheelbar-
rows and, like beasts of burden, COM
PEELED to draw or were dashed through
the street behind carts to which they
were fastened. Their fortunes have
come to coronation or burial since the
lay when reckless spectators in pow
Tered hair and silver shoe buckles
lodged Dugan, the governor general of
ais majesty, clear down to yesterday
1T o'clock. The history of Wall street
s to a certain extent the financial
commercial, agricultural, mining, lit
erary, artistic, moral and religious his
tory of this country. They are the best
men in this country and there are the
worst. Everything from answering
integrity to tip-top scoundrelism-
everything from heaven born charity
20 bloodless Shylockism. want to put
The pillow in at the curbstone of Trinity
md drive it clear through to Wall
street ferry. And so it shall go If the
horses are strong enough to draw the
plow.
Justinable Speculation.
Again, l have to remark that Wall
street Is a type throughout the country
Of legitimate speculation on the one
hand and of ruinous gambling on the
other. Almost every merchant is to
some extent a speculator. He depends
not only upon the difference between