The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-03
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage's Morning Ser
mon in the Brooklyn Tabernacle.
Trying Presidential Aspirants by the Rule of
the Ten COmmandments-The DecalOgue
Equally Binding in all Its Parts.


across the water, it need only be noticed that
Mr. Sturgeon, of England, writing to this
country, says:
''Mr. Talmage's discourses lay hold of my in
most soul. The Lord IS with this mighty man
of valor So may He ever be till the campaign
closes with vietoryi / am indeed glad of his
voice. 1t cheers me intensely. He loves the
gospel, and believes in something which some
preachers hardly do. There are those about who
use the old labels but the articles not the
same. May the Lord win armies of souls to
Jesus by this man. | am astonished when God
blesses me, but somehow I should not be so
} much surprised if He blessed this man"
The opening hymn to-day was:
'Am l soldier of the cross,
follower of the lamb,
And shall fear to His cause
Or blush to speak His namel"
Before the sermon, to-day, DR.. Talmage read
and expounded the Ten Commandments. The
subject of his discourse was: "Should the Moral
Character of Candidates for Office Be Taken
into Consideration by Votersl" DR.. Talmage
announced his text as, EXODUS the Goth chap
= ter, and the first seventeen verses, namely the
Ten Commandments.
Earthquake and lightning, said he, put their
, forces together to rock a mountain of Arabia
Petrea, and the traveller to-day finds heap of
Z broken porphyry and greensboro rocks, powders
against powders, the ruins of the first law Ii
brary, not written OF parchment or papyrus, but
shattered slabs of granite The corner
stones of all morality, of all wise law, of all
righteous Jurisprudence, of all good government
are the two tables of stone on which the Ten
Commandments were written. All Roman law
all English law, all French law, all American
law worth anything, civil law, criminal law
common law, martial law, and law of nations
were rocked in the cradle of the twentieth chap
ter of Exodus. 1t would be we'll if at this time
all the newspapers of the land would at some
time publish this chapter in place of one of their
editorials, Some of its passages have evidently
been forgotten They are all equally in force.
You have right to say which is the more i'm
portant. They are the pillars upon which the
temple of society rests Strike down any one
and you damage the whole structure. L notice
that men are very apt to become incarnate
Sinais and thunder especially against the sin to
which they are not especially tempted They
take one gun out of the battery of ten guns and
unlimber that, and load that, and fire that.
To-day shall in continuance of the series of
lsArmons on national affairs, and within two days
of the presidential election, try the four candi
dates for the chief magistracy. This decalogue
prohibits idolatry, image making, and profanity,
and Sabbath dissertation. and irrsverence of
parents, and murder, and incontinence. and
theft, and lying, and covetousness- That is the
standard by which all candidates, national,
State and city, must be tried We must not ex-
pect perfection. If we don't vote until we find
the immaculate nominee, we would never vote at
Ill Co..
be censorous, or maledictory, or hypercritcal of
others. The Christly rule is as appropriate for
November as for any month of the year. and for
every 4th year as for the preceding three years.
] Judge not, that We be not judged"
Neither am l to take that which opposing
red hot partisanship shall say of as his
true character From nearly all the great cities
of this continent l receive daily or weekly
papers, sent me regularly or in compliment, so
I see both sides of everything. 1t is interesting
Ito see the opposites Of a man stated. The one
makes him an angel and the other a demon.
Then split the difference and find that he is
half way between. There never has been a re-
spectacle or honest man that ran for the presi-
dency since the foundation of this government,
if am to believe the old files of newspapers in
museums. Hdt d great merry tndU tney WSre
not all hung before inauguration day, If a man
should believe one half he saw in the newspapers,
his career would be short outside of Blooming
dale Asylum. 'That procession last week in
New York was 5,000," says one paper SIT was
1900" says another. The orator at the rink
or the Academy of Music received very cool
reception says one paper. The audience rose at
him as one man, says the other. and it was only
after he had lifted his hand to quiet the multitude
that the vociferations subsidized One paper
twists a letter one way and another paper twists
it another way. You must admit that at such
time it is difficult to estimate which of the candi-
dates comes the nearest to keeping the Ten Com
mandments 1 charge you to caution and merci
fnlness in your judgments.
Be careful, also, not to make the mistake which
many do make, In thinking that in high
position are to be judged by different standard
from that which they apply to ordinary mortals.
Men in high place or with large means have no
more liberty given them in the Interpretation of
the commandments than those in place incon-
lspicuous. Sinners on large scale are more
to be excused than sinners on a small scale. Do
not call such lluStrious detection ecceAtricty OF
behop off anything of these Ten Commandments
to suit special cases. The right is everlastingly
right. and the wrong is everlastingy wrong If
men differ from the Decalogue of my text, do
not fix up the Decalogue, but fix them up
Remember also, that if man breaks one or
two of the Ten Commandments he will find it
easy to break them all Sin of any kind weak
ems the conscience, and the conscience weak
ened, the door is open for transgression of all
sorts If, for instance, man be profane, he is
net trustworthy; for if he maltreats the Al
mighty do you think he would if tempted de-
cline maltreating his fellow. After man has
been guilty of malfeasance in Office you cannot
trust his word in anything A man that will
steal will lie, and vice versa. If a man is I'M
chaste he will do any crime under proper provo
cation. In such unchastity he commits theft of
the worst sort, and is guilty of covetousness of
the basest STYLE and is chargeable with false
hood because he pretends to be decent when he
is not, and he fractures the law against dishon-
oring parents, because he disgraces their name
if they were good. Be careful how you charge