The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-05-15

Of vagabonds wandered up and down on
election day and from poll to poll, and
voted here and voted there, and voted
everywhere and thsre was no challenge; OF,
cause nothing could so suddenly be proved
upon the vagabonds. Now. in every well
organized neighborhood, every voter Is
watched with severest scrutiny. must
tell the registrar my name, and how
old I ain, and how long I have re-
sided in the State, and how long I have re-
sided in the ward or township, and II mis-
represent, fifty witnesses will rise and shut me
out from the ballot box. Is not that great
advance? Aud then notice the law that pro-
hibits man voting if he has bet on the cleo
ton. A step further needs to be taken and
that man forbidden vote who has offered or
taken q bribe, whether it be in the shape of
free drink or cash paid down, the suspicious
cases obliged to put their hand on the Bible
and swear their vote in If they vote at all.
So through the sacred chest OF our naoions
suffrage redemption will come.
God also will save this nation through an
aroused moral sentiment. There has never
been so much discussion Of morals and i'm
morals Men, whether or not they acknowl-
edge what is right have to think what is
right. We have men who have had their
hands in public treasury the most Of their
lifetime, stealing all they could lay their
hands On, discoursing eloquently about dis
honesty in public service, and men with two
or three families of their own, preaching clo-
ouently about the beauties OF the seventh
commandment. The question oe sobriety
and drunkenness is thrust in the face OF this
nation as never before, and to take part In
CUR political contests. The question OF ma,
tiopal sobriety is going to be respectfully ana
deferentially heard at the bar OF every legis-
latnre and every house OF representatives
and every United States Senate, and an ON
nipotent voice will ring down the sky and
these rising tides Of drunkenness which
threaten to whelm home and church and ma
tion: ''Thus far shalt thou come, but no fur
ther, and here shall thy proud waves be
stayed" - ..
1 have not in my mind shadow Of dis
heartenment as large as the shadow OF
house fy's wing. My faith is in the upper
forces, the upper armies of the text. GOD Is
not dead. The chariots are not uDwheeled.
eyes s'i in the the cool, cool bright water, fresh from
the well of Christian reform, it would be said
opened the eyes Of the young man; and he
saw: and, behold, the mountain was full OF
horses and chariots Of fire round about
Elisha"
When the army of Antigonus went into
battle his soldiers were very much dlscour.,
aged, and they rushed up to the General and
said to him: Don't you see we have q Few
forces and they have so many more% and the
soldiers were afrighted at the smallness OF
their number and the greatness Of the enemy:
Antisonus, their commander, Strengthened
himself up and said, with indignation and
vehcmence: GLOW many do you reckon me
to be-" And when we see the vast armies
arrayed against the cause of sobriety it may
sometimes be very discouraging, but ask
you in making up your estimate OF the forces
of righteousness-I ask you how many DO you
our commander. The Lord of Hosts is His
name. I have the best authority for saying
that the chariots Of God are twenty thou
sand and the mountains are full Of them.
You will take without my saying it that
nv only faith is in Christianity and in the
upper forces suggested in the text. Political
parties come and go, and they may be right
and they may be wrong; but God lives and
think He has ordained this nation for
career of prosperity that no demagoglsm
political party which will have platform =:
two planks-the Ten Commandments and the
Sermon on the Mount. When that party Is
formed it will sweep across this land, like a
tornado was going to say, but when think
it is not to be devastation, but resuscitatlon,
I change the figure and say, such party as
that will sweep across this land like spice
gales from heaven.
Have yon any doubt about the need Of the
Christian religion to purify and make decent
American politics At every yearly or quad
rennial election we have in this country great
manufactures, manufactures of lies, and
they are run day and night, and they turn
out half a dozen a day oil equipped and ready
for full sailing. Large Lies and small lies.
Lies private and lies public and lies prurient.
Lies cut bias and lies cut diagonal. Long.
limbed lies and lies with double-back action.
Lies complimentary and lies defamatory.
Lies that some people believe, and lies that
all the people believe, and lies that nobody
believes. Lies with humps like camels and
scales like croco6iles and necks as long as
storks and feet as swift as an antelope's and
stings like adders. Lies raw and scalloped
and panned and stewed. Crawling lies and
jumping lies and soaring lies. Lies with at
tachment screws and rufflers and braiders
and ready wound bobbers. Lies by Chris
tian people who never lie except during cleo
tions, and lies by people who always lie, but
beat themselves in Presidential campaign.
confess am ashamed to have foreigner
visit this country in such times. should
think he would stand dazed, his hand on his
pocketbook, and dare not go out nights!
What will the hundreds Of thousands OF for.
eipners who come here to live think Of us?
What q disgust they must have for the land
of their adoptionI The only good thing
about it is, many of them cannot understand
the English language. But I suppose thu
German, and italian, and Swedish, and
French papers translate it all and pcddle OUT
the Internal stuff to their subscribers.
Nothing but Christianity will ever stop
such q food of indecency. The Christian re-
igion will speak after while. The billings
gste and low scandal through which we wade
every year or every four years, must be re-
buked by the religion which speaks from It's
two great mountains, from the one mount
ain intoning the command: "Thou shalt not
beai, false witnesses against thy neighbor,"
and from the other mount making plea for
kindness and love and blessing rather than
cursing. Yes, we are going to have ma
tonal religion.
There are two kinds of national religion.
The one is supported by the State, and is a
matter of human politics, and it has great
patronage, and under it men will struggle for
prominence without reference to qualltica-
tions, and its archbishop is supported bya
salary of STE. 900 year, and there are great
cathedrals with all the machinery OF music
and canonicals, and room for thousand peo-
ple, vet an audience Of fifty people or twenty
people Or ten or two.
We want no such religion as that. no such
national religion; but we want this Kind Of
national religion; the vast majority of the
people converted and evangelical, and then
they will manage the secular as well as the
religious.
Do you say that this is impractieable? No
The time is coming just as certainly as there
is God and that this is His book and that He
has the strength and the honesty to fulfill His
promises. One of the ancient Emperors used
r nr;de himself on performing that which