The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1889-05-10

NOT W VIC uOuoSty ou0 Eikut0Ooou0So VI
Infatuated politicians, but I ascribe It 70
the upper forces of the text Chariots OF
mercy rolled in and though the wheels
were not heard and the flash was not seen.
yet all through the mountains Of the North
and the South and the East and the West,
though the hoofs did not chatter, the cav
airy of God galloped by. I tell you God
Is the friend Of this Nation. In the awful
excitement at the massacre Of Lincoln,
when there was q prospect that greater
slaughter would open upon this Nation.
God hushed the tempest. In the awful
excitement at the time Of Garfeld's as.
sassination. God put His foot on the neck
of the cyclone.
To prove that God is on the side OF this
Nation, l argue from the last eight or
nine great national harvests, and from the
national health of the last quarter OF
century, epidemics very exceptional, and
from the great rivals of the Church Of God,
and from the Continent blossoming with
asylums and reformatory institutions, and
from an Edenization which promises that
this whole land is to be paradise where
God shall walk in the cool Of the day.
If in other sermons I showed you what
was the evil that threatened to upset and
demolish American institutions, l am en-
couraged more than can tell you as l see
the regiments wheeling down the sky, and
my jeremiads turn into doxologies, and
that which was the Good Friday of the Ma
TONS crucifixion becomes The Easter morn
of its resurrection. or course God works
through human instrumentalities,a and this
national betterment is to come among
other things through q scrutinized ballot
box. By the law of registration it is almost
impossible now to have illegal voting.
There was time-you and remember 1t
very well-when droves of vagabonds
wandered up and down on election day
from poll to poll, and voted here and voted
there, and voted everywhere, and there
was no challenge: or. il there were, it
amounted to nothing, because nothing
could so suddenly be proved upon the
vagabonds.
Now in every well organized neighbor-
hood every voter is watched with severest
scrutiny. / must tell the registrar my
name, and how old am, aud how long /
have resided in the State, and how long l
have resided in the ward or the township.
and if misrepresent fifty witnesses will
rise and shut me out from the ballot box
Is not that great advance? And then
notice the law that prohibits a man voting
il he has bet on the election. A step
further needs to be taken and that man
forbidden a vote who has offered or taken
a bride. whether it be i'm the shape of a
free drink or cash paid down, the suspic-
ious cases obliged 10 put their hand on the
Bible and swear their vote in il they vote
at all. So through the sacred chest of our
Nations suffrage redemption will come.
God also will save this Nation through
an aroused moral sentiment. There never
has been so much discussion of morals
and immorals. Men, whether or not they
acknowledge what is right have to think
what is right. We have men who have
had their hands in the public treasury the
most Of their lifetime, stealing all they
could get their hands on, discoursing
eloquently about dishonesty in public
servants, and men with two or three
families of their own preaching eloquently
about the beauties of the seventh COM
mandment. The question of sobriety and
drunkenness is thrust in the face of this
Nation as never before, and is to take a
part in our political contests. The question
of national sobriety is going to be respect
of every Legislature and every House of
Representatives and every United States
Senate, and an omnipotent voice will ring
down the sky and across this land and
back again, saying to these rising tides of
drunkenness which threaten to whelm
home and Church and Nation: Thus far
shalt thou come but no further and here
shall thy proud waves be stayed"
have not in nv mind shadow of dis
heartenment as large as the shadow of a
housefy's wing. My faith is in the upper
forces, the upper armies of the text. God
is not dead. The chariotS are not un.
wheeled. If you would only pray more
and wash your eyes in the cool. bright
water, fresh from the we'll of Christian
reform, it would be said of you. as of this
one of the text: The Lord 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 Ambiguous went
into battle his soldiers were very much
discouraged, and they rushed up to the
General and said to him: Don't you see
we have a few forces and they have so
many more:" and the soldiers were af.
frighted at the smallness of their number
and the greatness of the enemy. Antig-
onus, their commander, Strengthened him.
self up and said, with indignation and
vehemence: How many do you reckon
me to be-" And when we see
the vast armies arrayed against the cause
of sobriety il may sometimes be very dis
couraging, but l ask you in making up
your estimate of the forces of righteous
ness-I ask you how many do you reckon
the Lord God Almighty to be: He is our
commander. The Lord of Hosts is His
name. have the best authority for say
ing that the chariots of God are 20, 900,
and the mountains are full of them.
You will take without my saying it that
my only faith is in Christianity and in the
upper forces suggested in the text Pc.
litical 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 a career of prosperity that no
demagogism will be able to halt. ex.
pect to live to see a political party which
will have platform of two planks-the
Ten Commandments and the Sermon on
the Mount When that party is formed it
will sweep across this land like tornado,
l was going to say, but when think it is
not to be devastation but resuscitation, /
change the figure and say, such a party
as that will. sweep across this land like
spice gales from Heaven.
Have you any doubt about the need Of
the Christian religion TO purify and make
decent American politics? At every
yearly or quadrennial election we have in
this country great manufactures of lies,
and they are run day and night and they
turn out half a dozen a day all
equipped and ready for full sailing
Large lies and small lies. Lies private
aud lies public and lies prurient. Lies cut
bias and lies cut diagonal Long limbed
lies and lies with double back action. Lies