The national leader., 1889-05-18

it too much. During the most Of the
four years of the contest, on the
| Southern side was a man In mid-life.
who had in his veins the blood Of many
| generations of warriors, himself one of
the heroes Of Cherubnsco and Cerro
Gordo, Contreras and Chapultepec.
AS the years passed OH and
THE SCROLL OF CARNAGE
unrolled, there came out from both
sides heroism, and strength, and a
determination that the world had never
seen marshaled. And what but
determination could come when Philip
Sheridan and Stonewall Jackson met,
and Nathaniel Lyon and Sidney john
ston rode in from North and South,
and Grant and Lee, the two thunder
bolts Of battle, clashedp Yet, we are
nation, and yet we are at peace.
Earthly courage did not decide the
conflict. The upper forces of the text.
They tell us there was a battle fought
above the clouds on Lookout Mountain;
but there was something higher than
that.
Again. the horses and chariots OF
God came to the rescue of this nation
in 1876, at the close Of Presidential
election famous for ferocity.
DARKER CLOUD YET
settled down upon this nation. The
result OF the election was in dispute,
and revolution, not between two or
three sections, but revolution In every
town and village and city of the United
States seemed imminent. The pros
pect was that New 7 ork would throttle
New York, and New Orleans would
grip New Orleans, and Boston, Boston,
and Savannah, Savannah ,and Washing
ton, Washington. Some said Mr.. Tilden
was elected; others said Mr.. Hayes was
elected;.and how near we came to uni
verSal massacre some of US guessed,
but God only knew. I ascribs our
escape not to the honesty and
Righteousness OF infuriated politicians,
but ascribe it to the upper forces Of
the text. Charlots 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 clatter,
the cavalry of God galloped by. tell
you God is the friend Of this nation.
In the awful excitement at the massa-
ere of Lincoln, when there was pros
pect that greater slaughter would open
upon this nation, God hushed the
tempest. In the awful excitement
at the time of Gar6eld's assassl.
nation, God put His foot on the
neck of the cyclone. To prove
GOD is ON THE SIDE OF THIS NATION,
1 argue from the lest eight or nine
great national harvests, and from the
national health of the last quarter OF a
century, epldemics very exceptional,
and from the great revivals Of religion,
and from the spreading of the Church
Of God, and from the continent bloss
oming with asylums and reformatory
institutions, and from an Edenization
which promises that this whole land is
to be paradise, where God shall walk
If in other sermons l showed you
what was the evil that threatened to
upset and demolish American institu.
tions, am encouraged more than can
tell as / see the regiments wheeling
down the sky, and my jeremiads turn
into doxologies, and that which was
the Good Friday Of the nations cruci-
fixion becomes the Easter morn of its
resurrection. Or course, God works
through human instrumentalltieS, and
this
NATIONAL BETTERMENT
is to come ameng other things through
a scrutinized ballot box. BY the law
Of registration it is almost impossible
now to have illegal voting. There was
a time-you and l remember 1t very
well-when droves OF vagabOnds
wandered up and down on election
day, and from poll to poll, and voted
here, and voted there, and voted
everywhere, and there was no chal-
lenge; or, If there were, 1t amounted to
nothing, because nothing could so sud-
denly be proved upon the vagabonds.
Now, in every well-organized neigh
borhood, every voter Is watched with
severest scrutiny. I must tell the
registrar my name, and how old
am. and how long | have resided
in the State, and how long have resi-
ded 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 advanceT
And then notice the law that prohibits
a man voting if he has bet on the elec-
tion. A step further needs to be
taken, and that man forbidden vote
who has offered or taken a bribe,
whether it be in the shape of free
drink, or cash paid down, the susplc-
lous cases obliged to put their hand on
the Bible and swear their vote in If
they vote at all. SO, through the sa-
cred chest of our nations suffrage,
redemption will come.
GOD WILL SAVE THIS NATION
through an aroused moral sentiment.