Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-05-10

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 charicts of Goo
came to the rescue of this nation IL
1876, ut the close Of n presidential cleo
ton famous for 6evilish ferocity.
darker cloud yet settled down upon this
nation. The result of the election wat
in dispute, and the revolution. not be.
tween two or three sections, but revolu-
ton in every town and village and city
of the United States, seemed imminent
The prospect was tina: New York would
throttle New York. and New Orleans
would grip New Orleans, and Boston,
Boston, and Savannah, Savannah, and
Washington, Washington. Some said
Mr.. Tilden was elected; others said Mr..
Hayes was elected; and how near We
came to universal massacre some of he
guessed, but God only knew. / ascribe
our escape not to the honesty and right
eousness of infuriated politicians. but
ascribe it to 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 noun
tains of the north and the south and the
east and the west. though the hoofs did
not CHATTER, the cavalry of God galloped
by. l tell you God is the friend of this
nation. In the awful excitement at the
massacre of Lincoln. when there was a
prospect that greater slaughter would
open upon this nation. God hushed the
tempest. In the awful excitement at
the time of Garfeld's assassination, God
put his foot on the neck of the cyclone.
| To prove that God is on the side of
this nation, argue from the last eight
or nine great national harvests. and
from the national health of the last
quarter OF a century. epidemics very OK
ceptional, and from the great revivale of
religion, and from the spreading of the
Church of God. and from the continent
bloss oming with asylums and reforma-
tory institutions, and from an EdeniZa-
tion which promises that this whole
land is to be paradise where God shall
walk in the cool of the day.
1t in other sermons / showed you
what was the evil that threatened to up
set and demolish American institutions,
l am encouraged more than l 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 nation crucitiXion
becomes the Easter morn of its resur
rection. OF course God works through
human instrlmentalities, and this ma
tional betterment is to come among
other things through 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 it 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
challenges; Or, if there were, it amounted
suddenly be proved upon the vagabonds.
Now, in every we'll organized neighbor-
hood, every voter is watched with sever
est scrutiny. | must tell the registrar
my name, and how old am. and how
long l have resided in the State. and
how long I have resided in the ward, or
the township, and if l misrepresent
fifty witnesses will rise and shut me out
from the ballot box. Is not that a great
advance? And then notice the law that
prohibits a man voting if he has bet on
the election. A step further needs to be
| taken, and that man forbidden a vote
who has offered or taken bride,
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 nations 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 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 life
time. stealing all they could lay 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 commandment. The
question Of sobriety and drunkenness
is thrust in the face of this nation as
never before, and to take part in our
political contests. The question of ma
tional sobriety is going to be respect
fully and deferentially heard at the bar
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 they proud wav-
ing be stayed.
l have not in my mind shadow Of
disbursement as large as the shadow
of househy's wing. My faith is in the
upper forces, the upper armies of the
text. God is not dead. The chariots
are not unwheeled. 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 Antigonus 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 few forces and they have
SO many more?" and the soldiers were
atfrighted at the smallness of their num-
Der and the greatness of the enemy.
Antigonus, their commander, straight
ened himself up and said, with indigna-
ton and vehemence: How many do
you recken me to be-" And when we
see the vast armies arrayed against the
cause of sobriety it may sometimes be
very discouraging, but 1 ask you in
m nl Il ~