The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-05-16

and swear their vote in II 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 80 much discussion of morals and i'm
morals. Men, whether or not they acinowl-
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
uuently about the beauties Of the seventh
commandment Tne question OF soDriety
and drunkenness is thrust in the face of this
nation as never before and to take part In
eur political contests. The question OF ma
tional sobriety is going to be respectfully and
deferentially heard at tho bar of every legis-
lature and every house OF representatives
and every United States Senate, and an ON
nipotent voice will ring down the sky and
across this land and back again, saying to
these rising tides of drunkenness which
threaten 10 whelm home and church and ma
ton: .sThus far shalt thou come but no fur
ther, and here shall thy proud waves be
stayed"
i have not in my mind shadow Of dis
heartenment as large as the shadow of a
house fy's wing, My faith is in the upper
not dead do TRe chariots are not unwhesied.
II you would only pray more and wash your
eyes in the cool, bright water, fresh from
the well 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 or nre round about
Elisha" "a
When the army Of Ambiguous went into
battle his soldiers were very much discour-
aged, and they rushed up to the General and
said to him: Don't you see we have few
forces and they have SO many moreT and the
soldiers were affrighted at the smallness OF
their number and the greatness of the enemy.
Ambiguous, their commander, Strengthened
himself up and said, with indignation and
vehemence; "How many do you reckon me
to hep And when we see the vast armies
arfayed against the cause of sobriety it may
sometimes be very discouraging, but ask
Of Righteousness ask you how many do you
reckon the Lord God Almighty to be9 He is
our commander. The Lord of Hosts is His
name. 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
my 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 DO wrong; but God lives, and
/ think He has ordained this nation for a
career of prosperity that no demagogism
will he able to halt. / expect to live to see a
political party which will have platform n'
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 resuscitation,
/ change the figure and say such 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 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 dozen day all 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 crocodiles and necks as long as
storks and feet as swift as an antelopes and
stings like adders. Lies raw and scalloped
and PANIED and stewed. Crawling lies and
jumping lies and soaring lies. Lies with at
tachment screws and ruffiers 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 a 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
eigners who come here to live think Of us?
What disgust they must have for the land
of their adoption2 The only good thing
about it is, many of them cannot understand
the English language. But suppose the
German, and italian, and Swedish, and
French papers translate it all and peddle our
the Internal stuff to their subscribers.
Nothing but Christianity will ever stop
such flood Of indecency. The Christian re-
ligion will speak after n while. The billings
rate and low scandal through which we wade
very year or every -FOUR years, must pe re.
buLed by the religion which speaks from its
two great mountains, from the one mount
ain informing the command: ''Thou shalt not
bear 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
tional religion.
There are two kinds of national religion.
The one is supported by the State, and is
matter of human politics, and 1t has great
patronage, and under it men will struggle for
| prominence without reference to qualities
lions, and its archbishop is supported bya
salary Of SIS, 600 year, and there are great
cathedrals, with all the machinery of music
and canonicals, and room for a thousand peo-
pie, yet an audience of fifty people or twenty
people CT 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 impracticable? No.
The time is coming just as certainly as there
is God and that this is His book and that lie
has the strength and the honesty to fulfill His
promises. One of the ancient Emperors used
to pride himself on performing that which
his counselors said was impossible and have
f1ell you to-day that mans iInposslhles are
e., IS easies. "Hath He said and shall He not
do = Hath He commanded and will He not
brirsx it to pass% The Christian religion is
coming to take possession OF every ballot box,
| Of every school house, Of every home, of every
valley, of every mountain, of every acre OF
our national domain. This nation, notwith-
standing all the evil influences that are trying
to destroy it, is going to live.
Never since, according to John Milton,
when Satan was hurled headlong flaming
| from the ethereal skies in hideous ruin and
combustion down, F." have the powers of dark
ness been SO determined to win this continent
as they are now. What a jewel it is-a jewel
carved in relief, the cameo Of this planet!
On one side of us the Atlantic ocean, dividing
us from the worn out governments of Europe.
On the other side the Pacific ocean, dividing
us from the superstitions Of Asia. On the
north Of us the Arctic sea- which is the gym
nasium in which the explorers and navigators
develop their courage. A continent ten thou
| sand five hundred miles long, seventeen
million square miles, and all of it but
about one-seventh capable Of rich cult
walton. Que hundred millions Of popula-
ton on this continent of North and South
| America-one hundred millions and room
for many hundred millions more. All fora
and all fauna, all metalz'--sy,d all precious
woods, and all grains and ali fruits. The
Appalachian range the backbone, and the riv-
ers the gangia carrying life all through and.
out to the extremities Isthmus of Darien
the narrow waist Of giant continent, all to
be under one government, and all free, and
all Christian, and the scene of Christ's per-
sonal reign on earth If, according to the ex-
pectation of many good people, he shall at
last set up his throne in this world. Who
shall leave this hemisphere, Christ or SatanP
| Who shall have the shore of her inland seas,
the silver of her Nevedas, the gold Of her Colo
radios the telescopes of her observatories, the