The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-05-10

was not seen, yet all through the mount
aims OF the North, and the South, and the
East, and the West, though the hOofs did
not clatter, 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 q
prospect that greater slaughter would
open upon this Nation, God hushed the
tempest. In the awful excitement at the
time OF Garheld's assassination 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 revivals of religion, and
from the spreading OF the church of God,
and from the continent blossoming with
asyluRs and reformatOry Institutions,
and from au Edenization which promises
thai the whole land is to be a paradise
where God shall walk in the cool Of the
day.
If IN other sermons 1 showed you what
was the evil that threatened to upset and
demolish American Institutions, / am en-
couraged more than I can tell you as see
the regiments wheeling down the sky,
and my 1eremiads turn into doxologies,
and that which was the Good Fridey of
works through human ipstrumentalities,
and this national betterment is to come
among 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 1 re-
member 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 challenge; or, if there were,
it amounted to nothing because
nothing could so suddenly be proved up
on the vagabonds, Now, fl every we'll
organized neighborhoOd, every voter is
watched with severest scraUtny. 1 must
tell the regis trar M name, and how cid
l am, and how long / have resided in the
state, and now long have resided in the
Word. or the township, and if 1 misrep-
resent hfty witnesses will rise and shut
me cut from the ballot box. Is not that
a.great advance? Aud then notice the
law that prohibits a man voting if he has
bet on the election. A step further needs
to be taken, aud that man forbidden
vote who has offered or taken bribe,
whether it be in the shape Of a 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 viii come.
God also will save this Nation through
an aroused moral sentiment. There has
never .sen so muoh 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 lay their hands on. discoursing eio-
quently about dishonesty Ia public serv-
ants, and lmenl with two or three families
Of their own preaching eloquently about
the beauties OF the seventh command.
ment. The quesGon OF sobriety aud drunk
enness is thrust in the face OF this Nation
as never before, and TO take a part in our
political contests, The question fully
and deferentally heard at the Bar
OF every Legislature and every
House Of Representatives and every
United States Senate, and an o mnipotent
voice wili fling 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 my mind shadow OF dis
heartenmeBt as large as the shadow Of q
hOusehy's wing. Ny faith Il 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 re-
form, it would be said ef yoG, as of this
one Of the text, "The Lord opened the
eyes Of the young man; and he saw; and,
behold, tn e mountain was full of horses
and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
Al,
battle his soldiers were very much dis
courRgcd, and they rushed up to the GEN
eral and said TO him: Don't you see we
have a few forces and they have so many
more?" and the soldiers were affrighted
at the smallness of their number and the
greatness OF tho enemy. Antigonus, their
commander, Strengthened himself up and
said, with Indignation and vehemence:
''Iiow many do you reckon me to bey"
And when we see the vast armies prrayed
against the cause of sobrietV it may
sometimes DO very disCouraging, but 1
ask you, in making up your estimate of
the forces of righteousness-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. l have
the best authority for saying that the
chariots Of God are twenty thousand, and
the mountains are full Of them.
that
my only faith is in Christianity and in the
upper forces suggested in the text Polit-
ical parties come and go, and they may be
right and they may be wrong; but God
lives. and 1 think He has ordained this
Nation for a career OF prosperity that no
demogogism viii be able to halt. / expect
to live to see a political party which
will have platform OF two planks
the Ten Commandments and the Ser.
| M haF &.
formed it will sweep across this land like
| a tornado, was going to say, but when l
tlEink it is not to be devastation, but re-
suscitation, l change the figure aud say
such n 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 aud make
decent American politicsy At every year
ly or quadrennial election we have in this
country great manufactures, manu-
factories of lies, aud they are run dav
and night, and they turn out half dozen
a day all eq uipped and ready for 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 ac-
ton. Lies complimentary and lies defam-
atory. 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 croco-
dies and necks as long as storks and feet
as swift as an antelope's and stings like
adders. Lies raw and scailoped and
panned aud stewed. Crawling lies and
jumping lies and soaring lies. Lies
with attachment screws and ruh1ers
and braiders and ready wound bobbins
Lies by Christian people who never lie
except during elections, and lies by peo-
pie who always lie, but beat themselves
in presidential campaign.
Nothing but Christi aniY will ever stop
such a food OF ind ecency. The Christian
religion will speak after awhile. The
hLllingsEate end low scandal fhrns1rh