West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1889-05-09

/
election day and from poll to poll, and
| voted here and voted there, and voted
/ everywhere, and there was no challenge: OF,
| IL there were, IL amounted to nothing be
cause nothing could so suddenly be proved
| upon the vagabonds. Now, in every wei
organized neighborhood every voter 10
watched with severcst scrutiny. / must
tell the registrar my name and how
old 1 am, and how. long have 70
sided in the State and how long have ro
sided in tho ward or township, aud II mis-
represent, fifty witnesses win rise and shut me
| out from the ballot box Is not that a great
ndvancel Aud then notice the law that pro
hibits a man voting If he has bet on the cleo
ton. A step further needs 20 be taken and
that man forbidden a vote who has offered OF
taken bride, whether 10 be i'm the shape OF O
free drink or cash paid down, the suspicious
cases obliged TO 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 has never
been SO much discussion OF morals and i'm.
morals Men, whether or not they aclxnowL
edge what is right, have TO think what Is
right. We have men who have had their
hands In public treasury tho most of Their
lifetime, stealing all they could lay their
hands ON, discoursing eloquently about dis
honesty in public service, and men with two
or three families of their own, preaching elo
quenty 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 respectfully and
deferentially heard at the 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 TO whelm home and church and ma.
ton; 'Thus far shalt thou come, but no fur.
ther, and here shall thy proud waves be
stayed"
have not I'm my mind shadow of dis
heartenment as large as the shadow OF a
house fy's wing. My faith is in the upper
forces, the upper armies of the text. God is
pot dead. The chariots are not unwheeled.
IL 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 ''rhe Lord
opened the eyes of the young man; and he
Saw; and, behold tho 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 discour.
aged, and they rushed up to the General and
sald TO him: Don't you see we have n few
forces and they have many morep 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 beyn And when we see the vast armies
arrayed against the cause of sobriety it may
sometimes be very discouraging, but i ask
you IN making up your estimate of the forces
81 Righteousness 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 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 be wrong; but God lives, and
| think he has ordained this nation for q
career of prosperity that no demagogism
will be able to halt. l expect to live to see
political party which will have platform of
two planks-the Ten Commandments and tho
sermon on the Mount When that party is
formed IL will sweep across this land, like a
tornado was going TO say, but when think
u Is not to be devastation, but resuscitation,
! change the figure and say, such a party as
chat viii 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 q day all equipped and ready
Tor full sailing. Large lies and small lies.
Lies private and lies public and lies prurient
Lies cut bias and lies cut diagonal Long
hmbed lies and lies with double-baclx action.
lhes 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 antelope's and
stings like adders. Lies raw and scalloped
and panned and stewed. Crawling lies and
jumping hes 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
lions, and lies by people who always lie, but
beat themselves in Presidential campaign
confess l 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 20 out nightsl
w hat viii the hundreds Of thousands of for
eigners who come here TO live think of usg
What disgust they must have for the land
OF their adoptionl Tho 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 IL all and peddle out
the Internal stuff TO their subscribers.
Nothing but Christianity win ever stop
such flood Of indecency. The Christian re-
hgion will speak after a while The billings
gate and low scandal through which we wade
every year or every four years, must be re-
buked by the religion which speaks from its
two great mountains, from the one mount
ain intoning 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 a
matter Of human politics, and IL has great
patronage, and under II men viii struggle for
prominence without reference 90 Qualihca-
tons and its archbishop Is supported bya
salary Of 1000 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 OF 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 viii manage the secular as well as the
religious.
DO you say that this Is impracticable? No
The time Is coming just as certainly rs there
is a God and that this Is His book and that He
has the strength and the honesty 90 fulfill His
promises. One Of the ancient EmperOrs used
20 pride himself on performing that which
his counseiOrs said was impossible, and have
70 tell you to-day that mans impOssibes are
Gods easies Hath lie sold and shall Ho not
do itf Hath He commanded and will He not