Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-07
A MODERN BABYLON.
Talmage Paints a Gloomy Picture of
American Politics for
VOTERS TO PONDER TOMORROW.
Bribery Rampant, and Moral Corruption
Stalks in High Places,
ALL MENACIYG THE GREAT REPUBLIC
VOTERS TO PONDER TOMORROW.
ALL MENACIYG THE GREAT REPUBLIC


alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty
cityl TOR in one hour is Thy judgment
come"
Modern scientists are doing q splendid
work in excavating the tomb of q dead en-
pire holding in its arms dead city. moth er
and child of the same uame-Babylon.
But is it possible this is all that remains OF
Babylonf a city once five times larger than
London and u times larger than New
York;
Great capital of the ages. But one night,
while honest citizens were asleep, Tut all
the saloons of saturnalia were in full blast,
and at the Kings castle they had filled the
tankards for the tenth time, and reelinG and
guffawing and hiccoughlng around the state
table were the rulers of the land, General
Cyrus ordered his besieging army TO take
shovels and spades. and they diverted the
river from its usual channel into another
direction so that the forsaken bed of the
river became the path on which the besieg-
ing army entered. When the morning
dawned the conquerors were inside the out.
side tren nShes. Babylon had fallen.
But do nations die? Oh, yes, there is great
mortality among monarchies and republics.
They are like individuals in the fact that
they are born, they have a middle life, they
have decease, they have cradle, and q
grave. Some of them are assassinated,so some
destroyed by their own hand.
America May Go the Same Way.
1t is no unusual thing for a government to
perish, and In the same neurology of dead
nations and in the graveyard OF expired
governments Will go the United States of
America unless there be some potent voice
to call halt and unless God in his mercy
interferes and through purified ballot box
and a widespread public Christian senti-
"a a Sf1 q n ted N n
tion is about to go to the ballot box to exer-
else the right of suffrage, and l propose to
set before you the evils that threaten to de-
stroy the American Government.
The first evil that threatens the annihila-
tion OF our American institutions is the fact
that political bribery which once was con-
sidered a crime has by many come to be
considered q tolerable virtue. There is
legitimate use of money in elections, but is
there any homunculus who supposes that
this vast amount OF money now being raised
by the political parties is going in legiti-
mate direction7 The vast maj jority OF it will
go 10 buy votes. Hundreds and thousands
OF men will have set before them SO much
money for Republican vote, and SO much
money for Democratic vote, and the
superior financial inducements will decide
the action. You want tc know which party
Will carry the doubtful States day after to-
morrow? / will tell you. The party that
spends the most money. This moment,
" h = speak, the peddlers carrying gold
from Wall street, gold from Third street,
gold from State street and gold from the
Brewers Association are in all the political
headquarters of the doubtful States dealing
out the infamous inducement
There used TO be bribery, but it held its
read in shame. Now, political bribery de-
hes you, dares you. is arrogant, and will
probably decide the election next Tuesday.
The Evils of Geographical Politics.
Another evil threatening the destruction
Of American institutions is the solidifying
of the sections against each other. A solid
North. A solid South. II this goes on we
shall, after a while, have a solid East against
n solid West, we shall have solid Middle
States against solid Northern States, and
we shall have q solid New York against a
solid Pennsylvania. The difficulty will
never be ended until each State of the ma
ton is split up into two or three great po-
litical parties. This country cannot exist
unless it exists az one body, the national
pital the heart
Another evil threatening the destruction
Of our American institutions is the low sta te
OF public morals. What killed Babylon of
my text? What killed Phenicia? What
killed Rome? Their own depravity; and
the fraud and the drunkenness which
have destroyed other nations will destroy
ours unless mercfful God prevent
To show you the low state of public morals,
] have to call your attention to the let that
many men nominated for offices in different
States at different times are entirely unfit
Tor the positions for which they have been
nominated. The mere pronunciation OF
their names makes a demand for carbolic
acid and fumigation! Yet Christian men
will follow right on under the political
standards
! have to tell you what you know already,
that American politics have sunken to such
" low depth that there is nothing beneath.
What we see in some directions we see in
nearly all directions. When the heaven-de-
scended Democratic party enacted the
Tweed rascality 1t seemed to eclipse every
thing, but after while the heaven-de-
scerded Republican party outwitted Pande-
monium with the Star Route infarEy.
A Shocking State of Low Morality.
friends, we have in this country people
say the marriage institution amounts
u. nothing. They scoff at it. We have
people walking in polite parlors in our day
who are not good enough to be scavengers
in Sodom.
vhnt over TO San Francisco 10 or Is years
ago Shat beautiful city, that queen of the
Pacific. May the blessing of God come
down upon her great churches and her
noble men and women! When / got into
tile city of San Francisco, the mayor OF the
city and the President of tho Board OF
Health called on me and insisted that / go
and see the Chinese quarter, no doubt SO
that on my return to the Atlantic coast l
might tell what dreadful people the Chinese
are. But on the last night of my STAY in San
Francisco, before thousands OF people in
their great Opera House, 1 said: "Would
you like me to tell you just what l think.
plainly and honestly" They said: Yes,
stand it all?n They said: "Yes, yes, yesr'
"Then," 1 said, my opinion is that the
curse of San Francisco is not your Chinese
quarter but your millionaire libertines!n
There is enough out-and-out licen tiousness
in American cities to-day to bring down
upon them the wrath of that God who, on
tie oath OF August, 79, buried Herculaneum
and Pompeii so deep in ashes that the l,sl3
subsequent years have not been able to
complete the exhumatlon.
want to put all of the matter before you,
so that every honest man and woman will
know Just how matters stand, and what they
ought to do il they vote, and what they
ought to do if they pray. This nation Is not
going to perish.
There Is Still Hope for the Country.
Hone thou in God. He will set back these
oceanic tides of moral devastation. Do you
know what is the prize for which contention
is made to-day? 1t is the prize OF this con-
tinent Never since, according to John
Milton, when Satan was hurled heaalong
flaming from the ethereal skies in hideous
ruin and combustion down." have the
mowers of darkness 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, di-
yidinp US from the wornout governments of
Furone On the other side the Pacific Ocean,
dividing us from the superstitlons OF Asia.
ON the north of us the Arctic Sea, which is
the gymnasium in which the explorers and
nayigators develop their courage A cont1-
nept 10 500 miles long, II, 100000 square miles,
and ali OF it but about one-seventh capable
of rich cultivation. One hundred millions
of nopulation on this continent OF North and
South America-l00, ,000, 900, and room for
many hundred millions more. All flora and
all fauna, all metals, and all precious woods,