Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-11-12
REV. DR.. 7ALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
snhlec,. aHow to Vote. !.

TEXT; Alas, alas. that great ctv Bah,
lon, that mighty citn for IN one hour Is tn
Judgment come"-kevelation xviii, 10.
Modern scientists are doing a soleaii,
work in excavting the tomb of a dead en-
pre- holding in its arms dead city-noth
er and child of the same name Babylon
Inc ancient mount invites the spades an
shoyels and crowbars while the unwashet
natives look on with surprise These scien-
tists ind yellow bricks still impressed witt
the name Nebuchadnszz AMI they &C
down into the sareoolagus OF M monarchy
buried more than two thousand years ago
May the explorations OF Rawlinson an 4 Lay
ard and Cheyalier and Opparto and Lotus
and Chesney be eciipsed by the present
arche illogical uncoveringi
But is it possible this is all that remains
of Babylon city once five times larger
she,. London and twelve times larger than
| New York; Walls three hunlrei aud sew
enty-three feet high AMI ninety-thres feet
thick. Twenty-Five FURNISHED gates Oh
each side, with streets running clear
through to correspani ding gates on the other
side. Six hundred and twenty-five squares
More Tomp AMI wealth and splen Tor and
sin than could be found in any five
modern cities comb,nef A city of pal
aces and lie nples. A city having within
; 1t garden on an artiic al bill four nun.
( cred feet high the sides OF the mountain
terraced. All this built to keep the kings
wife, Amyt-s from becoming homescl for
the mouutaiuoas region in which she had
! spent her girlhood. The waters of the Ea.
/ pirates spouted up to irrigate this great
altitude into fruits and flowers and arbo-
( rescence unimagiuable. A great river run
/ ming from north to south clelr through the
I city, bridges over II, tunnals unier it, boats
I on it.
I A city Of bazlars an market places, IN :
! rivaled Tor aromaticS and uuguents, and
high melted horses with grooms by their
side and thyme wood AMI African ever
/ green, ana Egyptian liham ami all STYLES of
costly textile fabric, and rarest purples ex-
1 tracted from saellfish on the Mediterranean
| coast and farest scarlets taken from bril-
! liant insects in Spain, AMI worries brou rat
from successful elephant hunts in Iniia,
and diamonds whose fash was a replrtea to
the sun. Fortress within fortress, embat-
Element rising above embattement Great
, capital of the ages. But one
night, While honest citizens were
asleep, Lus all the saloons Of saturnaia
were in full blast, AMI at th3 kings castle
they had fille1 the t1nSards for the tenth
time, and reeling aud gutfawing AMI hic-
coughing arodni the state table were the
rulers OF the land, General Cyrus ordered
ais besieging army to take shovels AMI
spades, ami they diverted the river from its
usual tudBubl lnlO duDluec uiFeCUlOD, 50
that the forsaken bel of the river becams
the path on which ths besieging army cd
tered.
When the morning ddwnel the eonduer.
CTS were inside the outside trenches Baby
Ion had fallen, aud hence the sublime
threnody of the text: "Alas, alas, that great
city of Babylon, that mighty city for in one
hour is thy ia lgment Gomez But do Nations
dies Oh, yes; there is great mortality among
ffNo~ a.,l
u'viduals in the fact that they are born; they
bave middle life; they have deceass; they
have cradle and grave. Some Of them
hre assassinatei, some destroyed by their
own hand. Let me call the roll of some OF
the dead ivilisltions and some Of the dead
cities and let some one answer for them.
Egyptian civilization, stand up. "D9id~
answer the ruins of karnak and Luxor, and
from seventy pyramids on the east side of
the Nile there comes up great chorus cry
ing, Dead, dead~ Assyrian Empire, stand
up and answer ''Deadg' cry the charred
ruins of Nineveh. After six hundred wears
Of magnificent opportunity, dead. Israel
itish kingdom, stand up. After two hun.
dred and fifty years of divine interpretations
and of miraculous vicissitu1e, AMI of heroic
behavior, and of appalling depravity. dead.
Pr mnicia, stand up and answer. After iu-
venting the alphabet and giving it to the
world, and sending out her merchant cara
vans in one direction to Central Asia, an
sending out her navigators to the Atlantic
Ocean in another direction, dead.
Pillars OF Hercules and rocks on which
the Tyrian fisherman dried their nets all
answer, Dead Phe 1icia." Athens, after
Phiiias after Demosthenes, after Miltiades,
dead. Sparta, after Leonidas, after Euri-
liades after SaiamS, after Thermopyla
dead. Roman empire, stand up and answer
empire once bounded by the British Chan
mel en- the north by tbs Euphrates on the
east by the great Sahara desert in Africa
on the south, by the Atlantic Ocean on the
west; home of three great civilizations,
owning all the then discovered world that
was worth ownin S-Roman empire answer
Gibbon in bis ''&.se an Fall CT the Roman
Empire says, "Desdp and the forsaken
seats OF the ruined Coliseum, and the skele-
ton OF the aqueiucts AMI the miasma of the
CamDaEna, and the fragments of the marble
baths, and the useless piers of the Bridge
Triumnhaiis, and the Mamertine prison,
holding no more apostolie prisoners. and the
silent Forum a11 Basilica OF Constantine and
the arch of Titus, and the Pantheon come in
with great chorus crying Dead, dead"
After RorGcA after Virgil, after Tacitus,
after c,cero- dead. After Horatius on the
GrdSN AMI Cincinuatus, the farmer OIL
carcJ. after Pompey. after Scipio, after
Cassius, after Constantine, after Cesar
dead The war eagle OF Rome few so high
it was blinded by tae sun and came whirling
down through the heavens, and the owl OF
desoiatiol and darkness built its nest in the
foTSakel eyTie. Mexican emoira-lead.
French empire da1d.
You see, my friends. it is no unusu al
thing for a government to perish, and in
the same necrolosy of dead Nations an il
the sane graveyard Of exDireI governments
will go the United States OF America
uales5 there be some potent voice to cali a
halt, AMI unless Col in His mercy inter-
feres, an through purified ballot box and
widespread public Christian sentiment
the catastrophe be averted. This nation
is about to go to the ballot box to exercise
the right Of suffrage, and | propose
to sat before you the evils that threaten to
destroy the American Government and to
annihiiate American institutions, and if
God will help me l will show you before
get through the mode in which each AMI
every one may do something to arrest that
appalling calamity, And l shall plow up
the whole field
The first evil that threatens the annidiiq-
ton OF our American institutions is the fact
that political bribery. watch oncs was con
sidered a cr,ma. has by many come to be
considered a toierable virtue. There is
legitimate use of money in elections, in the
printing Of political tracts, and in the hiring
paigH oratory, but is there any homurculus
who supposes that this vast amount of money
now being raisei by the political parties is
going in a legitimate direction? The vast
majority Of it will go to buy votes.
Huu1re1s and thousands of msn will hlve
set before them SO much money for a Re
publican vote, and so much money for a
Democratic vote and the superior financial
inducement will decide the action. You
n krnvv xartain A.
doubtful States day after tom orroS? |
will tell you. The party that spends the
most money. This moment while speak
the peddlers carrying gold from Wall street.
gold from Third street. gold from State
street, and gold from the Brewers associa-
ton are in all the political headquarters of
the doubtful States dealing out the infa-
nous inducement.
There used TO be bribery; but it held its
head in shame. 1t was under the utmost
secrecy that many years ago railroad
company bought up the Wisconsin legis-
lature and many o5her public officials in
that State. The Governor OF the State at
that time received $4,000 for his signi-
ture. His private secre-ar received 5000.
Thirteen members of the Senate recsivsd
$l75, 900 among them in bonds. Sixty
members of the other house received from
5000 to $40, 900 each. The Lieutenant-Gov =
ernor received $40, 600 The clerks Of the
house received from 5000 to $1,000 each
The bank comptroller received $4,000.
Two hundred and fifty THOUSAND dollars
were divided among the lobbyists. You see
the railroad company was very generous.
But all that was hidden, an only through
the severest scrutiny on the part of a legis-
lative co nmittes was this iniquity displayed.
Now political bribery de1es you, dares you,
is arrogant auI wild probably decide tn