Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-11-16
BEFORE THE ELECTION.
Timely and Patriotic Discourse by
Rev. DR.. Talmage.
Candidates for ONCE should be Tried by
the Deeaiogue Men Who in ANY
Wise Antagon'zr the Ten Com
Inandments should Never be
Elevated to Authority.

when the right Of suffrage IS . 5out 10
be exercised in many Of the states o.
the onion. The discourse was based
upon the text. Exodus Xxx, Is:
s.And all the people say the thgnderings and
lighinings ana tha no sc Of the trumpsi ana the
mountains smoking"
On the eve of elections in the sixty
counties of this state. and in all the
the counties of most of the United
States, while there are many hundreds
of nominees to office. it is appropriate
and in ~ortant that | preach this be-
fore election sermon.
Ny text informs you that the light
nings and earthquakes united their
forces to wreck mountain of Arabia
Petrea in olden time, and travellers ;o-
day find heaps Of porphyry and greens
stone rocks bowlder against Wider.
the remains Of the first law library
written. not on parchment or papyrus
but on shattered slabs of granite. The
corner-stones of all morality, OF all wise
law, Of all righteous Jurisprudence of
all good government. are the two tab
lets of stone on which were written
the Ten Commandments. All Roman
law, all French law, all English law
all American law that is worth any
thing, all common law. civil law Grim
inal law, martial law, law of nations
were rocked il The cradle of the TWEEN
tieth chapter OF Exodus And it wont !
be we'll in these times of great politi-
cal agitation if The newspapers would
print the Decalogue some day in place
of the able editorial. The fact is that
some people suppose that the law has
passed out of existence. and soma are
not aware of some of the passages Of
that law, and others say this or that Is
of the more importance, when no one
has any right to make such an asssv-
ton. These laws are the pillars of So
ciety. and if you remove one pillar you
damage the Who'll, structure. | have
noticed that men ara plrticu ally vehe-
ment against sins TO which they are not
particularly tempted and find no cs-
pecial wra tn against sins in which the
themselves indulge. They take ont on"
gun from this battery of ten guns. AMI
load that. and uniimber that and fire
that They say: This is an Armstrong
gun. and this is a Krupp gun and this
is a Nordenfeldt FIVE barrelled gun
and this is Gatling ten-barrelled gun.
and this is a Martigny thirty-sevea
barrelled gun" But | have to tell
them that they are all of the same cali
Der. and they shoot from eternity.
Many questions are before the people
in the coming elections all over this
land, but shall try to show you that
the most important thing to be settled
about all these candidates is their per-
sonal moral character The Decalogue
forbids idolatry. image-malSing. profan-
ity, maltreatment of parents, sabbath
dissertation. murder theft, inconi-
hence, lying and covetousness. That
is the Decalogue by which YOU and
will have to be tried. and by the same
Decalogue you and | must try candi-
dates for office.
OF course we shall not find anything
like perfection. If we do not vote until
we find an immaculate nominee we
will never vote at all. We have so
many falts of our own we ought not to
be censorious or maledietory or hyper
critical in regard to the faults of others.
The Christly rule is as appropriate for
November as any other month il
the year: Judge not that We be no.
judged, for with what measure We mete
It shall be measured to you again.
Most certainly are we not to take the
statement of red-hot partisanship as
the real character of the man. From
nearly all the great cities of this land
receive daily or weekly newspapers,
sent to me regularly and in comp!i
ment. so | see both sides-l see all
sides-and it is most entertaining and
myregular amusement to read the op-
posite statements. The one statement
says the man is an angel. and the
other says he is devil: and | split the
difference. and find him half way he
tween. There never has been an hon
est or respectable man running for the
United States presidency. or for q
judgeship. or for the mayoralty. or for
the shrievalty, since the foundation OF
the American government. il we may
believe the old files of newspapers in
the museums. What a mercy il is that
they were not ali hung before they
were inaugurated, II man believes
one-half of what he sees in the news
papers in these times. his career viii
be very short outside of Bloominglale
insane ASYLUM. | was absent two or
three years ago during one week of 3
political canvass. and | was dependent
entirely upon what read in regard to
what had occurred in these cities. and
Tread there was a procession in New
York of five thousand patriots, and
minute after l read in another sheet
that there seventeen thousand: and
then read in regard to another pro-
oession that there We're ten thousand.
and then / read in another paper that
there sixty thousand. A campain ora
cor in the rink or the Academy of Music
received a very cold reception very
chilling reception-said one state
ment. The other statement said the
audience rose at him; so great was the
enthusiasm that for long while the
\ Il