The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-11-15

self Is walking lazaretto, a reeking ulcer.
and Is fit for no society better than that OF
devils damned. We may enlarge our char
tiles In such case, but In no such case let
US shave off the Ten Commandments. Let
them stand as the everlasting defense OF So
ciety and the church Of God.
The committing of one sin opens the door
for the commission of other sins. You see
it every day. Those embezzlers, those bank
cashiers absconding rs soon as they are
brought to justice, develop the fact that
they were In all kinds Of sin. No exception
to the rule. They all kept bad company,
they nearly all gambled, they all went to
places where they ought not. Why? The
commission of the one sin opened the gate
for all the other sins. Sins go in focks, In
droves and in herds. You open the door for
one sin that invites In all the miserable
segregation.
Some of the campaign orators this autumn
some Of them-bombardin the suffering
candidates all the week, will think no wrong
in Sabbath breaking. All the week hurting
the eighth commandment at one candidate,
the seventh commandment at another can
didate and the ninth commandment at still
another, what are they doing with the fourth
commandment, "Remenber the Sabbath day
10 keep it holy?" Breaking it. Is not the
fourth commandment as important as the
u,
Some of these political campaign orators,
as have seen them reported in other years,
and as I have heard it in regard to them,
bombarding the suffering candidates all the
week, vet tossing the name Of God from their
lips recklessly. guilty OF profanity-what are
tEey doing with the third commandment?
Is not the third commandment, which says,
'.Thou shalt not take the name OF the Lord
thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold
him guiltless that taketh hs name In vain
is not the third commandment as impor-
tant as the other seven? Oh, yes, we find in
all departing men are hurting the irlndlS-
nation against sins perhaps to which they are
not especially tempted-hurling 1t against
iniquity toward which they are not particu-
larly drawn.
I have this book for my authority when l
say that the man who swears or the man who
breaks tho Sabbath is as culpable before God
as these candidates who break other COM
mandments. What right have you and to
select which commandment we will keep and
which we will break?, Better not try to
measure the thunderbolts Of the Almighty,
saying this has less blaze, this has less mo-
mentum. Better not handle the guns, better
not experiment much with the divine ammu-
milton. :
Cicero said he saw the "Iiad" written on
"a
Lords Prayer written on five cent piece,
but the whole tendency OF these times is to
write the Ten Commandments so small no.
body can see them. protest this day against
the attempt to revise the Decalogue which
WAS given on Mount Sinai amid the blast OF
trumpets, and the cracking OF the rocks. and
the paroxysm of the mountain OF Arabia
Petrea-
I bring up the candidates for ward and
township and city and State office. bring
them up, and try them BY this Decalogue.
OF course they are imperfect. We are all
imperfect. We say things we ought not to
say we do things we ought not to do. We
have all been wrong we have oil done
didates who comes, In my estimation, nearest
to obedience of the Ten Commandments, and
I will vote for him, and you will vote for
Him unless you love God less than your
party--then you will not.
Herodotus said that Nitocris, the daughter
of Nebuchadnezzar, was so fascinated with
her beautiful village of Ardericca that she
had the river above Babylon changed 80 1t
wound this way and wound that, and curved
this way and curved that, and though you
sailed on it for three days every day you
Now, 7 do not care which way you sail in
morals or which way you sail in life il you
only sail in sight Of this beautiful group OF
divine commandments. Although they may
sometimes seem to be a little angular, do
not care which way you sail, II you sail IN
sight of them you will never run aground,
and you will never be shipwrecked. Society
needs toning up on all these subjects.
I tell you there Is nothing worse TO fight
than the ten regiments. with bayonets and
sabres of fire, marching down the side OF
Mount Sinai. They always gain the victory,
and those who fight against them 60 under.
There are thousands and tens Of thousands
of men being slain by the Decalogue. What
is the matter with that young man OF whom
Tread, dying in his designations? In his dy-
ing delirium he said, ''Now fetch on the
dice. 1t is mine. No, no! 1t is gone, all is
gone! Bring on more wine! Bring on more
wine! Oh, how they rattle their chains
Fiends, fends. fends! say you cheat! The
oh. death! Fiends, Hends, f1ends" And he
gesped his last and was gone. The Ten
Commandments slew him.
Let not ladies and gentlemen In this nine
teenth century revise the Ten Command.
ments. but let them in society and at the
polls put to the front those who come the
nearest to this God-lifted standard. On the
first Tuesday morning OF November read the
twentieth chapter OF Exodus at family
prayers. The moral or immoral character OF
the officers elected will add seventy-flve per
cent. unto or subtract seventy-hVe per cent.
from the public morals.
You and cannot afford to have bad off.
cials. The young men Of this country can
not afford to have bad officials. The COM
mercial. the moral. tho artistic, the aSricul-
tural, the manufacturing, the religious in
terests of this country cannot afford to have
bad officials. and if you, on looking overtte
whole field, cannot and men who In your
estimation come within reasonable distance
Of obedience Of the Deca!ogue stay at home
and do not vote at all.
Isuppose when In the city Of Sodom there
were four candidates put up for office, and
Lot did not believe in any Of them, no did
not register. I suppose IL there came
crisis in the politics of Babylon, wherc
Daniel did not believe in any OF the candi-
dates, he staid at home on election day,
praying with his face toward Jerusalem.
But we have no such crisis. We have no
such exisepcy, thank God. But have to
say TO you to-day that the moral character Of
rulers always affects the ruled, and appea,
TO history.
Wicked King Manasseh depressed the moral
tone OF all the Nation of Judah and threw
them into idolatry. Good King Josiah lifted
up the whole Nation by his excellent example.
Why is it that to-day England Is higher up
in morals than at any point in her National
history? II Is because she has the best ruler
in Nil Europe-all the attempts to scandal:ze
her name failure. The political power Of
Taley-apd brooded Gil the politicul tricksters
Of the last ninety years. The dishonest vice
presidency of Aa-cu Barr blasted .his Nation
until important letters were written in cipher,
because tho people could not trust tho United
States mail. And ict this court circles OF
Louis " AMI Eenry VIII march our, fol-
iowod by the debarchel Nations.
The Linnar In Tou nut q bad man the