Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-11-10
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "EIections."

TEXT: "And oil the peopIe sac the th,snf
erings and the hghtnings and the noise Of n.
trumpet and the mountain smoking "-Exo
| dus ky, 1S.
My text informs you that tho lightning
| and earthquakes united their forces to wreck
| n mountain of Arabia Petrfea in olden time
| and travellers to-day finds heaps of porphyry
| and greensboro rocks, boYlder against bowl
! der, 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 al wise law, Of all
| righteous Jurisprudence, of all good Govern,
ment are the two tablets Of stone on which
| were written the Ten Commandments
All Roman law, all French law, all English
| law. all American law that is worth ANYTHING,
! all common law. civil law, criminal law,
| martial law, law OF Nations were rocked in
! the cradle Ofthe twentieth chapter of Exodus
| And 1t would he we'll in these times of gre IT
| political 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 exist
| cncc and some 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 assertion.
| These laws are the pillars of society, and if
| you remove one pillar you damage the whole
| structure
l have noticed that men are particularly
| vehement against sins to which they ara not
| particularly tempted and find 10 especial
wrath against sins in which they them
| selves indulge. They take out one gun from
| this battery of ten guns, and load that,
| and unlimber that, and fire that. They
say This is an Armstrong gun, and this
| is a Krupp gun. and this is a NOrdenfedt
! five-barreied gun, and this is Gating ten
| barreled gun, and this is Martini thirty
| seven-barreled gun" But ! have to tell
! them that they are all of tho same caIiber,
! and that they shoot from eternity TO t. ternity.
Many questions are before the people in
| the 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 personal. moral character. The Dec
alOgue forbids idolatry, image making, pro-
! fanity, maltreatment of parents, Sabbath
| desecratiOn. murder. theft, incOntinence,
| lying and rOvetOuSness That Is the Deca-
| logue by which you and [ will have to he
| tried, and by the same Decalogue you and
! must try candidates 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 50 many faults of our own
| we ought not to be censOriOus or maledic~
! tory or hYperoritical in regard to the faults
! ofothers The Christly rule is IA appropriate
| for November as any other month in the
| year. Judge not that ye be not judged,
/ J
! measured 10 you again.
Most certainly are not to takethe state
mHnt of redhOt partisanship as the real char
acter OF any man. From nearly all the gre1t
cities of this lanl receive daily or weekly
| newspapers. sent to me regularly and in com
pliment, so [ see both sides-I see all sides
and it is most entertaining and most regular
! amusement to read the opposite statements.
The one statement say the man Is An angel
and the other says he is a devil and [ split
the difference and find him half way be
tween.
There never has been an honest or respec-
table man running Tor the United States
presidency, or for n judgeship. or for the
mayOraty. or for the shrievalty since the
foundation of the American Government if
we may believe the old files of the newspa-
perS in the museums. What a mercy it is
that they were not all hung before theyw
naugurated! II a man believe One-half of
what he sees i'll the newspapers in these
times. his career will be very short outside of
BlOOmingdale insane asylum.
] was absent two or three years ago dur
ing one week of a political canvass, and
was dependent entirely upon what [ read in
regard to what had occurred in these cities,
and / read there was u procession in New
York Of 5000 patriots and minute after
read in another sheet that there were II 900,
and then | read in regard to another process
sion that there were 10, 900, and then [ read
in another paper that there were 1000.
campaign orator in the Rink or the
Academy of Music received a very cold re
cention-a very chilling receptiOn-said one
statement The other statement said the
audience rose at him. SO great was the en-
thusiasm that for a long while the orator
could not be heard, and it was only after lift
ing his hand that the vOciferatiOn began to
subside One statement will twist an inter
view one way, and another statement will
twist an interview another way. You must
a ifa11lf iLn
these to get very accurate estimate of Il
mans character, and [ charge you, as your
religious teacher. [ charge you to caution
and to nercifulness and to prayer.
| warn you also against the mistake which
many are making and always do make of ap-
plying different standard OF character for
those in prominent position from the stand
ard they apply for ordinary persons. However
much man may have or however high the
position he gets, he has no especial liberty
given him in the Interpretation of the Ten
Commandments. A great sinner is no more
to be excused than small sinner. Do not
charge illustrious detection to eccentricity
or chop off the Ten Commandments to suit
especial cases The right is everlastingly
right, and the wrong is everlastingly wrong.
Ii any man nominated for any Office in this
city or State differs from the DecalOgue. do
not fix up the Decalogue, but fix him up.
The law must stand, whatever else must fall.
you are all aware of-that the breaking of
one commandment makes it the more easy to
break all of them-and the philosophy is
plain. Any kind OF sin weakens the con-
science, and if the conscience is weakened
that opens the door for all kinds of trans
gression. If, for instance, man go into this
political campaign welding scurrility as his
chief weapon. and he believes everything bad
about man and believes nothing good, how
long before that man himself will get over
i NTDS4l
eternity.
If utter falsehOod in regard TO a man, I
may damage him, but get for myself ten
fold more damage. That is a gun that kicks.
If for instance. a man be prOf6ne, under pro-
vocation he will commit any crime, say
under provocation. For, if a man will NAL
treat the Lord Almighty, would he not mai
treat his fellow man? If man be guilty OF
malfeasance in office, he will under provoca-
ton commit any sin. He who Will steal Will
lie and he who will lie will steal.
IT, for instance. a man be impure, it opens
the door for all other iniQuity, for in that
one iniuuitv he commits theft of the worst
kind, and covetousness of the worst kind,
and Notwithstanding to be decent
when he is nOt-and maltreatS his parents by
dis-racing their name, if they were good.
Be careful therefore, how you charge that
SIN against any man eiuIIer niSu place or
low place either in Office or out OF office
because when you make that charge against
with ali disgusting propensities, with all
rottenneSs.
A Iihertine is a beast. lower than the yer
min that crawl over summer carcass
lower than the swine. for the swine has nc
intelligence to sin against. Be careful then,
how you charge that against any man
You must be so certain that a mathematics
! demonstration is doubtful as compared with
! il.
| And then. when you invest tigate a man OIL
! such subjects. you must go to the whole
/ length of investigation and find out whether
! or not he has repented. He may have been
| on his knees before God and implOred the
| divine forgiveness, and he may have i'm
! plored the forgiveness of society and the for
| giveness of the world. Although if a maj
| commit that sin at thirty or thirty-five year.
! of age, there is pot one case out of thou
sand where he ever repents. You must il
| YOUR investigation see if it is possible tha
/ the one case investigated may not have beer
the exception. But do not chop off the
/ seventh commandments 70 c11it ba