Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-11-17
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "The Gospel In Politics. %

TEXT '''Son,e therefore c,ted thing
| and some 0nother for the assemble ,rG,
| confused. and The more part kae'n rot iBhe,se:
| fore they 'rcre come tC9ethe|. Ard 3hp{j dreU
| Ale1ander ont Of the mmH'mdc. The Je,Cs
| putting him fOJirdrd dhd 4lernndo. bort-
oned NTH the tdnd, and 'rOuld hare mGdt
| has defense ':rto the people. Bmt ,cRen Hes
| kr,e,o that he Tns n Je'c, al ,rib one yOirt
| about the space Of t1cO hours cried ont:
| 'Great as Diana Of the EpAe5stn$f Acts
xix, 80.
Ephesus was upside down. 1t vas about
| the silver question. 4 manufacturer of silves
| boxes for holding heather images had called
bis laborers together TO discuss the behavior
of one Paul, who had been in public places
assaulting image worship, and consequently
very much damaging that patticbla, busi-
ness. There was great excitement in the
city. People stood in knots along the
streets, violently gesticulating and calling
eacd other hard names. Some of the people
faHOredthe policy of the silver.mth. Other
people favored the policy Of Paul. There
wero great moral questions involved, but
these did not bother them at all
The only question about which they
seemed to be interested was concerning the
wages and the stIaried positions. The silver
smith and his c0mpeers had put up ftctc-:as
at great expense i9f the making of these sill
yer boxes, and now, if this new policy is to
he inaugurated the business will 90 down,
ment and the whole city will suffer. Well
what is to be done2 Call n convention -
says some one, for ID all ages a convention
has been panacea for public evils. The
convention is called, and as they wart the,
largest room in the city theytake the theatre
Having there assembled, they all want to
get the floor, and they all want to talk at
once. You know what excitement that al
ways makes in a convention. where a great
many people want to talk at once. Sons
cried one thing. some cried another. Some
wanted to denOunce, some wanted to resolve.
After awhile a prominent man gets the floor.
and he begins TO speak, but they Very soon
hiss him down, and then the confusion rises
into worse uprOar aud they begin to shout,
all of them together. and they keep on until
they are red in the face and hoarse in the
throat, for two long hours crving out "Great
Is Diana of the Ephesians. Great is Diana
of the Ephe-iansr'
The whole scene reminds me of the excite
ment we have almost every autumn at the
elections. While that goddess Diana has lost
her worshipers and her temples have gone
into the dust our American people want TO
set up god in place of her, and they want
us all to bow down before it, and that god is
political party. Considering our superior
civilization, have to declare to you that
Ephesian idOlatry was less offensive III the
sight of God than is this all absorbing Ameri-
can partisanship
While there are honest men, true men,
Christian men, who stand in both political
parties, and who come into the autumnal
elections resolving to serve their cit V or their
State or the Nation IN the best possible way,
[ have noticed also that with many 1t is d
mere contest between tho ins and the outs
those who are trying to stay in and keep the
outs out, and those who are trying to get in
and thrust the inS out. And ono party cries,
'Great is Diana of the Ephesians !" and the
other party cries, ''Great is Diana of the
Gphesianst = neither Of them honest enough
to say, "Great is my pOcketbCOk :.
Once or twice year it is my custom to
talk to the people about public affairs from
what | call Christian standpoint, and
this morning have chosen for that duty. |
hope to say practical word. History tells
us of a sermon once preached amid the high
lands Of ScOtand-a sermon two hours long
on the sin of luxury. " Irra there were not
moro than three pairs OF snoes in the au-
dience, and during our last war good man
went into a hospital distributing tracts and
gave a tract on The Sin of Dancing" to
man both of whose legs had been amputated! !!
But | hope this morning to present an ap-
prOpriatc and adapted word. as next Tues
day at the ballot box great affairs are to be
settled.
The Rev. DR.. Emmons. in the early his
tory of our country. in Massachusetts,
preached about the election Of Thomas JET
ferson to the Presidency. The Rev. DR..
Mayhem. of Boston, in the early days OF our
republic preached about the repeal Of the
stamp act. There are times when ministers
OF Christ must look off upon public
affairs and discuss them. We need go back
to no example. Every man is. before God,
responsible for his own duty.
Ii the Norwegian boasts OF his home of
rocks, and the Siberian is pleased with his
land of perpetual snow, if the Roman
thought that the muddy Tiber was the
favored river in the sight of heaven, and if
%hn 7 OIo -chiI h pI1lN al
native cline, and if the Chinese have pity
for anybody born outside of the Flowery
Kingdom, shall not we. born under these
fair skies and standing day by day amid
those glorious civil and religious liberties,
he public spirited? | propose to tell the peO-
PIE very plainly what | consider to be their
Christian duty at the ballot bOXL
First, set yourself against all political false
hood. The most mOnstrOus lies ever told in
this country are during the elections. Istop
ut the door of a Democratic meeting and
listen and hear that the Republicans are liars.
/ stop at the door of a Republican meeting
and listen and hear that the Democrats are
scOundrels. Our public men microscopized,
and the truth distorted. Who believes a
tenth part OF what he reads or hears in the
autumnal elections? Men who at other sea-
sons of the year are very careful in their
speech become peddlers of scandal.
In the far east there is place where once
q year they let the people do as they please
and say what they please, and the place is
full of uproar. misrule and wick ednesS, and
they call it the "devirs day" The nearest
approximation to that in this country has
been the first Tuesday in November The
community at such times seems to say. $50
to, now, let US have q good time at lying.
Prominent candidates for office are de-
nOunced as unprincipled and renegade. A
smart lie will start in the corner of country
newspaper, AMI keep on running until it has
capturedth the printing presses of the whole
continent. What garblinS of speeches What
msinterpretatiOn of motives! what mis-
representation of individual antec9dents!
The trouble is that we have in this country
two great manufactures ies-manufactories of
lies-the Republican mandatory of lies and
the Democratic mandatory OF lles-and
they are run day and night, and they turn
out half q dozen day all equipped and
ready for full sailing Large lies and small
lies. Lies private and lies public and lies
prurient. Lies cut bias and lies cut diagonal.
Long limbed lies and lies with double back
action. Lies complimentary and lies de-
famatory. Lies that some people believe,
and lies that all the people believe, and lies
that nobody believes. Lies with humps like
camels, and scales like CrOcOdiles. and necks
as long as storks, and feet as swift as an an
telope's. and stings like adders- Lies raw
and scalIoped and panned and stewed
Crawling lies and jumping lies and soaring
lies. Lies with attachment screws and
rafflers and braiders and ready wortnG bob
bins. Lies by Christian people. V'hc never
lie except during elections, and lies Dy peo-
| pie who always lie, but beat themselves in a
! political campaign.
confess am ashamed to have a foreigner
| visit this country in these times. l shonid
| think he would stand dazed and dare not GO
| out at nights What will tho hundreds of
| thousands of foreigners who come here to
| live think of US? What disgust they must
| have for the land of their adoption! The
only good thing about it is that many of them
cannot understand the English language.
| But suppose the German and 1ts'lian and
Swedish and French papers translate it all.
and peddle out the internal stuff tothelr sub
| scribers.
Nothing but Christianity will ever stop such
a food of indecency. The Christian religion
will speak after awhile. The billingsgate and
| low scandal through which we wade almost
every autumn must be rebuked by that re
IgicD which speaks from its two great noun
tains from the nannntain informing tht