The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-11-01
BEFORE THE ELECTION.
Timely and Patriotic Discourse by
Rev. DR.. Tslmagc.
Candidates for Ofiice Should be Tried by
the Decalogue-M Men Who in Any
Wise Antagonize the Ten Com
mandments Should Never be
Elevated to Authority.

be exercised in many Of the states Of
the Union. The discourse was based
upon the text, Exodus xX.. IS:
"And oil the people saw the thunderings and
lightnings and the noise Of the trumpet and the
mountains smoking" rN
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
md important that preach this be.
ore election sermon.
My text informs you that the light
lings and earthquakes united their
:orces to wreck mountain of Arabia
Petrea in olden time, and travellers to-
lay find heaps of porphyry and green
stone rocks, bowlder against bowlder,
the remains of the first law library,
written, not on parchment or papyrus,
but on shattered slabs of granite. The
corner-stones ofall 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 in the cradle of the twen-
tieth chapter of Exodus. And it would
be we'll in these times of great politi-
cal agitation II 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 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 asser-
ton. These laws are the pillars Of So
ciety, and If you remove one pillar you
damage the whole structure. have
noticed that men are particularly vehe-
ment against sins TO which they are not
particularly tempted, and find no es.
pecial wrath against sins in which they
themselves 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 Krupp gun, and this
is a Nordenfeldt fve-barrelled gun,
and this is Gatling ten-barrelled gun,
and this is Martigny thirty-seven
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 l 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-making, profan-
ity, maltreatment Of parents, Sabbath
desecration, murder, theft, inconti-
nence, 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. II 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 maledictory or hyper
critical in regard TO the faults of others.
The Christly rule is as appropriate for
November as any other month in
the year: Judge not that ye be not
judged, for with what measure ye mete
1t 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. Froh
nearly all the great cities of this land
l receive daily or weekly newspapers,
sent to me regularly and in compli-
ment, so | see both sides-I see all
sides-and II is most entertaining and
my regular amusement, TO read the op-
posite statements The one statement
says 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 hon
est or respectable man running for the
United States presidency, or for a
judgeship, or for the mayoralty, or for
the shrievalty, since the foundation OF
the American government, II we may
believe the old files of newspapers in
the museums. What mercy It is that
they were not an hung before they
were inauguratedl II Il man believes
one-half OF what he secs in the news.
papers In these times, his career will
be very short outside Of Bloomingdale
insane asylum. was absent two or
three years ago during one week of
political canvass, and / was dependent
upon what read In regard TO
what had occurred in these cities, and
] read there was procession In New
York of five thousand patriots, and a
minute after read in another sheet
that there seventeen thousand; and
then read In regard TO another pro-
cession that there were ten thousand,
and then read In another paper that
there sixty thousand. A campain ora
tor In the rink or the Academy Of Music
received very cold receptions very
reception-said one state
ment- The other statement said the
audience rose at him; 30 great was the
that for a long while the
orator could not be heard, and II was
only after lifting his hand that the
vociferation began to subsidei One
statement will twist an interview one
way, and another statement will twist
IN interview another way You must
admit IL Is very difficult thing In
Times like these TO got very accurate
estimate Of mans character, and |
,harge you, as your religious teacher,
,harge you 10 caution and 10 merciful.