Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-05-24

n ScTiuOU uppTOpIlulb 10 inc tllleS
was preached in ST. Paul's Methodist
Episcopal Church last Sunday morning
by the Rev. II. Il. Terry. His subject
was 1.-THE Present National Crisis" and
his text "If the Lord BIO with us, why
then is all this befallen us ?"-Judges
vi, 10. He said;
Whatever be the conception men have
of God it invariably carries with it the
idea of omnipotent goodness. Israel
knew, and with more or less constancy
worshipped the one, true God, and of
His power to protect and bless His
people they had abundant proof in the
institution and preservation of their
nation. But now there had come q
time in their history when He seemed
to have given them over to their
enemies and the oppression and cruelty
they were compelled TO endure inspired
the sentiment that found expression in
the question that Gideon here asks of
the angel of the Lord who came to com.
mission him to lead Israel to victory
against their oppressors, the Midianites.
The lsraelitish nation was in many
respects typical of our own republic
The Divine hand cannot be more dearly
traced in their history than in ours.
Like Israel we have fallen upon I'M
propitious times. We nave come to q
place where our hitherto marvellous
prosperity has failed US. In our
commercial centres there is disaster
widespread and ruinous; in our
industrial enterprises there is stag
nation, and in all the. land there
is abroad spirit Of unrest and dis.
20
ing why this is so, and some are inquir-
ing with Gideon If God has deserted us,
to which we unhesitatingly and un-
qualifiedly answer, no! God never was
more gracious to any people than He Is
to-day to this nation. He has not for
saken us, but the trouble is that, like
Israel of old, we have forsaken Him.
In times such as we are now expe-
riencing the pessimist is always abroad
and he finds rare opportunity. We are
not pessmists, and that is not pessimism
that looks the situation squarely in the
face and reaches an intelligent con.
clusion, that is sound reason, good com
mon sense. "phe prudent man fore
seeth the evil and hideth himself" Let
us inquire honestly for the cause Of oui
unfortunate condition and seek to fine
the way out of it If possible.
To any one who will calmly and in
diligently consider our present condi
ton, certain facts undeniably exist, anc
among them are the following:
|. There is decided and growing
tendency among the masses of our popu
lation toward irreverence for the sacred
institutions of Christianity, and towarC
positive irreligiou. No nation can b.
truly said to be Christian nation tina
has not distinct national type of Chris
tian morality. II this nation is equally
given up to the doubts of skepticism, Il
tlIetieniafs of agnosticism and infidelity
to a multitude of pagan beliefs and t,
no belief at all, and TO belief in Jesu
Christ, then it cannot in truth be said Il
be Christian nation. A Christian ma
ton must be nation acknowledging
Jesus Christ, and adopting His religion
This national morality cannot exis
without religious principles and re
ligious institutions. Wherever Rom
carried her copqucsts there she set Vi
her standards and established her laws
and that province became part of th
great Roman empire. So, whereve
Christianity prevails, there she must Sc
up her standards and establish her inst
buttons, and so long as she stays to bles
the nation these must remain intac
But what are the factsg Where in al
this land is the sanctity of the holy Sab
bath not violatcd9 VINO does not kno,
that the respect and reverence that me
entertain for the church and for til
Christian ministry is sadly wan
ingg With what flippant ire,
Hn he
God and yet let it ever be borne /
mind that without the Christian Sabbatl
and the Christian Church, and tn
Christians Bible-without all of the.
sacredly cherished and immovably fixe
as the foundations of our civilization
America Is not, cannot be in any trr
sense Christian nation, and he who
any way, and TO any extent impairs d
strength and influence of these or eth,
OF them, or in any way lessons the n
spect and veneration men feel for then
10 that extent he digs away the found;
tons of our republic, and forfeits ii
protection and goodness of God. L
him who sins against God, and again
the Christian conscience of this matte
beware
ii. The second unfavorable phase
our national affairs is an increasing ten
ency toward social disorder--absolu
lawlessness. This follows very natural
from the tendency to irreverence al
irrellgion. That man or that nation wi
cuts loose from God and His law drift
no one can tell whittier. There is co
dition of affairs in our land to, day stri
ingly similar to that which in Fran
Immediately preceded the French rev
luton. The civil authorities are beii
ignored and the shotgun and the mi
are being substituted for the jury ai
the civil court. What u spectacle tn
nation presents to the world to-da
Already there have been reported I'll
year, in this country, "a lvnchings
persons accused Of crime; 81 persons
Tour months hanged, or shot, or bot
without judge or jury For this who
sale butchery by lawless mobs, there
not the semblance of an excuse, and
IS a burning shame that this natl
should be thus disgraced in the eyes
the world. No matter how convinci
the proof of a mans guilt may be,
has right to be fairly tried in a col
OF justice, and If found guilty a
worthy of death, to be executed by I
sovereign power of the law he has tral
gressed.
IN South Carolina the enforcement
the state Dispensary law has led to op
rebellion and bloodshed, and now q
the law has been declared unconsti
tlonal, the State is practically Civ
up to the rumseller and gambler.
Paterson, New Jersey, in Clevelal
Ohio, aud various other places the wo
classes of society with clubs and sh
guns march from factory to factC
driving peaceful and indnsiril