The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1894-02-03
THE REAL TEST or FITNESS

THE REAL TEST or FITNESS.
AN ANTI-ELECTIoN SERMON BY On.
TALMAGE. 8 AZ
He Discusses PERSONAL. Character us
Applied to Politics-Good Advice
If Tor All Parties--A, Timely Topic
Treated. $s12 - =.
Brooklyn. n.-Discussing the approach
Ing election, and using the text, Exodus
XXX, is, "And all the people saw the
thunderings, and the lghtnings, and
the noise of the trumpet and the
mountain smoking" Rev. DR.. Talmage
says: -.
On the eve Of elections in the sixty
counties of this state and in all the
counties Of most Of the United States,
while there are many hundreds Of
nominees to office, it is appropriate and
important that I preach this before
election sermon. 49,
My text informs you that the light
<11AA uI1tCu CAclI
forces to wreck a mountain of Arabia
Petraea in ~olden time, and travellers
to-day find heaps of porphyry and
greensboro rocks; bowlder against
bowlder-the remains of the first law
library, written not on parchment or
papryus, but on shattered slabs of
granite. The corner stones of all NOR.
aity, Of all wise law, Of all righteous
jurisprudence, of all government are
the two tablets Of stone on which We're
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 of
the twentieth chapter of Exodus. And
it would be well in these times of great
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 existence, and some
are not aware of some Of the passages
of that law, and others say this or that
is Of more Importance, when no one
has any right to make such an asser-
ton. These laws are the pillars Of
society, and if you remove one pillar
I have noticed that men are partic-
ularly vehement against sins to which
they are not particularly tempted and
lind no especial 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 a Krupp
gun, and this is a Nordenfeidt five bar
relied gun, and this is a Gatling ten
barreled gun, and this is a Martini
thirtyseven barreled gum But have
to tell them that they are not all of the
same caliber and that they shoot from
e. etermit $ 81 s. s..
Many questions are Before tie. people
"a the coming elections all oyer this
land, but I shall try to show you that
the most important thing to be settled
about all these candidates is their per-
sonal, moral character. The Decaloguc
forbids idolatry, image making, pro-
family, maltreatment Of parents, Sab
bath dissertation, murder, theft, incon-
tinencc, lying and covetousness That
is the Decalogue by which you and I
will have to be tried, and by the same
DecalOgue you and l must try candi-
dates 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 so
many faults of our own we ought not
to be censorious or maledictory or hy-
percritical in regard to the faults Of
others. The Christly rule is as appro-
pirate for November as any other
month in the year. "Judge not that
ye be not judged, for with what meas
ure ye mete it shall be measured to
you again."
Most certainly are we not to take the
statement of red-hot partisanship as
the real character of any man. From
nearly all the great cities Of this land
l receive daily or weekly newspapers,
sent to me regularly and in compli-
ment, so I see both sides-I see all
sides--and it is most entertaining and
my most regular amusement to read
the opposite statements The one state
ment says the man is an angel, and the
other says he is devil, and I split the
difference, and I find him half Way be-
tween.
There never has been an honest or
respectable man running for the
United States presidency, or for
judgeship, or for the mayoralty, or for
the shrievalty since the foundation of
the American government, if we may
believe the old files of newspapers in
the museums. What a mercy it is that
they were not all hung before they
were inaugurated! If a man believe
one-half Of what he sees in the newspa-
pers in these times, his career will be
very short outside Of Bloomingdale in
sane asylum.
was absent two or three years ago
during one week of a political canvass,
and I was dependent entirely upon
what I read in regard to what had oc-
Cured in these cities, and read there
was procession in New York of 5000
patriots, and a minute after I read in
another sheet that there We're 1900,
and then I read in regard to another
procession that there were 10000, and
then I read in another paper that there
were 10000
You must admit it is a very difficult
thing in times like these to get very
accurate estimate Of mans character,
and I charge you, as your religious
teacher-I charge you to caution and
to mercifulness and to prayer.
s I warn Won also against the mistake