The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-12-21

hoofs did not CHATTER, the cavalry of
God galloped by. 1 tell you God is the
friend of this nation.
l am encouraged more than / can
tell you as / see the regiments wheel
ing down the sky, and my jeremiads
turn into doxologies, and that which
the Good Friday of the nations
cruciixion becomes the Easter morn
of it's resurrection. OF course, God
works through human instrumental
ties, and this national betterment is 70
come among other things, through a
scrutinized ballot-box. BY the law of
registration it is almost IMPOSSIBLE now
tohave illegal voting. There wasa time,
you and / remember livery well, when
Of vagabonds wandered up and
down on election day, and from poll to
poll, and voted here, and voted there,
and voted everywhere. and there was
NJ challenger; or, il there were, il
appointed to nothing, because nothing
Could be 80 suddenly proved upon the
vagabonds. Now, in every we'll organ
lied neighborhood, every voter is
watched with severity and scrutiny.
Is not that a great advance? And
then notice the law that prohibits q
man voting II he has bet on the cleo
ton. A step further needs to be taken.
and that man forbidden to vote who
has offered or taken a bride, whether
it be in the shape of q free drink, or
cash paid down.
God "" ave this nation through In
aroused moral sentiment. There has
never been 10 much discussion OF
morals and immorals. Men, whether
or not they acknowledge what is right,
have to think what is right We have
men who have had their hands in the
public treasury the most of their life
time, stealing all they could lay their
hands on, discoursing e~loquently
about dishonesty in public serv-
ants; and men with two or three
families Of their own preaching
eloquently about the beauties of the
seventh commandment. The question
Of sobriety and drunkenness is thrust
In the lace Of this nation as never be.
fore, and takes q part in u political
contests. The question of national
sobriety Is going to be respectfully
and deferentisliy heard at the bar of
every legislature, and every house of
representatives, and every state senate;
and an omnipotent voice will ring
down the sky and across this land and
back again, saying to these riaing
tides of drunkenness which threaten
to whelm home and church and nation:
''rhus far shalt thou come. but no far
ther, and here shall thy proud waves
be stayed"
When the army Of Antigonus went
into battle, his soldiers were very
much discourage, and they rushed up
to the general and said TO him: Don't
you zee we have o few forces, and they
have 90 many more?" and the soldiers
were afriRhted at the smallness of
their number and the greatness of the
enemy. Ambiguous, their commander,
Strengthened himself mp. and said, with
indignation and vehemence: "How
many do you reckon me to be?" And
when we see the vast armies arrayed
against the cause Of sobriety 1t may
sometimes be very discouraging, but I
ask You In making mp your estimate OF
the forces Of righteousness-I ask you
how many do you recken the Lord God
Almighty TO be? he il our commander.
The Lord Of Hosts Is his name. Ihave
the best authority for saying that the
chariots Of God are 10000, and the
mountains are full Of them,
Have you any doubt about the need
Of the Christian religion to purity and
mako decent American politics? At
every yearly or quadrennisl election
we have in this country great manu-
Observation-Disclosures of lies; and
they are run day and night, and they
turn out half o dozen . day,
all equipped and ready for full
sailing. Large lies and small lies. Lies
private and lies public and lies pruri-
emit Lies cut bias and lies cut diagonal.
Long-limbed lies, and lies with double
back action. Lies complimentary and
lies defamatory. Lies that some people
believe, and lies that all the people
believe and lies that nobody believes.
Lies with humps like camels and scales
hike crocodiles. and necks a long As
storks, and feet As swift as an ante
lope's. and stings like adders. Lies raw
and scalloped and panned and stewed.
Crawling lies and jumping lies, and
soaring lies. Lies with attachment
| screws and rufHers aud braiders and
ready-wound bobbins. Lies by Chris
| tisn people who never lie except dur
ing elections, and lies by people who
always lie, but beat themselves In Q
presidential campaign.
Nothing but Christianity will ever
stop such q. food Of indecency. The
Christian religion will speak after .
while. The Billingsgate and low
scandal through which we wade every
year or every four years must be re-
buked by the religion which speaks
from \ its two great mountains, from
the one mountain informing the COM
mAnd, '"Thou shalt not bear false wit.
ness against thy neighbour" and from
the other mount making plea for kind
ness and blessing rather than cursiug.
Do You say this is impracticable? No.
Tho time Is coming just as certainly as
there is o God, and that this is His
Book, and that He has the strength
and the honesty to fulfil His promises.
One Of the ancient emperors used to
pride himself on performing that which
his counselors said was impossible,
and I have to tell you to-day that
mans impossibles are Gods easies.
"Hath He said, and shall He not do It?
Hath He commanded, and will He not
bring It to pass%' The Christian re-
ligion is coming to take possession of
every ballot box, of every schoolhouse,
of every home, of every valley, Of
every mountain, Of every acre of our
national domain. This nation, not
withdrawing all tho evil influences
that are trying to destroy it, is going
to live.
Never since. according to John Mil
ton. when Satan was hurled headlOng
flaming from the imperial skies in
hideous ruin and combustion down."
have the powers of darkness been SO
determined to win this continent as
now.
Who shall have y this hemisphere,
Christ or Satan? Who shall have the
shore of her inland seas, the silver Of
her Nevsdas, the gold of her Colorados,
the telescopes of her o~bservatories, the
brain Of her universities, the wheat of
her prairies, the rice of her savannas,
the two great ocean beaches-the one
reaching from Bafin's Bay to Terra
del Fuego, and the other from Behring
straits to Cape Horn-all the moral
and temporal and spiritual aud ever
lasting interests Of q population vast
beyond all human computation? Who
shall have the hemisphere? You and
I will decide that. or helm to decide IL