The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-05-21
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE NOTED DIvINE'S SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject: Before They Adjourn"

Senators in this text stand for lawmakers.
Joseph was the lord treasurer of the Egyptian
government. and among other great thing;
which he did, according to my text, was t
teach his senators wisdom. And IL any men
on earth ought to be endowed with wisdom
It is senators, whether they stand in con-
crosses. parliamants or reichstagS or assem-
blies or legislatures By their decisions
nations go up or down. Lawmakers are
sometimes so tempted by preiudices. by sec
tiOnal preference, by opportunity oeporsonal
advancement. and sometimes what is best tC
do is so dOubtfulthat they ought to be prayed
for and encouraged in every possible way
instead of severely criticised and blamed and
excoriated as is much of the time the case.
Our public men are so often the target to be
shot a. merely because they obtain eminence
which other men wanted but could not reach
that more injustices are hurled at our ma
tional leg islaturn than the people OF tine Uni
ted States can possibly imagine. The whole
sale belying Of our public men issmply dam
nable
By residence in Washington I have come
to find out that many Of our public men are
Dersistently misropresented, and some Of the
best Of them. the purest in their lives and
most faithful in The discharge of their duties.
are the worst detained. Some day I want to
preach n >erron from the text in II Peter:
'TheY are not afraid to speak evil Of digni-
ties. Whereas angels, which are greater in
power and might. bring not railing accusa-
ton aranst them before the Lord. But
these, as natural brute beasts, made to b.
taken ana destroyed. speak evil Of the things
that they understand not" SO constant AMI
malignant is this work of depreciation and
standardization in regard to our public men
that all over the land there arc those who
suppose that the city of Washington ia the
center OF all corruption, while what with its
parks, and its equestrian statuary, and its
wide streets. and its architectural symme-
tries, and its lovely homes, it is not only the
most beautiful city under tho sum- but has
the highest style of citizenship. | have seen
but one intoxicated man In the more than
six months of my residence. and L do not
think any man can give similar testimony of
any other city on the American continent.
The gaveIs Of our two houses of national
legislature will soon fall, and adjournment
OF two bodies Of men as talented. as upright
and as patriotic as ever graced tho capital
will take place. Tho two or three unfOr-
tunate outbreaks which you have notice
only make more conspicuous the dignity.
the fraternity, the elOquence, the fidelity
which have characterized those two bodies
during all the long months of important and
anxious deliberation. We put halo around
great men of the past because they were 50
representatives, have five such men where
once they had one. But it will not be until
after they are dead that they will get appre-
ciated. The world finds it safer to praise
the dead than the living, because the de-
parted, having heavy pile of marble above
them. may not rise to oecome rivals.
But, before the gavels of adjournment
drop and the doors of Capitol Hill shut,
there are one or two things that ought to be
nd Ja& NnI k1,okk nov, I.>
accomplished. More forcibly than ever be-
fore, congress has been implored to acknow!-
edge God in our constitution. The Metho-
dist Church, a church that Is always doing
glorious things, has in its recent Whining
ton conference requested our congress to
amend the immortal document which has
been the foundation and wall and dome of
our United States government by inserting
the words, Trusting in Almighty God" If
that amendment Is made, 1t will not onlv
please all the good people of the country,
but will please the heavens. 1t was only an
oversight or a mental accident that the tath-
ers who made the constitution did not insert
divlnely worshipful sentence. They all. so
FAR as they amounted to anything, believed
in "God the Father Almighty, the Maker OF
heaven and earth. and in Jesus Christ. His
only begotten Son." The constitution would
have been failure had it not been for the
uAS'Ao iHtCI IcIouCe. Inc members or the
convention could agree on nothing until, in
response to Benjamin Franklin's request that
the meetings be opened by prayer, the Lord
God was called on to interfere and help, and
then the way was cleared. and all the states
signed the document. a historical fact that
all the rat terriers of modern inf1deity can
not bark out Of existence. know that there
was an exception to the fact that the promi-
nent men in those times wero good men.
Tom Paine. a libertine and a sot. did not
believe in anything good until he was dving,
and then he shrieked out for Gods mercy.
And Ethan Allen, from one of whose
descendants have received within few
days confirmation of the incident mem
TONED in recent sermon, as saying to his
dying daughter that she had better take her
mothers Christian religion than his own in
fidelity. The article sent me says: The
story has been denied by some of the Alien
family, but the Bronson family, some Of
whom were with the dying girl, affirm that
1t is substantially true. In such matter
one confirmation is worth more than many
denials.' So says the article sent me.
There is no doubt that Ethan Allen was the
vulSarest sort OF IN infldel, tor, sitting in a
Presbyterian Church, his admirers say he
struck the pew in front of him and swore out
loud so as to disturb the meeting, and no
gentleman would do that. do not wonder
that some of his descendants arc ashamed of
him, but of course they could not help it and
are not to blame. But all the decent men of
the Revolution believed in God, and our
American congress. now assembled. will only
echo the sentiments Of the fathers when thew
enthrone the name Of God in the consti-
tuition. We have now more reason FOR
inserting that acknowledgment of divinity
than our fathers had Since then the .0n-
tinent has been peopled and great cities from
the Atlantic TO the Pacific built, and all in
peace, showing that there must have been
supernal supervisal. Since then the war of
1872, and ours the victory! Since then great
financial prostrations. out of which we came
TO greater prosperity than anything hat pre-
coded. Since then sanguinary 1862, 1868,
1864 and 1865, and notwithstanding the fact
that all the foreign despotisms were plan
ming for our demo lition, we are a united peo-
pie. and tomorrow you will find in both
houses of congress the men who fought fox
tho north and south, now sitting side by
side. armed with no weapon except the pen.
with which they write home to their con-
stituents who want to be appointed post
masters. The man who cannot see Goa in
our American history is as blind of soul as
he would be blind of body If he could not at
II O'Clock of an unclouded noon see the
sun In the heavens.
As matter of gratitude to Almighty God
gentlemen of the American congress. be
pleased to insert the four words suggested
by the Methods. conference. Not only be-
cause of the kindness of God to this nation
In the past should such reverential insertion