The Penn's Grove record., 1896-05-15
REV. DR.. TaLuAGE.
The Eminent Divine's Sunday
Sermon.


AShillls CN.t ~,
Senators in this text stand for lawmakers.
Joseph was the lord treasurer OF the Egyptian
government, and among other great things
which he did, according to my text, was TO
teach his senators wisdom, And II any mel
on earth ought to be endowed with wisdom
1t is senators, whether they stand in SON
crosses, parliaments or reichstags or assem-
blles or legislatures. By their decisions
nations go mp or down. Lawmakers are
sometimes so tempted by %preiudices. by sec
tlonal preference. by opportunity OF personal
advancement, and sometimes h Is best 70
do Is so doubtfulthat they ought to be prayed
for and encouraged in every possible way
Instead of severely criticised and blamed anh
eXcoriated, As is much of the time the case.
Our public men are so often tho target to ne
shot at, merely because they obtain eminence
which other men wanted but could not reach,
that more injustices are hurled ut our ma
tional legislature than the people OF the Uni
ted states can possibly imagine. The whole
sale belytng OF our public men issimply dam
nable.
By residence in Washington I have CONS
TO find ont that many of our public men are
persistentiy misrepresented, 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 1 want to
preach a sermon from the text in ii Peter:
'They are not afraid to speak evil OF dignt-'
ties. Whereas angels, which are greater IN
power and might, bring not railing accusa-
tion against them before the Lord. But
these, as natural brute beasts, made to be
taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things
that they understand not" SO constant and
malignant is this work of depreciation and
standardization in regard to our public men
that all over the land there are those who
suppose that the city of Washington is the
center of alt corruption, while what with its
parks, and its equestrian statuary, and Its
wide streets, and its architectural symme-
tries, and it's lovely homes, II is not only the
most beautiful city under the sun, but has
the highest style of citizenship. l have seen
but one intoxicated man in the more than
six months of my residence, and l do not
think any mar can give similar testimony of
any other city on the American continent.
The gayels 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 the capital
will take place. The two or three unfor-
tunate outbreaks which you have noticed
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 elaboration. We put q halo around
great men Of the past because they were SO
rare in their time. Our senate and house of
Representatives lave five such men where
once they had one. But 1t will not be until
after they are dead that they will get appre-
ciatei. The worll finds it safer to praise
the dead than the living, because the de-
parted. having n heavy pile OF marble above
/ them, may not riseto become rivals.
But, before the gaveIs of adjournment
drop and tho doors of Capitol Hill shut,
there are one or two things that ought to be
done. and lei us pray God that they may be
accomplished. More forcibly than ever be-
fore, congress has been implored to acknowl-
edge God in our constitution. The Metho.
dist Church, n 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 Hod." II
that amendment is made, it will not only
please ali 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
a divinely 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 a failure had it not been for the
divine Interference, The members of the
convention could agree on nothing until, in
response to Benjamin Franklin's request that
the meetings he opened by prayer, the Lord
God was called on to interfere and help, and
then the way was cleared. and all tho states
signed the document, a historical fact that
all the rat terriers Of modern in1deiity can
not bark out OF existence. / know that there
was an exception to the fact that the promi-
nent men in those times were good men.
Tom Paine, a libertine and a sot, did not
believe in anything good until he was dying,
and then he shrieked out for Gods mercy.
And Ethan Allen, from one of whose
descendants | have received within a few
DAYS a confirmation of the incident ] mem
toned In a 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 ma says; 1.-THE
story has been denied by some of the Allen
family, but the Bronson family, some of
whom were with the dying girl, affirm that
1t is substantially true. In such a matter
one confirmation is worth more than many
dentals," So says the article sent me.
There is no doubt that Ethan Allen was the
vulgarest sort of an 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, aud nc
gentleman would do that. do not wonder
that some Of his descendants arc ashamed of
him, but Of course hey 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 they
enthrone the name OF God in the consti-
tuition. We nave now more reason for
Inserting that acknowledgement of divinity
than our fathers had. Since then the con
tinent has been peopled and great cities from
The Atlantic to the Pacific built, aud all in
peace, showing that there mus have been
supernal supervisal. Since then the wal of
1872, and ours the victory! Since then great
financial prostrations. out of which we came
to greater prosperity h anything that pre-
coded. Since then sanguinary 1862, 1868,
1864 and 1865, and Notwithstanding the fact
that all the foreign despotisms were plan
ming for our demolition, we are a united peo-
pie, and tomorrow you will find in both
! houses of congress the men who fought for
the north and south, 20 sitting side by
side, armed with no weapon except the pen,
with which they write home to their CON
stituents who want to DO 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
70 O'Clock of an unclouded noon sec the
sun in the heavens.
As matter of gratitude to Almighty God,
4 gentlemen of the American congress, be
pleased 10 insert the four words suggested
by the Methodist conference. Not only be,
cause Of the kindness of God to this nation
In the pAst should such reverential insertion
be made, but because of the fact that we are
going TO want divine ~interposition still
further in our national history. This eolt
and silver question will never be settled IN
til God settles it. This question of tariff AM
tree trade will never he settled Until Coz
Settles ii. This question bel the cas-
Ind the west, which is getting hotter an,
hotter and looks toward a republic Of III,
Pacific. will not be settled until God settle
Z. We needed God in the 100 years of GU