The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-07-02
BRABsrER VESTS SERMON.

| The stone which the builders rejected
has become the head of the corner.
| With the words of my text Christ con-
cluded his parable of the man who planted
Il vineyard and let it out to husbandmen,
entrusting it to their care. Christ told
| how the owner of the vineyard sent Il
| servant to the husbandmen to obtain from
them an accounting of their trust and
how the faithless agents took the servant,
beat him and sent him away empty. The
owner sent another servant. They not
| only beat the second servant, but they
wounded him. Still the man was patient
! and continued to send his servants, until
at length the dishonest husbandmen
killed some of them. At last he sent his
son and him they killed also. Christ
asked the question after relating the par
able, what shall therefore the lord of
| the vineyard doy He will come and de-
stroy the husbandmen and give the vine.
yard unto Others" and have We not heard
| the scripture, 1.-THE stone which the build
| ers rejected has become the head of the
| corner"
Not only does this parable apply to the
| prophets whom the Lord sent to the pco-
| pie of Israel and whom they rejected and
Knocked and slew; not only does it apply
to Christ himself, whom the Father had
sent to his people who had followed after
strange gods, but it applies with vivid
and wonderful force to the present situa-
ton of affairs in the United States to day
| Thirty-siN years ago there sprung up in
this country IL new political organization
| recruited with honest men from all former
| parties, which inscribed the name of God
and liberty upon its Banners nominated
| Abraham Lincoln, the greatest of all
Americans, for President, and elected
him; II political organization which, des-
pite contumely and opposition of n venal
| church and of our alien enemies in Eng
| land who wished to see the Union dis
membered, struck the shackles from the
slave and proclaimed that all men on the
soil of the United States irrespective of
color or social position should he free and
equal in the sight of the law. That party
was the Republican party.
The men who founded it in all honesty
of purpose with uprightness of heart and
reverence for God and love of liberty have
nearly all gone to their eternal reward
| The grand organization which they
| founded has been honcycombed by fraud
and corruption, it has become political
rendezvous for men to whom the word lib
erty is the subject fora jest and the name
! of God Il theme for mockery: men who
care mott millions of their fellow citizens
tramp the road by day and sleep in the
open air by night; men who care not if
| millions know not whence their next meal
| Is coming: men who care not if the flower
of womanhood of this land he forced into
lives of shame to keep miserable exist
ence in their emaciated forms: men who
care not if the coming generation shall be
bond slaves. This is the Republican
| party of to-day.
| Their first great leader. Abraham Lin
| coin, after the close of the fraticidal war
| 81. L
slaves, said sorrowfully that n greater
| danger than secession threatened the
country. He said that the entrenched
money power which had grown to such
gigantic proportions in the nations hour
| of peril and distress would yet, unless
| guarded against, endanger the very life
of the republic. He said that the open
ing of the silver mines in the West which
| would insure the country a suficiency of
| good, sound money, was Il great and won
derful boon sent by Providence for the
republic which God had foreordained
There is Il living witness of this state
| ment. Senator Stewart. the white-haired
and venerable Senator who has manfullv
fought the battle on the people for nearly
thirty years. for it was to him that Pres
| ident Lincoln thus spoke.
| Despite their knowledge of this fact
the gold monopoliSts, national bankers
| trust magnatcS, and corporation ATTORNEYS
with a horde of ward heelers in the great
cities, who form the ncucus of the Re
! publican party, held Il convention last
week in 81 Louis in which, despite the
solemn warnings Of unbribcd men, such
| a Senators Teller, Dubois. Mantle Petit
grew and Cannon and Representatives
! Hartman. Vownc. and others they DELHI
| eratcly constructed platform in which
| they dec "a rpI that lao Il
of the country must be that of England
Americas hereditary enemy; in which
! they avow their deliberate purpose to
establish the single gold standard and
thus still further curtail the price of all
commodities and the wages of every man
who lives by the sweat of his brow Upon
| this foundation of diabolical avowment
they nominated one of the men of whom
] spoke in my sermon of last week. "A
| PhariSee who goes to church on Sunday
and who during the week conspircs with
these men to tear down the republic and
impovcrsh the people and make want and
hunger stalk like grim spectres through
the land That man is William McKin
ley, of Canton, Ohio, Il discredited and
disSraccd politician. Side by side with
him they placed IL man from New Jersey
named Carrot \. Hobart. whose life is
one continual record of opposition to the
interests of the people man who has
become millionaire by organizing trusts.
monopohes and national banks. To such
Il pass the Republican party has come.
Are not these men, who have so greatly
fallen away from the original principles
OF the party like unto the husbandmen of
whom Christ spoke in the parable before
alluded to: Inspired by God, as | fully
believe, such men as Ex-Governor Fish
| back. OF Nrkansas Iudge CnldMrn .Ind...