Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1896-05-20
BEFORE THEY ADJOURN.
Having Reference to the Early Dissolu-
ton of Congress
Dr. Taimag.'s Voice Eatsed on Behalf of
the Aiinishty-iie Asks That Both
Political Conventions DO Like
wise-Hseognlxc God In
the Constitution

The subject OF DIR. Talmage Sunday
was: Before they Adjourn" having
reference To the early dissolution of
congress, and the text selected was:
Psalms cv., -, And teach his Senators
wisdom"
Senators in this text stand for law
makers Josephwas the lord treasurer
OF the Egyptian government. and
among other great things which he did.
according To my text. was TO teach his
senator's wisdom; aud If any men on
earth ought to be endowed with wis
dom, II Is senator's, whether they stand
In congresses. pariiaments. or reich
stays, or assemblies, or legislatures.
BY their decisions nations 10 up
or down. Lawmakers are some
times so tempted by prejudices, by Sec
tional preferences, by opportunity of
personal advancement, and sometimes
what is best 10 10 is SO doubtful that
they ought To be prayed for and en-
couragcd in every possible way, in
stead OF severely criticised and blamed
and excoriated. as is much of the time
the case. Our public men are SO often
the target 10 be shot at. merely be-
other men wanted but could not
reach, that more iniusticcs are
hurled at our national legislature
than the people OF the United States
can possibly imagine. The whole
sale belying of our public men is sim
ply damnable. BY residence in Wash
ington i have come to find out that
many of our public men are persistent
ly misreprescnted, and some of the
best % them, the purest in their lives
and most faithful in the discharge OF
their duties, are the worst DETAINED
Some day / want to preach n sermon
from l. Peter: "They arc not afraid
to speak evil Of diguitics. Whereas
angels, which are greater in power
and might, bring not railing accusa-
ton against them before the Lord. But
these, as natural brute beasts. made
to Toe taken and destroyed, speak
evil of the things that they understand
not"
So constant and malignant is this
work of depreciation and scaudaliza-
ton 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 all corruption, while.
what with its parks and it's equestrian
statuary and its wide streets, and its
architectural symmetricS. and its lovely
homes, 1T 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 do not
think any man can give similar testi-
mony of any other city on the Amer
lean continent
The gavels of our two houses of ma
tional legislature will soon fall and adj
tournament of two bodies of men as tai
ented, as upright, and as patriotic as
ever graced the capitol, will take place.
The two or three unfortunate out
breaks which You have noticed only
make more conspicuous the dignity.
the fraternity, the cloquence, the fidel-
ity 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 so rare in their
time. Our senate and house of repre-
sentatives have five such men where
once they had one. But it will not be
until after they are dead that
they will be appreciated. The world
finds 1T safer TO praise the dead than
the diving, because the departed, hav-
ing heavy pile OF marble above them.
may not rise to become 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 done, and let us pray God that
they may be accomplished. More for
chilly than ever before, congress has
been implored to acknowledge God in
our constitution. The Methodist
church, "A church that is always doing
glorious things, has in its recent Will
mington conference requested our
congress to amend the immortal doc
ument, which has been the fondation
and wall and dome of our United States
government, by inserting the words:
trusting in Almighty Cod" If that
amendment is made, it will not only
please all the good people of the coun-
try, but will please the heavens.
it was only an oversight or a
mental accident that the faith
ers who made the constitution
did not insert a divinely worshipful
sentence. They all. so far as they
Ni--SN-hNN' W any biaihEs btiitNGu III
God, the Father Almighty, the
Mailer of Heaven and earth, and
in Jesus Christ, His only begot-
ten Son" The constitution would
have been a failure had it not been
for the divine interference. The mem
bcis of 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, nHd
then the way was cleared, and all the
states signed the docu ment: histor-
ical fact that all the rat terriers Of
modern Iuhdelity can not bark out OF
existence. I know that there was an
exception 90 the fact that the promi-
nent men OF those times were good
men. Tom Paine. libcrtine 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 few days a confrma-
ton Of the incident I mentioned in a
recent sermon, as saying 60 his dying
daughter that she had better take her
mothers Christian religion than his