Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-05-14

hmelier or moro appropriate sermon than
that preached by Rev. DR.. Talmage this
morning. The subject was, Before They
Adjourn" having reference to the early
dissolution of congress, and the text Sc
lected was Psalms cv, %, "And teach his
senators wisdom"
Senators in this text stand for lawmak.
ers. Joseph was tho 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 men On earth ought to be en-
dowed with wisdom 1t is senators, whether
they stand In congresses, parliaments or
reichstags or assemblies or legislatures.
By their decisions nations go up or down.
Lawmakers are sometimes so tempted by
prejudices, by sectional preferences, by op-
portupity of personal advancement, and
sometimes what is best to do is so doubtful
that they ought to be prayed for and en-
couraged In every possible way, instead of
severely criticised and blamed and exco-
rated, as is much of the time the case.
Our public men are SO often the target to
be shot at, merely because they obtain en-
inence which other men wanted, but could
at our national legislature than the people
of the United States can possibly imagine.
The wholesale belying of our public men
is simply damnable.
By residence in Washington 1 have come
to find out that many of our public men
are persistently 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 want to preach sermon from the
text In II Peter: "They are not afraid to
speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels,
which are greater in power and might,
bring not railing accusation against them
before the Lord. But these, as natural
brute beasts, made to be taken and de-
stroyed, speak evil of the things that they
understand not" So constant and malig
nant is this work of depreciation and scan.
dalization 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 its equestrian statuary, anG
its wide streets, and Its architectural
symmetries, and Its lovely homes, it is not
only the most beautiful city under the sun,
have seen but one intoxicated man in the
more than six months of my residence,
and do not think any man can give sim.
liar testimony of any other city on the
American continent.
God In the Constitution.
The gavels of our two houses of national
legislature will soon fall, and adjourn.
ment OF two bodies of men as talented, as
upright, and as patriotic as ever graced
the capitol will take place. The two OF
three unfortunate 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 deliberation. We
put halo around great men Of the past
because they were SO rare in their time.
Our senate and house OF representatives
have five such men where once they had
one But it will not be until after they are
dead that they will get appreciated. The
world finds 1t safer to praise the dead than
the living, because the departed, having a
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 tc
be done and let us pray God that they may
be accomplished. More foroibly than ever
before congress has been implored to ac.
knowledge God in our constitution. The
Methodist church, church that is always
doing glorious things, has in its recent
Wilmington conference requested our con.
gress to amend the immortal document,
which has been the foundation and wall
and dome of our United States govern.
ment, by inserting the words, Trusting
In Almighty God" If that amendment
is made, 1t will not only please all the good
people Of the country, but will please the
heavens. 1t was only an oversight or a
mental accident that the fathers who made
the constitution did not insert 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 failure had 1t 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 be opened by
prayer, the Lord God was called on to in
terfere and help, and then the way was
cleared, and all the states signed the docu-
ment, o historical fact that all the rat ter.
riers of modern infldelity cannot bark out
of existencel know that there was an
exception to the fact that the prominent
men of those times were good men. Tom
Paine, libertine and a sot, did not be-
ieve In anything good until he was dying,
and then he shrieked out for Gods mercy.
And Ethan Allen, from one of whose de-
scendants have received within few
days confirmation of the incident men.
toned In a recent sermon, as saying to his
dying daughter that she had better take
her mothers Christian religion than his
own inf1delity.
The article sent me says: "The story
has been denied by some of the Allen fam.
lily, but the Bronson family, some of whom
were with the dying girl, affirm that 1t il
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 vulgarest sort of an infidel, for, sitting
in Presbyterian church, his admirers
say he struck the pew In front of him and
swore out loud so as to disturb the meet
ing, and no gentleman would do that.
do not wonder that some Of his descend
ants are ashamed of him, but of course
they could not help 1t and are not to blame
But all the decent men of the Revolution
believed in God, and our American con.
gress, now assembled, will only echo the
sentiments of the fathers when they en-
throne the name of God in the oonstitu
tion. We have now more reason for insert
ing that Acknowledgements of divinity thar
than our fathers had. Since then the con
tinent has been peopled and great cities
from the Atlantic to the Pacific built, an6
all in peace showing that there must have
been supernal supervisal. Since then the
war of 1873, and ours the victoryl Since
then the great financial prostrations, out Of
which we oame to greater prosperity thar