The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-05-15


his descendants are ashamed of him;
but of course they could not help 1t,
and are not to blame. But all the de-
cent men of the revolution believed in
God, and our American congress, now
asse m bled, will only echo the senti-
ments of the fathers when they en-
throne the name Of God in the eonsti-
tuition. We have now more reason for
inserting that acknowledgment OF Dr.
vinity than our fathers had. Since
then the continent has been peo-
pied and great cities, from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, built and
all inS peace, showing that there
must have Teen supernsl supervisal
Since then the war of 1912 and ours
the victory! Since then great financial
prostration, out of which we come 20
greater prosperity than anthing that
preceded. Since then sanguinary
1862, 1863, 1864 and 1865, and notwith-
standing the fact that all the foreign
despotisms were planning for our
demolition, we are q united people,
and tomorrow you will find in both
houses of congress the men who fought
for the north and the south, now sit
ting side by side, armed with no
weapon except the pen, with which
they write home to their constituents
who want TO be appointed postmasters
The man who cannot see God In our
American history is as blind of soul as
he would be blind of body If he could
not at ~ o'clock of an unclouded noon
see the sun in the heavens AS mat
ter of gratitude to Almighty God, gen.
tlemen of the American congress, be
pleased to insert the four words sug-
gested by the Methodist conferencel
Not only because 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 the Divine interpolation
still further in national history. This
gold and silver question will never be
settled until God settles it This
question between the east and
the west, which is getting hot
ter and hotter, and looks toward
republic of the Pacific, will not
be settled until God settles it. We
needed God in the 12O years of our past
natiHhal life. and we will need Him
still more in the next 100 years Lift
up your heads, We everlasting gates of
our glorious constitution, and let the
King of Glory come in! Make one line
of that immortal document radiant
with Omnipotence! Spell at least one
word with Thronesl At the beginning,
or at the close, or in the center, recog-
nize Him from Whom as a ma
ton we have received all the
blessings of the past and upon
Whom we are dependent for the
future Print that word God" or
Lord" or Eternal Father" or
Ruler of Nations" somewhere be-
tween the first word and the last.
Again, before the approaching ad-
journment of our American congress,
it ought to be decidedly and forever
settled that no appropriations be made
to sectarians schools, and that the
courtship between church and state in
this country be forever broken up.
That question already seems tempo
rarily settled. l wish it might be COM
pletely and forever settled. All schools
and all institutions, as we'll as all de-
nominations, should stand on the
same level before American law.
Emperor Alexander, of Russia, asked
me how many denominations of re-
ligions there were in America, and l
recited their names as well as 1 could.
Then he asked me the difference be-
tween them, and there 1 broke down.
But when 1 told him that no religious
denomination in America had any
privileges above the others, he could
hardly understand it. The Greek
church first in Russia. The Lutheran
church first in Germany. The Episco-
pal church first in England. The
Catholic church first in Rome. Mo-
hammedanism first in Contantinople.
The emperor wondered how it was
possible that all the denominations in
America could stand on the same plat
form. But so it is, and so let it ever
be. Let there be no preference, no
Partially, no attempt to help one sect
an inch higher than another. Wash
ington and jefferson and all the early
presidents and all the early statesmen
OF the past nave ll1CeO Inelr voices
against any such tendency. If school
or an institution cannot stand without
the prop of national appropriation,
then let that school or that institution
go down. On the other side of the
sea the world has had plenty Of illus
tration of church and state united.
Let us have none of the hypocrisy and
decentralization born of that relation
on this side of the Atlantic. Let that
denomination come out ahead that
does most for the cause of God and hui
mainly. Men, institutions and reli-
gions getting what they achieve by
their own right arm of usefulness, and
not by the favoritism of government
AS you regard the welfare and perpe-
tuity of our institutions, keep politics
out of religion.
But now, that 1 am speaking of ma
tional affairs from a religious stand
point, l bethink myself that two other
gavels will soon lift and fall, the one
at st. Louis and the other at Chicago,
and before those national conventions
adjourn, ask that they acknowledge
God in the platforms The men who
10 49,