Connecticut western news., 1896-10-01
God Save the Nation

part of its history passing through crises, and after each crisis was better of than before it entered it, and now We are at another crisis. We are told on one hand that if gold is kept as a stand ard and silver is not elevated confidence will be restored, and this nation will rise triumphant from all the financial misfortunes that have been affiicting us On the other hand, we are told that if the free coinage of silver is allowed all the wheels of business will revolve, the poor man will have better chance, and all our industries will begin to hum and roar. During the last six presiden- tial elections l have been urged to enter the political arena, but I never have and never will turn the pulpit in which preach into political stump. Every minister must do as he feels called to do, and I will not critoise him for doing what he considers his duty, but all the political harangues from pulpits from now until the Sd of November will not in all the United States change enc vote, but will leave many ears stopped against anything that such clergymen may utter the rest of their lives. As general rule, the laymen of churches understand politics better than the clergy, because they (the laymen) study politics more than the clergy and have better opportunity of being intelligent on those subjects. But good morals, honesty, loyalty, Christian patriotism and the Ten Commandments-th we must preach. God says distinctly in the Bible, 'The silver and the gold are mine, '' and he will settle the contro- versy between those two metals. If ever this country needed the divine rescue it needs 1t now. Never within my mem- ory have so many people literally starved to death as in the past few months. Have you noticed in the news papers how many men and women here and there have been found dead, the post mortem examination stating that the cause of death was hunger?
 There is net day that we do not hear the crash of some great commercial establishment, and as consequence many people are thrown out of employ ment Among what we considered comfortable homes have come privation and close calculation and an economy that kills. Millions of people who say nothing about it are at this moment at their wits end. There are millions of people who do not want charity, but want work. The cry has gone up to the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and the prayer will be heard and relief will come. If we have nothing better to de- pend on than American politics, relief will never come. Whoever is elected to the presidency, the wheels of govern ment turn so slowly, and a caucus in yonder white building on the hill may tie the hands of any president. Now, though we who live in the District of Columbia cannot vote, we can pray. and my prayer day and night shall be: 70 God, hear the cry of the souls from un- der the altar! Thou who has brought the wheat and corn of this season to such magnitude of supply, give food to man and beast Thou who hadst not where to lay thy head, pity the shelter less. Thou who has brought to perfec- tion the cotton of the south and the flax of the north, clothe the naked. Thou who hast filled the mine with coal, give fuel to the shivering. Bring bread to the body, intelligence to the mind, and salvation to the soul of all the peoplel God save the nation!"
 But we must admit it is hard gate to push back. Millions of thin hands have pushed at it without making it swing on its hard hinges It is a gate made out of empty flour barrels, and cold fire grates, and worn out apparel, and cheerless homes, and unmedicated sickness, and ghastliness, and horror. It is gate of struggle. A gate of penury. A gate of want A gate of dis appointment. A red gate. or what Isaiah would have called gate of car buncies
 A Life of Struggle.
 Now, as I have already suggested, as there are obstacles in all our paths, we will be happier if we consent to have our life struggle. do not know any one to whom it is not a struggle. Louis XIV thought he had everything fixed just right and fixed to stay, and SO he had the great clock at Bordeaux made. The hours of that clock were struck by figures in bronze representing the kings of Europe, and at a certain
 
 other kings were made to come out and bow to Louis XIV. But the clock got out of order one day and just the oppo- site of what was expected occurred; as the clock struck certain hour Lopis XIV was thrown to the feet of William III. And so the clock of destiny brings many surprises, and those go down that you expected to stand, and at the foot of disaster most regal conditions tum- ble. In all styles of life there come dis appointment and struggle. God has for some good reason arranged it so. If it is not poverty, it is sickness. If it is not sickness, it is persecution. If it is not persecution, it is contest with some evil appetite. If it is not some evil appetite, it is bereavement. If it is not one thing, it is another. Do not get soured and cross and think your case is peculiar. You are just like the rest of us. You will have to take the bitter draft whether 1t be handed to you in golden chalice or pewter mug. A man who has a thousand dollars year income sleeps sounder and has better appetite than the man who has five millions. If our life were not struggle, we would never consent to get out of this world, and we would want to stay here, and so block up the way of the advancing gen erations. By the time that a man gets to be 70 years of age, and sometimes by the time he gets to be 50 years of age, he says, ''I have had enough of this. and when the Lord wills it I am ready to emigrate to country where there are no taxes, and the silver of the trum- pet put to one's lips has no quarrel with the gold of the pavement under his feet" We have in this world more op- portunity to cultivate patience than to cultivate any other grace. Let that | grace be strengthened in the royal gym nasium of obstacle and opposition and