The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-23

troops, as it were, of the Great COMMANDER
he mad no idea that their motives were
higher or their spirit finer than that Of
their sister societies, but they did seem to
suggest more robust fiber in their ability
TO serve. Their church, though old was
small and for that they deserved no praise
Doubtless they would have had il the great
est thing on earth, if possible But a slow
by DR.. A. r. Robinson, of Pittsburg and a
hardy strength. This convention belonged
TO the people and the people belonged 10 it,
lie understood that the elders of the church
Kept, as they should keep, careful hand
upon their young people, and that the gov
efnlng committee exercised as ii should
exercise, an arbitrary power but it was
possible for any member to rise and offer
any motion he might see fit. He admired
the church because it had held in unusual
measure its young men in loyalty and activ-
lty- Ihat very thing stamped it with the
seal Of power.
He wanted to talk for the most part to
these young men because they were strong
Inc saddest thing about church life to-day
was the fact that to some extent the young
men would have none of il. The bicycle
rolled away and took the young man with
1t; yet he ventured the assertion that II
every wheel We're accompanied by a board
or trustees the bicycle trade would be as
dull as the church. He told how when
Edison invented the incandescent light he
sent men into various parts of the WORLD
prospecting Tor rare metal necessary in
the construction of the light and added:
come in the name and in the interest OF
the Light Of the World prospecting for
strong men for independent Christian citi-
zenshlp, sans boss, sans machine, sans par
w sans trustee, sans everything but faith
in God The heart of the church is to-day
tairly SICK with undigested preaching, the
nina or the church Is fairly dazed with
unapplied preaching, while the strength or
the church has scarcely heard the gospel.
1t IS that third element, it is strength, |
would uphold before you to-day. The glory
of the young man is his strength. l call you
to the field of glory, not to some merry
gouSung OF adventurous gentlemen, upon
field gittering with the cloth of gold where
amorous beauty awaits to STIR the blood to
deeds at arms and languorous love soothes
the wounded knight. No, no. This is the
year of our Lord, the year of godlike man.
illness. Here is our Holy Land, and the
ambling chivalry of those days has never
set foot upon our shores. American man.
hood walks in majesty, with simple justice
thrice armed, to meet the forces of SIN.
-Four times a year perhaps we sit at the
round table and arrange our plans of battle,
not for the position of the Holy Sepuchre
but for the honor of knighthood in the HV-
ing, relgnlng Christ. come from the front
of the hardest battlefield that cruelty ever
camped upon to call you to the rough and
tumble of red-hot war against the ruler Of
darkness"
HE HATES THE SALOON MAN.
He begged them to count the cost. 1t
was not an easy matter to face stern facts
in this battle. He would rather fight a
thousand devils than to face his son in one
disgraceful act. You understand" he said
that hate the saloon, 1 hate the saloon
man, hate the saloon party, hate the sa-
loon newspaper. l hate and Have a right
to hate, them ALL l should be less of a man
If l did not hate them. You know some
thing of my life. One of your church news
papers has taken care that you should.
1t is true that l was a drunkard, but l
am not drunkard now. 1t is true as the
indianapolis Journal says, that [ am an
eX-drunkard, but L would rather be an ex-
drunkard than an eX-man. But l care not
now these papers, religious or secular criti-
clSe am the guest of this convention
and as such there is nothing too good for
me in the United Presbyterian Church"
turning TO hls topic OF prohibition, he
The task 1 set myself this afternoon is
most thankless one but peremptory, and
you have put no check on me; no boss with
q blue pencil has poked his wooden convic-
lions and blue clay brains into this manu-
script. And must tell you, and prove it
all too clearly that the great cause is los
lng-is lost unless our lines reform.
our plan of battle is too small. 1t is a
childish, popgun business to push this fight
from year to year up to the very door of
the saloon, while every time we mass the
power of the church upon the center and
really threaten it the Republican right wing
and the Democratic left wing of the triple
alliance swing round upon TANKS and
eniiade us with ghost stories until we come
to terms And we do come to terms. The
saloon keeper is no match for the Christian
voter, man for man. The Christian man
hood of this Nation has never given an inch
before the liquor traffic. But it flies like
wild fowl before the twin scarecrows it
sets up alternately.
Il call but one witness; poor bedraggled
Iowa. fallen from the forefront of Western
progress and standing now in scarlet, at
her window soliciting shame for revenue.
She would have stamped out the saloon
ike the foul reptile that it was, but that
fear of party put a buck and gag upon
the church while the saloon sandbagged
the public school.
After fifty years of education, evangeli-
cation and legislation, the saloon is com
mander in chief of American politics. 1t
hold ffe,
trolling interest in each of the ruling
parties, and the church vote is in the deal.
They had no word but praise for the
1abby Governor of Kansas, who. standing
as the tribune of that great people, backed
by the church and by the word of God and
with a penal statute fitted to his hand; at
the crucial moment tilted like a miserable
snipe and piped small to please a tried and
convicted traitor to the commonwealth. But
l am not discouraged.
THE IOWA SHAME.
'"They cheered the cheap disciple at Des
Moines who, in the greatest moment of
his official life. gave the lie to an honorable
record, spat in the face of his church and
with hand that he said had been buried
with his Lord in baptism, signed his name
to the contemplate bill of sale that gave
up the homes that were under his protec-
ton to the pillage of the saloon. But l am
not discouraged.
They said that prohibition had been
honestly tried in that state, and that was a
lie, and they knew it. But 1 am not dis
couraged. ] saw that the nerve-destro
forage which is fed by bales to the youth
of Christian hOmeS-the religious press
was as coWardly and false as the secular.
The highest thing it taught about the sa-
loon beyond the staple, popular adherence
OF the thing itself, was that the Christian
voter ought to be as true to his church
he guessed that the state of public senti-
ment-that is to say the party interest
would warrant. But / am not discouraged.
For in the midst of kissing ministers and
money grabbing editors and officiating of
hcials in the scud and fog and eclipse of
ith-deStroying ecclesiasticsm when L
saw the prosperity of the wicked and was
envious at the foolish and my feet were
almost gone, | heard the flag of the church
OF Jesus Christ straining at its halyards
and Mapping in the swirl of oncoming reVO-
lutionS and [ looked up and spelled out
the blood-red letters on its ground of snow:
without sin, and no political party has a
right to expect nor ought it to receive the
vote OF a Christian man so II 4g it stands
committed to the license policy or refuses
to put itself upon record in an attitude of
open hostility to the saloon and / crawled
and my feet took hold upon the strength
of the hills, and / stood straight and said.
as [ say now, that though every other man
cry craven at the polls | will defend her
name until her colors dip to the saloon.
But let stand Squarely to the facts.
for the worst people. by the worst people,
and the peril of the Nation and the disgrace
of the church is that 80 per cent of the
best people Stoop to get unclean money
for the support of the gospel or to get un-
clean votes for the support Of the party
e a HOY, hfS %,~x,