The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1899-06-02
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE BRIDE OF NATIONS, LAST
SUNDAYS SUBJECT.
From Chapter LXII of Isaiah, Verse iv,
as Follows;-"Thy Land Shall BE
Married"-The Republic Is Cursed by
Greedy Monopolists.

uOeS the circle OF future JOY dIOuhu
our entire world include the epicycle
of our own republic. Bold, exhilar-
ant, unique, divine imagery Of the text.
At the close of week in which for
three days our National Capitol was a
pageant and all that grand review and
hammered procession and National An
thems could do, celebrated peace, 1t
may not be inapt to anticipate the time
when the Prince of Peace and the Heir
of Universal Dominion shall take pos
session of this nation, and thy land
shall be married"
In discussing the final destiny OF
this nation, it makes all the difference
in the world whether we are on the
way TO q funeral or a wedding. The
Bible leaves no doubt on this subject.
In pulpits and on platforms and in
places OF public concourse, | hear so
many of the mufiled drums Of evil
prophecy sounded, as though We were
on the way to national interment, and
beside Thebes and Babylon and Tyre
in the cemetery of dead nations our re-
public was to be entombed, that | wish
you to understand it is not to be obse-
quies, but nuptials; not mausoleum,
but carpeted altar; not cypress, but
orange blossoms; not requiem, but
wedding march; for thy land shall be
married" l propose to name some OF
the suitors who are claiming the hand
of this republic. This land is so fair,
so beautiful, so affluent, that 1t has
many suitors, and it will depend much
upon your advice whether this or that
shall be accepted or rejected. In the
first place, | remark: There is a
greedy, all-grasping monster who
comes in as sutton seeking the hand OF
this republic. and that monster Is
known by the name of Monopoly. His
sceptre is made out Of the iron of the
rail track and the wire of telegraphy.
He does everything for his own ad-
vantage and for the robbery of the peo-
pie. Things went on from bad to
worse until the three legislatures OF
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsyl-
vania, for a long time Monopoly de-
cided everything. If Monopoly favor
a law. it passes; if Monopoly oppose a
law, it is rejected. Monopoly stands in
the railroad depot putting into his
pockets in one year two hundred mil
lions of dollars in excess of all reason
able charges for services. Monopoly
holds in his one hand the steam pow
er of locomotion, and in the other, the
electricity Of swift communication.
Monopoly has the Republican party in
one pocket and the Democratic party
in the other pocket. Monopoly de-
cdes nominations and elections-city
elections. state elections, national cleo
tions. With bride he secures the votes
of legislators, giving them free passes,
giving appointments to needy relatives
to lucrative position. employing them
as attorneys if they are lawyers, carry
ing their goods 10 per cent less if they
are merchants, and if he find a case
very stubborn as well as vay impor-
tant, puts down before him the hard
cash of bribery.
But Monopoly is not so easily caught
now as when during the term of Mr..
Buchanan the legislative committee in
one of our states explored and exposed
the manner in which certain railway
company had obtained a donation OF
public land. 1t was found out that thir-
teen of the senators of that state re-
ceived $4,000 among them, sixty
members of the lower house Of that
state received between $4,000 and
$4,000 each, the governor Of that state
received S5O,O00 his clerk received
s. 600 the lieutenant governor received
$40 1000 all the clerks of the legislature
received So, 600 each, while $4,000 were
divided among the lobby agents. That
thing on a larger or smaller scale is
all the time going on in some of the
states of the Union, but it is not so
laundering as it used to be, and there
fore not so easily exposed or arrested.
/ tell you that the overshadowing
curse of the United States today is
Monopoly. He puts his hand upon
every bushel of wheat, upon every sack
of salt, upon every ton of coal, and
every man, woman and child in the
United States feels the touch of that
moneyed despotism. l rejoice that in
twenty-four states of the union already
anti-monopoly leagues have been es-
tablished. God speed them in the
work of liberation.
have nothing to say against capital
lists; a man has a right to make all the
money he can make honestly have
nothing to say against corporations as
such; without them no great enterprise
would be possible, but what l do say is
that the same principles are to be ap-
piled to capitalists and to corporations
that are applied to the poorest man
and the plainest laborer. What is
wrong for me is wrong for great cor
porations. If L take from you your
property without any adequate COM
pensation, am a thief, and If rail-
way damages the property of the peo-
pie without making any adequate COM
pensation, that is gigantic theft.
What is wrong on a small scale is