Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1896 — WORDS TO CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

WORDS TO CONGRESS.

REV. DR. TALMAGE ON “BEFORE TItS¥~ADJOURN.” Tfil. '■ -He—Wants .Some Things Done and • Sdme More Undone —A Grand and Hopeful Sermon of Interest to National Lcgislntqrs. <f Our Washington Pulpit, Never was a timelier or more appropriate sermon than that preached by llev. Dr.* Talmagelast Sunday morning. The subjeef was 'They Adjourn.” having referenceto the early dissolution of Conrgress, and the test selected was Psalms' cv., 22, “And teach his senators wisdom.” Senators in this text stand for lawmak-, ers. Joseph was the lord treasurer of the Egypttan-Government, and, among other great things which he did, according to my text, was to teach his senators wisdom, and if any men on earth ought to be endowed with wisdom it 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, Ly opportunity of personal advancement. and sometimes what is best to do is so doubtful that they ought to be prayed for and encouraged in every possible way, instead of severely criticised" and blamed and excoriated, as is much qf the time the case. Our public men arc so often the target to be shot at, merely because they ol; ta i n emlneiice which bther men wanted, but could not reach, that more injustices arc hurled 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 VYashington I have come to find out that many of our public men are persistently, misrepresented, and sonic of the best, of them, the purest in their lives and most faithful in the discharge of their duties, are the worst defamed. Some day I want to preach a ser r mon from the text il) Idv i’eter: “They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusations against them* before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not.” So constant and malignant is this Work of_ depreciation and scandulization in re-gard-to ottr 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, and its wide streets, and its architectural symmetries, and its lovely homes, it is not only the most beautiful' city under the sun, but has the Style at citizenship. I have seen hut one ThtoxLealed miiii m the more than six months of my residence, and 1 do not think any man can give similar testimony of aiiy other eify~ - dn -- ttie" American continent. —r-- — 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 or three unfortunate outbreaks which you have noticed onlytrrnkom-ere conspicuous* the dignity, the fraternity, the eloquence, the fidelity, which have characterized those two bodies during all the long months of important *aud anxious deliberation. We put a halo ground 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 he until after they are dead that they will get appreciated. The world finds it safer to praise the dead-than the living, because the departed, having a heavy pile of marble above them, xnay not rise to become- ' rivals. ’ ; ; : But before the gavels of adjournment drop, and the doors of Capitol hill shut .thffie-ttte'one of two things that ought to- 4 be done, and let us pray God that they’ may be accomplished. More forcibly than ever before congress has been implored to acknowledge God in our constitution. The Methodist Church, a church that is always doing glorious things, has in its recent Wilmington conference requested our congress to amend the immortal document, which has been the foundation and wall and dome of our United .States Gov■nmnient-.' hv innentimr the words “Trust-* ing in Almighty God.” If that amencT' ment is made, it will not only please all the good people of the "country, but will -please the heavens. It was only an oversight or a mental accident that the farthers who made the constitution did not insert a divinely worshipfuL sentence. They all, so far as they amounted to anything, believed in “God, the Father Almighty, the .Maker of beuven and earth, and. in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son.” The constitution would have been a failure had it 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 •moettofiSafee- •dpoaed by prayer, the Lqs , God was called on to interfere and help, and then the way was cleared, and all the States signed the document, a historical fact that all the rat terriers of modern infidelity cannot bark out of existence. I know that there was an exception to the fact that the prominent men of those times were good men. Tom Paine, a libertine and a sot, did not believe in anything good until he was dying, and Iheu he shrieked out for God’s mercy. And Ethan Allen, from one of whose descendants I have received within a few days a confirmation of the incident I men* tioued in a recent sermon, as saying to his dying daughter that she had better take her mother's Christian religion than his own infidelity. The article sent me says: “The story has been denieu by some of the Allen family, blit the Bronson family, some of whom were with the dying girl, affirm that it is substantially true. In such a matter one confirmation is worth more than many denials.” So says the article sent me. There is no doubt that Ethgn Allen was the vulgarest of an infidel, for, sitting in n Presbyterian church, his admirers say he struck the pew in front of him and swore out loud so as to disturb the meeting, and no gentleman would do that. Ido noL wonder that some of his descAidauts are ashamed of hTm, but Ts#| course they i;ouhi not help it and are not to blame. But all the decent men of the Revolution believed in God, and our American congress, now assembled, will only echo the sentiments of the fathers when they enthrone the name of God in the constitution. As a matter of gratitude to Almighty God, geutreinpn of the American eon-

gress, be pleased tet insert the four words" suggested by the Methodist conference! Not only because of the kindness of God to this nation in the past should such a reverential insertion be made, but because of the fact that we ire going to want divine intarposition still further in our national history. This gold and silver question will never be settled until God settles :1t This question of tariff and free trade will never be settled until God settles it This question between the East and the West, which Is getting hotter and hotter and looks toward a republic of the Pacific, will not be settled until God Betties It We needed God in tke 120 years

of our past national Tlfe, and we wQI need him still more in the next 120 years. Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates of Our glorioup constitution, and let the King Glory come in! Make o»e line of that immortal document radiant with omnipotence! Spell at, least, one 'word with thrones! At the beginning, or at the close, or in the center, recognize him from whom as a nation 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 between the first word and the last. The great expounder of the constitution sleeps at Marshfield, Mass., the Atlantic ocean still humming near his pillow of dust its prolonged lullaby. But is there not some one now living Who, in the white marble palace of the nation on yonder hill not ten ißinutes away. will: become the irradiator of the constitution by causing to be added • the most tremdndous word of our vocabulary, the name of that being before whom all nations must bow or go into defeat and annihilation—“ God?” Solemn Scenes. Again, before the approaching adjournment of our_Amerfcan congress, it ought toEe decidedly and forever settled that no appropriations be made to sectarian schools, and that the courtship between church and state in this country be forever broken up. That question already seems temporarily settled. 1 wish —it might te completely and forever settled. All schools and all institutions as well as all denominations should stand on the same level before American law. Emperor Alexander of Russia, at hi* Peterhof palace, asked me how many denominations of religion there were in America,_ and _l_ recited their names as well as I could. Then he-asked mo the difference betwePn them, and there I broke down. But when I 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 Episcopal church first in England; the Catholic church first in Rome; Mohammedanism first in Constantinople. The emperor wondered how r it was possible that all the denominations in America

could, stand on the same fiiatform. But so Vt is, rend so let it ever be. Let there he no preference, no partiality, no attempt to help ouo sect an inch higher than another. 'Washington and Jefferson, and all the early presidents, and all the great statesmen of the past, have lifted their voice against any such tendency. If a school or an institution cannot stand without tne prop of national appropriation, then let that school or that institution go down; Gn-the other side of the sea the world has had plenty of illustration of church and state united. Let us have none of the hypocrisy and demoralization born of that relation on this side of the Atlantic. Let that denomination come out ahead that 'does the most for the cause of God and humanity, men, institutions and religions getting'What thoyaelneve~l>y their oivnfiglit arm of Usefulness and not by the favoritism of government. -As you regard the welfare ' and~perpetuilx_of our institutions keep politics out of religion. But now that I am speaking of national affairs from a religious standpoint, I bethink myself of the fact that two other gavels will soon lift and fail, the one at St. Louis and the other at Chicago, and before those national conventions adjourn I ask that they acknowledge God in the platforms. The men Who construct those platform.; are here this morning or will read those words. Let no political party think it can do its duty unless it acknowledges , that, God u built fhis continent .and revealed it, at the right time to the discoverer and who has reared here a, prosperity which has been given to no other people. “Oh,” says some one, “there sire people in this country who do not believe in God. and it would be an insult to them.” Well, there are people in this country who do not believe in common decency, or common honesty, or any kind of government, preferring anarchy. Your very- platform is an insult to them. You ought not to regard a man who docs uot believe in God any more than you should regard a man I who refuses to believe.in common decency. Your poeketbook is not safe a moment in the presence of an atheist. God is the only source of good government. Why not, then, say so and let the chairman of the committee on resolutions in your national conventions take a penful of ink and with bold hand head the document with one significant “whereas,” acI knowledging the goodness of God in the past and begging his kindness and protecl- - Why, my friends,

this country beiongs~T?rGo<b-afld we-ought in every possible way to acknowledge it. Prom the moment that, on an October morning, 1492, Columbus looked over the side of the" ship and saw the carved staff which made him think he was near an inhabited country and saw also a thorn and a cluster of berries (type of our history" ever since, the piercing sorrows and cluster of national joys) until this- hour our country has been bounded on the north, south, east and west by the goodness of God. The Huguehots took possession of the Carolinas in the name of God. William Penn settled Philadelphia .in the ,jname of God. The Hollanders took, possession of New The pilgrim fathers settled New England in the name of Goft Preceding the first gun of Bunker Hill, at the voice-of prayer all heads uncovered. Prayer at Valley Forge. Prayer at Monmouth. Prayer at Atlanta. Prayer at South Mountain. Prayer at Gettysburg. “Oh,” says some infidel, “the northern people prayed on oue side and the southern people prayed onlhe other side, and so it did not amount -to anything.” And I have beard good Christian people Confounded with the infidel statement, when it is as plain to me as my right hand. Yes, the northern people prayed in one way and the southern people prayed in another way, and God answered in bis own way, giving to the north the re-establishment of the government and giving to the south larger opportunities, larger than she had ever anticipated, the harnessing of her rivers in great manufacturing interests, until the Mobile and ghe Tallapoosa and the Chattahoochee are southern Merrimncs, and the untolling of great southern mines of coal and iron,- of which the world knew nothing, and opening before her opportunities of wealth which will give 99 per cent -fl)oy,e of affluence than she ever possessed) and instead of the black hands of American slaves there are the more industrious black, bunds of the coal and iron Ynhres-ot-thfl south, which are achieving for her fabulous and unimngined wealth. And there nre domes of white blossoms where spread the white Vnts* And there are plows in the track where the war wagons went, And there are songs where they lifted up Rachel’s lament. God’s Country. Oh, you are'a stupid-than if you do not understand how God answered Abraham Lincoln’s prayer in the White House, and Stonewall Jackson’s prayer in the saddle, and answered all the prayers of all the cathedrals on both sides of Mason and Dixon’s line. God’s country all the wuy past; God’s country now. Put his name in your prouuuciamentos; put his name on your ensigns; put his name on your city and State and national enterprises; put his name in your hearts. We cannot sleep well the last sleep until we are assured that the God of our American institutions in the past will be the God of oar American institutions in the days that

are to Come-. Oh. when all the rivets that empty into Atlantic and Pacific seas shall pull on factory bands; when all the great -mines_pf gold and silver and iron and coal shall be laid bare for the nation; when the last swamp shall be reclaimed, and the last’jungle cleared, and the last American desert Edenized, and from sea to sea the, continent shall be occupied by th-in 1 0(10,000.000 souls, may it be found that moral and religious influences were multiplied in more rapid ratio than population. And tiien there shall be four doxologies coming from north and south and east and' west, four doxologies rolling toward each other and meeting midcontinent with such dash of holy joy that they shall mount to the throne. And heaven’s high arch resound again Witjt peace on earth, good will to mep. I take a step farther and say that before the gavels of our senate and house of representatives and our political conventions pound adjournment there ought to be passed a law or adopted a plank of intelligent helpfulness for the great foreign populations which are coming among us. It is too-iate now to discuss whether we had better let them come. *" They are here. ; They are coming, this moment through the’ Narrows; They are this moment taking the first full inhalation of the free air of America. And they will continue to come as long as this country is the best place to liyo in.' Now, I say’, let the Government of the United States so commanded by’one political party or both political parties, give to every’ immigrant who lands here a volume, in rood-type and well bound for long usage—a volume containing the Declaration of Independence, the constitution of the United States and a chapter on. the spirit of our government. Let there be such a book on the shelf of every free library in America. While the American Bible Society puts into the right hand of every immigrant a copy of the Holy Scriptures, leb the Government of the United States, commanded by some political party, put into the left hand of every immigrant a volume instructing him in the duties of good citizenship. There are thousands of foreigners in this land who need to learn that the ballot box is not a footstool, but a throne —not something to put your foot on, bpt something to bow before. Word* of Hope. 'But whether members of the national legislature or delegates to one of the national conventions or private citizens, let us eultiv.ate - Christian patriotism. Oh, how “good God has beeii to us as a nation! Just open the-map of the continent and see how it is-shaped for immeasurable prosperities. Navagable rivers, more in number and greater than of any other land, rolling down all sides into the sea, prophesying large manufactories and easy commerce. Look at the great ranges of mountains, timbered with wealth: on the top and, sides and metaled with wealth underneath. One hundred and eighty thousand square miles of coalj One hundred ainLaiglitv thnnsnnd square miles at iron!- Tne irun to pry oat the coal. The coal to forge and smelt the iron. The land so contoured that extreme weather hardly ever lasts more than three dnvs—extreme heat or iextreme cold. Climate for iliemost part bracing and favorable for bratyn and brain. All fruits. All minerals. All harvests. Scenery displaying autumnal pageantry that no land on earth pretends to rival.' No South American earthquakes. No Scotch mists. No English fogs. No Egyptian plagues. The people of the United States are happier tliau any people on earth. It is the testimony of ■ every man that has traveled abroad. For the poor more sympathy! For trfe industrious more opportunity! Oh, how good God was to our fathers, and how good God has been to us and our children! To him —blessed be hit glorious name! To him of cross and triumph be consecrated the United States o£ America! There are three great reasons why you and I should do our best for this country —three great reasons; Our fathers’ graves, our cradle, our children’s birthrig'ht. When I,say your fathe*s v graves, your pulses run quickly. Whether they «dpop In .cltir cemetery or-conhtrr~g&Ttf-~ yard, their dust is very precious to you. I think they lived well and that they died right. Never submit to have any government over their tombs other than that government under which they lived anddied. And then this country is our cradle. It may have rocked us very roughly, but it was a good cradle to be rocked in. Oh, how much we owe to it! Our boyhood and girlhood;, it was spent in this blessed country,. Lnever have nnv patience with, a man who talks against this country. Glorious jilace to be born in, and a glori- ' ous place to live in. It has been, our cradle. Aye. It is to. be our children’* birthright. You and I will soon be through. We will perhaps see a few more spring blossoms, and we will perhaps see a few more summer harvests, and we will perhaps gather a few more autumnal fruits, but we are to hand this Government to our children as it-was handed to us —a free land, a happy land, a Christian land. They are not 10. be trampled by despotism. They are not to be lacerated by cruelties. They are not to be frightened by anarchies. We must hand this Government to. them over the ballot box, .axer,tbe schppi.desk, over the church altar, as we have received it, and chargethem solemnly to put their life between it arid any keen stroke that would destroy it. And thou, Lori God Almighty, we put, with a thousand armed prayer, Into thy protection this nation. Remember our fathers’ bleeding feet.at Valley Forge; remember Marion and Kosciusko; remember the cold, and th* hunger, and the long match, and the fever hospital; remember the fearful char'geat Blinker Hill; remember Lexington and Yorktowu and King's Mountain and Gettysburg; remember Perry’s battle on the lake, and Hampton Roads, wnere the Cumberland went

down; remember Washington’s prayer by the campfire; remember Plymouth Rock, and the landing amid the savages; reineim her Independence hall, and how much it cost our fathers to sign their names; remember all the blood and tears- of three wars—l77C, 1812, 18112—and, more than all, remember the groan that was mightier than all other groan 3, and the thirst that stung worse than all other thirsts, and the death that was ghastlier than all other deaths, the mount on whidk Jesus ’died to make all men happy and free. For the sake of all this human and' divine secrifice, O God, protect this nation I And whosoever would blot it out,, and whosoever would strike it down, and whosoever would furn his back, let him be accursed! Go home to-day in high hopes of the future. The Eternal God is on the side of this nation. Our brightest days are yet to come. He hath sounded forth the trumpet that will never call retreat^ He is sifting out the hearts of men before the judgment seat. ' Be swift, my soul, to answer him, be jubi- ” lni't f‘‘ ntT • '■ r, ~ Our God is marching on. Much of life Is only fragments-un-finished things, broken sentences, Interrupted efforts, pictures left uncompleted, sculptures only half hewn, letters only party written, songs only begun and choked In tears. But not one of these fragments is lost If It has love’s blessed life In It.—J. R. Miller. When you find a father who worship* his ancestors you don’t have to look far for a son who doesn't—Judge.