Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOLUME XXXViI. LAURENS, SOUTH CAROLINA, WEDIESDAy, NOVEMBER 9, 1.921. SUFFRAGE, A Address Delivered by Hon. .] ing Exercises of Rocky Oct. 30, 1921. It might be interesting and proba ,bly profitable for us to discuss some of the duties which a Christian owes to his Stato and community. There dore, T ask your indulgence for a few Moments upon that general -subject. It is not my qpurpose or desire to ap ;pear in the role of a critic-for no one professing the religion of our Lord and Master has -been more lax in the application of its' principles toward civic duties than I have been. A trans -gresqor myself-you can afford to al low me to talk of transgressions. 1 ahope though, I will not produce the effect which I once heard that a good :minister produced. After a power fil effort to arouse his congregation 11pon the evils of the day, he conclud ed his address with the declaration -that 1el was fillled with chorus girls, roulette 'wheels, poker chips and lbeer bottles. A wag ift the rear of the church Was heard to exclaim "Oh death where is thy sting, Oh grave where is thy victory?" \Ve are taught from the catechism that the chief end of man is to glori ly God and enjoy him forever. The 'human version of this 'proposition is .that man's chief end is happiness. 'llu man laws as well as 1Divine laws, have for their great end and purpose the happiness of mankind. 'ISociety was formed because man was so consti 'tuted that he could not attain his 'great end, hiapt.*'Ioss, in a state of lonely separation fom the rest of his species. And the reason is-that he -was intended to live in society with 'his fellow creatures. -Nature, herself, therefore, has established that society, Whose great end is the common advan tage of all its members; and the means of attaining that end constitute the rules that each individual Is bound -to oberve in his whole conduct." 'i'ie& fore, out of this great purpose -his groping after a tate of happi ness, came the for'mation of groups and tribes and colonies and finally the larger -bodies-4States and Nations. God 'gave. man first .the natural law -and then later to a small part of the human race ills revealed law. "There are countless multitudeos Of the human race," says our writer, "who have lived and died, and a very small proportion have enjoyed the fight of His revealed truth. Yet to :naoe 'has he left himself without a Witness in that he did good; and gave 'them rain from Heaven and fruitful -seasons, filling their hearts with food -an'd -gladness. If men have not fol 'lowed 't paths marked out .by His natural laws, and have failed to glor 'fy Him, it 'was not because they knew Him not, but because they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened, so that having changed the truth of God Into a lie, and worshipped and served the 'creature more than the creator they were given up to vile affections and a reprobate mind." "The natural law," says another wvriter, "is plain' enough 'to leave men without excuse for deC partu res .from it." We, however, are -a doubly favored people. For, not on ly are 'we favored with Clod's natural laws, but for centuries we have been allowled the advantages of His re vealed law as contained in the Holy 'Serliptures, surely we have had a holid foundation upon which to build. Man's laws--that is--the rules of civil conduct commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong--ought tlgrefore, to approach as near as it is htimanly possible .to approach, the laws which God has prescr'ibed for his 'people. F~or "'society was ordained 6f God, who created men avith such wants and affinities that they cannot exist without it. And as society cannot ex-. ist without restraints, and some agen cy to enforce them, God ordained Gov.. ernment also." "Government ought to Ipossess wisdom t'o dis,ern the real in' terests of the community; goodness to - enideavor 'to pursue it, and 'power' to carry auch, knowledge and intention 'ito effect." Human rules -of conduct - Are necessarily -Imperfect, and are i4'dergoing change from time to time, as the vagaries of the public mind do mand. Our'Government is a flemoe.. scy--declared to, 'ie of the people, by fthe 'people and for the Gpeolo. In Ot~tr .words-iinder our forra of gov erninent the matjority is supposed to ile~ Thle 'will of the minority must ~;L~l~dI ~,th~i'. t least, to the will -. ~ Therefore if the 4x SACRED RIGHT B. Park at the Home Com 3pring Presbyterian Church, ,pressed voice of the majority -be good, it ought necessarily to follow that we iwould have good government. If on the other hand the cxiressed majority be bad-it follows that we would have bad government. If the will of the people as a whole Is expressed by a .fusion of the good and bad-which is more generally the result-the gov ernmen.t will necessarily follow the fusion and 'be indifferent. This -brings me then to a considera tion of the duties of the professed Ohristian toward the body politic. 'Since our government depends upon the expressed will of the majority-it necessarily follows that the principles announced 'by Christ must 'be applied to our politics-alid to our ipolitical choice, as dwell as to the other affairs of our lives-if we ever expect to see law and order enforccd--and happi less and contentmeint reign through out the land in accordance with his pronounced rules of life. For society cannot attain its -great end-except upon the rules of life which the Mas ter promulgated. Hardly a (lay passes that we do not see accounts of flagrant violations of law-- murder, bloodshed, burglary, arson, robbery and crimes of every conceivable character; crimes of the vilest kind are apparently on the in crease. The liquor laws are openly and flagrantly violated. Never in my experience have I known as many white men 'brought before the courts charged with crime. Necessarily there must be sonic remedy-some alleviation for this con.. dition, even if there is no absolute cure. It. seems to me that the remedy lies with those of us iwhio ilprofess the Christian religion. The remedy con sists of more, 'perhaps, than the one which I shall mention -but this one ought to bring some alleviation, at least. We church goers and church mem 'bers talk about conditions with, more or less, abhorrence. Sometimes we assemble in mass, as we did in my town some days ago, and criticise, V11ondem And resolute, We *qe that things aro not 'moving right, and we want to correct them, and we assume a %-pasmodlc robe of righteousness ana talk as I alti doing low. We miserably fail to apply that finedy which iwe have in hand and can aglhlp We are clothed with the right of suffrake tin der the Constitution and laws of the State. The great majority of our of ficers are elected directly by the peo, ple-and those who are not directly so elected, are appointed .by ,elective officers. Therefore, a Judicious use of the Christian's ballot would go a long ways toward -bringing the relief which we seek. We fail, I think, to measure the applicant for offee by the yard stick of the Master-and choose rather upon some triffling political.. 'pro nouncement 'whichl neans nothing to the .general good of. mankind, and less to the happiness and contentment of our own immediate conmmunity. The (Christian people of this comn mu ni ty-that is-thlose av-ho profess the religion of Jesus Christ-outnum her those who don't-the samne is true of your county and mine, and if the measures of men offering for your :uffrage were taken in accordance with the rules of life' laid down 'by tie Master-results would be different, We professed Christians are indeed nclined to hold aloof from politics nd 'lpolitical discussions, We want to take jusj as little part In them as we Consistently can, We rather look mopn the operation of the government .s a matter to .be borne with, rather Lhan one in which 'we should take a nest active 'Part-and when iwe be ~omo interested, we do no not with the punpose in view of impressing a 'rule >f righteousness and of equity--but ather that of somno speculative hobby of ourselves or some one elsg. .If in this Christian lend of ours ve want peace and order--aed the pursuit of happiness, ,we have Not to ay aside trivial political dittereofes nd' get, together on the broad prin olples of men, F3or it makes nO lft eorene what men profess, if charaeter ~nd real manhood are not p/60nt in he inske-up4-results will depend gp.. -n environments and sarrounding AsM ~he 'windi blows, so thiit thrig will te ,W sted - I, thorofoto, .behoeves -- i m tions to exercise our right of suff rag for Christian men and womnen. Suffrago Is a sacred right, entruste< to us for the improvoient of our con dition-that we may attain the grea end for which society was formed the happinises or Ourselves anid o~u fOllowmen. And it Is the duty of ever; one of us who professes a knowledgi of the rules of life laid down !by th, Mlaster to so exercise our right o suffrage as to bring about that kind o government which will bring the nins good to the most people. 'We have n right to criticise the ofilcials of ou EXTHl 4 These suits hav purchase of soi ty of clothing a closed out. Cc A g i openedand re Whar AuregsipmC. our inalienable right of suffrage with out regard for the .great principles which we profess. The laster's rule of life was love -love for Ills fellowman. lie an nounced the great principle In many different ways, and illustrated it in as many miore. 'He followed and taught it regardless of theories and doctrines.. die gave his whole life to the expound ing of that one principle--that one truth-in Its various settings as ap plied to the lives of men. Ills pur poso iwas, it seems to me, to teach how to live, and not so imuch how to (ie. :IAL VA NG MEN'S SU ISu I by express and rep n unusually low pri( his special price ur while your size is he Young . SUr i Blue and Black Pin Ven's Con4 sur i Brown and' Dark ! in good heavy Hosiery for Men w prices. iing Cor '-SUITS ME" 'government--if we have made no ef fort to bring about good government. I IWe have no right to talk of lax en - forceient of the laws of the land-if L we have dodged jury duty. We have no right to talk of "respect for the law" if we have joined a mob to take r the enforcement of law into our own ) hands. We have no right to expect officers of the law to put dowi the r sale of whiskey, 'if we ocoasionally r step bthind the screen to take a L drink. We have no right to speak.con teiptously of the failure of our of I Ilcials, if are have failed to exercise A SPEC N'S AND YOU 29.50 e just been received ne close out lots at a nd we are making t ime in and see them ir t of Underwear and dy for you at new lo, k6n Clot! "CASH CLOTHIEF HloaW to treat ien, and live with men. Evell In his mercics-he says we may ask or receive more. If these truths and we may expect from our follows Just such treatment as we accord them. Certa'nly we have no right to as kor eceive more.. If these truths should 'find lodgment in our civic lives, and wo who profess them should live them-thenl indeed, would society attain its chief end-hippness,-and men would live together in peace and harmony. (Continued on Page 41, tills section) ILUES ITS T resent a special :e for this quali til the lots are, re, Men's 's Stripe Worsteds servative E'S stripe 'Worsteds weights and Boys just npany enwood, . C.E