Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-04-23
IN our lives and less OF ,;,e wormwoodl

. DuS ILSg may luil
Tyre-the atmosphere o. the desert fra
grant with spices coming in caravans TO her
fairs; all seas cleft into foam by the keels Of
her laden merchantmen; her markets rich
with horses and cameis from TOgarmah,
her bazaars filled with upholstery from
Dedan, with emeralds and coral end agate
from Syria, with wines from Helbon, With
embroidered work from Ashur and Chill
mad. Where nov the slcsm OF her towers,
where the roar Of her chariots where the
masis of her shipst Let the fishermen who
dry their nets where once she stood let the
sea that rushes upon the barrenness where
once she challenged the admiration OF all ma
tions, let the barbas'ians who set their rude
tents where once her palaces glittered, an
swer the question. She was a star, but by
her own sin turned to wormwood and has
fallen
Hundred-gated Thebes-for all time to be
the study of antiquarian and hieroglyphist;
her stupendcus ruins spread over twenty
seven miles, her sculptures presenting in
figures of warrior and chariot the victories
with which the now forgotten kings Of Egypt
shook the nations; her obelisks and columns;
Carnac and Luxor, the stupendous temples
of her pride. Who can imagine the greatness
rang with her sports and foreign royalty
bowed at her shrines and her avenues roaresi
with the wheels of professions in the wake of
returning conquererst What dashed down
the vision of chariots and temples and
thronest What hands pulled upon the
columns of her gloryi What ruthlessness
defaced the scultured wall and broke obelisks
and left her indescribable temples great
l si-elRtnps pf fay hot
srruction spread the lair of wild beasts in her
| royal sepulchers, and taught the miserable
eottagers of today to build huts in the courts
of her temples. and sent desolation and ruin
siuIking behind the obeIisks and dodging
among the sarcopbagi and leaning against
the columns and stopping under the arches
and weeping in the waters which 90 mourn
fully by, as though they were CARRYING the
their long silence and come up to shiver in
the desolation, and point to fallen gates and
shattered statues and dcfaced sculpture. re-
spending: "Thebes built not one temple to
God. Thebes hated Righteousness and loved
sin. Thebcs, was star, but she turned to
wormwoo,i and has fallen"
| Babylon-with her 30 towers and her
brazen gates and her embattled walls, the
l
palaces. her hanging gardens built by
NebuchadnezZar to please his bride Amyittas
who had been brought up in a mountainous
country and could not endure the flat country
round Babylon, those hanging gardens built,
terrace above terrace, till at the height of
400 feet there were wood. waving and
fountains playing, the veriure, the foliage.
the glory looking if a mountain were on
the wing. On the tip top s. king walking
with his queen, among statues snowy white,
looking up at birds brought from distant
lands, and drinking out of tankards of solid
gold. or looking OFT over rivers and lakes up
on nations subdued and tributary, crying, as
not this great Babylon which have builtf'
What battering ram smote the walls. What
plowshare upturned the gardensi What ar
my shattered the brazen gatesf What
long, fierce blast Of storm put out this
light which illuminated the worldi What
crash OF discord drove down the music
that poured from palace window and gar.
len grove, and called the banqueters to their
revel and the dancers to their feetr I walk
upon the scene Of deso!ation Co lind an an
iwer and pick up pieces Of bitumen and
oric6 and broken pottery, the remains of
Babylon, aud as in the silence Of the night
hear the surging OF that billow of desola-
ton which rolls over the sosne, / hear the
wild waves saying, Babylon was proud.
Babylon was impure Babylon was a star,
| but by sin she turned to wormwood and has
| fallen"
From the prosecutions of toe Pilgrim
| Fathers and the Huguenots In other lands
God set upon these shores q nation. The
| ,ouncil fires OF the aborigines went out in
| the greater light of a free government The
sound of the war whoop was xchanged for
the thousand wheels OF enterprise and pro-
gress The mild winters, the fruitful sum
mers, tho b. althful skies charmed from other
lands racs of hardy men who loved God
and wanted to be FREQ Before the wood
mans AK forsts fell and rose again into
ships masts and churches pillars. Cities
on the banks Of lakes begin to rival
cities by the sea The land quakes with
the rush of the rail car and the
waters are churned white with the
steamer's wheel Fabulous bushels Of western
wheat meet on the way fabulous tons of
eastern coal Furs from the north pass on
the rivers fruits from the south. And trad
ing in the same market is Maine lumberman
and South Carolina rice merchant and Ohio
farmer and Alaska fur dealer. And churches
and schools and asylums scatter light and
!ove and mercy and salvation upon &C, 900 900
of people.
pray that our nation may Lot copy the
crimes OF the riations that have perished, and
our cup of blessing turn to wormwood and
like them we go down. am by nature and
b. grace an optimist, and | expect that this
country will continue to advance until the
world shall put on nillennial era, and that
ahen Christ comes again he will set his throne
somewhere between the Alleghanies and the
Sierra Nevadas But b. not deceived Our
lily safety is in right 'usness toward God
and justice toward man II we forget the
goodness of the Lord to this land, and break
His Sabbaths and improve not by the dire
disasters that have again and again come to
us as people, and we learn q saving lesson
neither from civil war nor raging epidemic,
nor drought nor mildew nor scourge of locust
and grasshopper, if the political corruption
which has poisoned the fountains of public
virtue and beslimed the hign places of author
ity, making free government at times hiss
ing and a byword in all the earth; II the
drunkenness and Il sutiousness that stagger
and blaspheme IN the streets Of our great
cities, as thousl, Il ey were reaching after the
fame of Corinth and Sodom, are not re-
pented Of We will yet see the smoke Of orr
nations ruin; the pillars of cur national and
state capitals will fall more disastrously
than when Sampson pulled down Dagon;
and future historians will record upon the
page bedewed with generous tears tho story
that the free nation OF the west arose In
splandor which made the world stare. II
had magnificent possibilities 1t forgot God
1t hated justice. 1t hugged its crime It
halted on its high march. 1t reeled under
the blow Of calamity. 1t fell And as it
was going down all the despotisms Of earth
from the top of bloody thrones began to
shn "a y