The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-05-04
SUBSCRIPTION: Sl.OO Per Year.

God. t3) More or the grace OF GD0s
In the door-Yard Of nay brother John,
missionary in Amcy, China, there is a
tree called the Emperor tree, the two
characteristics of which are that il always
grows higher than its surroundings, and
its leaves take the form Of a crown. II
this Emperor tree be planted by rose
bush it grows little higher than the bush
and spreads out above il a crown. II IL be
planted by tbs side Of another tree, IL
grows a little higher than that tree and
spreads above it a crown. Would to God
that this religion Of Christ, more won
derful Emperor tr e, might overshadow
all your lives; are you lowly in ambition
or circumstance, putting over you its
crown; are You high in talent and position,
putting over you its crown. Oh, for more
Of the saccharine in our lives and less OF
the wormwood.
What is true OF individuals is true OF
nations. God sets them up to revolve as
stars, but they may fall wormwood.
Tyre-the atmosphere Of the desert, fra
grant with spices, coming in caravans to
her fairs; all seas cleft into foam by tbs
keels OF her laden merchantmen; her
markets rich with horses and camels from
Togarmah; her bazaars filed with
upholstery from the Ocean, with emeralds
and coral and agate from Syria, with
wines from Helbon, with embroidered
worA@from Ashur and Chilmad. W here
now the CLEAN of towers, where the
roar of her chariots, where the masts OF
her ships2 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 nations, let the barbarians who set
their rude tents where once her palaces
glittered answer the estion. She was q
star, but by her own sin turned to worm
wood and has fallen.
NsxIF FrI,a aT,- N=n
Se the study of the antiquarian and
hieroglyphist; her stupendous ruins
spread over twenty-seven miles; her
sculptures presenting in figures OF war
rior and chariot the victories with which
the nowforgotten kings OF Egypt shook
the nations; her obelisks and columns;
Carnac and Luxor, the stup TOM
pies of her pridel Who can imagine the
greatness Of Thebes in those days when
the hippodrome rang with her sports and
foreign royalty bowed at her shrines and
her avenues roared with the wheels OF
professions in the wake OF returning
conquerors? What dashed down the
vision of chariots and temples and
thrones? What hands pulled upon the
columns OF her glory? What ruthless
ness defaced her sculptured wall and
broke obelisks and left her indesortbable
temples great skeletons Of granitef What
spirit of destruction spread the
lair Of wild beasts in her royal sepul-
chers, and taught the miserable cottagers
of to-day TO build huts in the courts OF
her temples, and sent desOlation and ruin
skulldng behind the obelisks and lodging
among the sarcophagi and Leaning against
the columns and STOPPING undor the
arches and weeping in the waters which
go mournfully by as though they were
carrying the tears Of all ages? Let the
mummies break their long silence and
come up to shiver in the desolation. and
| point to fsllen gates and shattered stat
ues and defaced sculpture, responding:
'sThebes built not one temple TO God.
| Thebes hated righteousness and loved sin.
| Thebes was star, but she turned 10 worm
wood and has fallen"
Babylon, with her two hundred and Atty
/ towers and her brazen gates and her en-
battled walls, the splendor Of the earth
| gathered within her palaces, her hanging
| gardens built by Northumberland TO please
his bride, Amyitis, who had been brought
/ up in a mountainous country and could
not endure the fiat country round Babylon
these hanging gardens built, terrace
/ above terrace, till at the height of four
| hundred feet there were woods waving and
| fountains playing, the verdure, the foliage,
! the glory looking as if mountain were
on the wing. On the tip-top a King walk
! ing with his Queen, among statues snowy
distant lands, and drinking out of tank
ards of solid gold or looking of over riv-
I ers and lakes upon nations suboued and
! tributary, crying;
"Is not this great Babylon which have
builtg"
What battering ram smote the waIlsI
! What plowshare upturned the gardensf
What army shattered the brazen gatesP
! What long, fierce blast OF storm put out
this light which illuminated the worldP
| What crash of discord drove down the
music that poured from palace window
and garden grove and called the banquet
ers to their revel and the dancers to their
feet2 walk upon the scene Of desolation
| TO find an answer and pick UP pieces Of
| bitumen and brick and broken pottery.
the remains of Babylon, and as in the
| silence of the night / hear the surging Of
that billow of desolation which rolls over
ths scene, hear the wild waves saying:
Babylon was proud Babylon was im-
pure. Babylon was q star, but by sin she
| turned 10 wormwood and has fallen"
pray that our Nation may not copy the
crimes Of the nations that have perished,
| and our cup Of blessing turn 20 worm
wood and like them we go down. / ann
| by nature and by grace an optinlist, and
| expect that this country viii continue to ad-
vance until the world shall put on millen-
nia1 era and that when Christ shall come
/ again AAG Will hgb Ills tiAARAb nWAHhNMtN0
between the Allegheqies and the Sierra
Nevadas. But be not deceived Our only
| safety is in righteousness toward God and
| Justice toward man. If we forget the good
! ness 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 q people, and we learn saving
lesson neither from civil war mr. raging
/ epidemic, nor drought, nor mildew, nor
| scourge Of locusts and grasshopper; IL
/ the political corruption which has
! poisoned the fountains u public
| virtue and beslfmed the high places oE
authority. making free government aG
/ times Kissing and byword in all tat
| earth: If the drunkenness and IfcenttotiB.
ness that staggef and blasphene in the
| streets OF our great cities as though they
were reaching after the fame OF q Coririth
/ and Sodom are not reponted of, we wild
| vet see the smoke OF our Nations ruins
| the pillars Of our National and State capt.
| tails will fall more dfsastrOusly than whom
I Samson pulled down DaRon and fusure
historians will record upon the page be-
dewed with generous tears tie STORY bhnt
tho free nation of the West arose IN SPLEEN
/ dor which made the world stare. IthRd
magnificent possibilities. u forgot God
/ Il hated justice. IL hugged its crime. n
halted on its high march. It reeied on
4 der the blow of calamity. IL fell And
/ as it was going down, all the despotisna os
/ earth from the top OF bloody thrones he
/ gan TO shout, 'sAha, so we have H." while
/ struggling and oppressed people looked
/ ont from dungeon bars win tears and
| groans and cries OF untold agony, the scurn
/ of those and the woe Of these uniting In
f the exclamation.
Look yonder! there feIl a great star
/ from Heaven, burning ~ it were q lamp,
and IL fell upon the third pnrt OF the
1 rivers and upon the fountains Of waters;
and the name of the star Is called Worm
/ wood"