The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-10-20

island and Fastnet lighthouse, and She
other cemetery is the cemetery of dead
cities l get down on my knees AID
read the epitapheology of long line
of them: Here lies Babylon, once
called "the hammer of the whole
earth" Dead and buried under piles
of bitumen and broken pottery and
vitrified brick And l hear wolf
howl and a reptile hiss as am reading
this epitaph: Isaiah xiii. 81, THE wild
beast of the desert shall be there and
their houses shall be full of doleful
creatures"
The next tomb kneel before in this
cemetery of cities is Nineveh. Her
winged lions are down and the slabs of
alabaster have crumbled, and the sculp-
ture that represented her battles is as
completely scattered as the dust of the
heroes who fought them. Perhaps L
put my knee into the dust of her Sar-
danapalus as stoop to read her cpl
taph: Zephaniah ii. Ia, Now is Nine
veh desolation and dry like a wilder
ness, and flocks lie down in the midst
of her; all the beasts of the nations,
lodge in the upper lintels of it." The
next entombed city L pass has
monument of fifty PROSTATE col
umns of gray and red granite,
and it is Tyre. The next sep
ulcher of great capital is covered
with scattered columns, and defaced
sphinXes, and the sands of the desert,
and il is Thebes. AS ! pass on / find
the resting place OF Mycena. city of
which Homer sang, and Corinth, which
rejected Paul, and depended upon her
fortress Acrocorinthus, which now lies
dismantled on the hill. and / move on
in this cemetery of cities. and | find
the tombs.of Sardis, and Smyrna, and
Persepolis, and Memphis. and Baalbek,
and Carthage, and here are the cities
of the plain, and Herculaneum, and
sta ia, and Pompeii. Some of them
have mighty sarcophagus and hero
glyphic entablature, but they are dead
and buried never to rise.
But the cemetery of dead cities is not
vet filed. and if the present cities OF
the world forget God, and with their
indecencies shock the heavens, let
them know that the God who, on the
24th of August, 40, dropped on city of
Italy superincumbrance that staid
there seventeen centuries, is still alive
and hates sin now as much as lie did
then, and has at His command all Che
armament of destruction with which He
whelmed their iniquitous predecessors.
1t was only a few summers ago that
II
earthquake throb that sent the people
affrighted into the streets ana that
suggested that there are forces of ma
ture now suppressed, or held in check,
which, easier than child in a nursery
knocks down row of block houses,
could PROSTATE a city, or engulf con-
tinent deeper than Pompeii was en-
quilted. Our hope is in the mercy of
the Lord continued to our American
cities. 1t amazes me that this city,
which has the quietest Sabbaths on
The continent and the best order and
the highest tone of morals of any city
that know of, is now having brought
into as near neighbOrhood as Coney
island carnivals of pugilism as de-
basing as any of the gladiatorial
contests of Pompeii What pre-
cious crew that "Coney island Ath-
letic club is, under whose auspices
these orgies are enacted. What a de-
graduation to the adjective athletic"
which ordinarily suggests health and
muscle developed for useful purpose!
Instead of calling it an athletic club
they might better style it The Ruff
fan club for Smashing the Human Wis
age" Vile men are turning that Coney
island, which is one of the finest wa
tering places on all the Atlantic coast,
into place for the olfscouring of the
earth to congregate, the low horse
Jockeys and gamblers and the pugilists
and the pickpockets and the bloats re-
gurgitated from the depths of the
worst wards of these cities.
Warned by the doom of other cities
that have persisted for their ruffianism,
or their cruelty or their idolatry or
their dissoluteness, let all our Ameri-
can cities lead the right way. Our
only dependence is on God and Chris
tian influence. Politics will do moth
ing but make things worse. American
politics will become a reformatory
power on the same day that pandemo-
MUM becomes a church. But there are,
am glad to say, benign and salutary
and gracious influences organ
lied in all our cities which will
yet take them for God and
righteousness Let us ply the gospel
machinery to its utmost speed and
power. City evangelization is the
thought. Give us pictures of churches
of schools, of reformatory associations
of asylums of mercy. Show that the
day is coming when great tidal wave
of salvation will roll over all our cities.
Show how Pompeii buried will become
Pompeii resurrected. Demonstrate
the fact that there are millions
of good men and women who
will give themselves no rest day
nor night sntil cities that are now of the
type of the buried cities of Italy shall
take type from the New Jerusalem
coming down from God out of Heaven.
l hail the advancing morn. Close up
the ranks. Lift the gospel standard.
Forward into this Armageddon that is
now opening and let the word run all
along the line: Brooklyn for God!
All our cities for God. America for
God, The world for God. The most of
us here gathered, though born in
the country, will die in town.
Shall our last walk be through
streets where sobriety and good order
dominate, or grog-shops stencil the air?
Shall our last look be upon city halls
where justice reigns, or demagogues
plot for the stuffing of ballot boxes?
Shall we sit for the last time in some
church where God is worshiped with
the contrite heart, or where cold