The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-06-19


chsntmen; her markets rich with
horses and camels from Togarmah, her
bazaars filed with upholstery from
Dedan. with emerald and coral and
agate from Syria, with wines from Hell
bon, with embroidered work from
Ashur and Chilmad. Where now the
CLEAN of her towers, where the roar
of her chariots where the masts OF her
ships? Let the fishermen who dry their
nets where once she stood. let the sea
thar 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 question. She
was a star, but her own sin turned to
NORWOOD and has fallen.
Hundred-rated The bes-for all time
to be the study of the antiquarian and
hieroylyphist; her stupendous ruins
spread over 81 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;
Karnak and Luxor. tne stupendous
temple of her pridel Who can imagine
the greatness of Thebes in those days
when the hippodrome rang with her
shrines and her avenues roared with
the wheels of professions in the wake
returning conquerorsf What dashed
down the vision of chariots and tenn
pies and thrones? What hands pulled
upon the columns of her glory?
What ruthlessly defaced her sculp-
tured vail and broke obelisks
and left her indeScriba6le temples
great skeletons of granite? What
spirit of destruction spread the lair OF
wild beasts in her royal sepulchers,
and taught the miserable cottagers of
to-day to build huts in the courts or
her temples, and sent deso,atiOn and
ruin skulking behind the obelisks and
lodging among the sarcophagi and
leaning against the colImns and
stopping under the arches and weep
inr in the waters which go mournfully
by as though they were carrying the
tears of all ages? Let the mummies
break the long silence and come up to
SILVER in the desolation, and point to
fallen gates and shattered statues
"Thebes built not one temple TO Cod
| Thebes hated righteousness and loved
sin. Thebes was star, but she turned
to NORWOOD and has fallen"
Babylon, with her ESQ towers and
brazen gates and her embattled walls,
the splendor of the earth gathered
within her palaces. her hanging gar
dens built by Nebuchadnezzar to please
his bride, Amytis, who had been
brought up in a mountainous country
and could not endure the fat country
round Babylon-these hanging CAV
dens built, terrace above terrace, till
at the height of 400 feet there were
woods waving and fountains playing,
the verdure, the foliage, the glory
looking as if a mountain were on the
wing. On the tip-top 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 of
over rivers and lakes upon nations SUBJ
dued and tributary, crying: rs not
this great Babylon which have built?''
What battering ram smote the wallsY
What plowshare upturned the gar
dens? What army shattered the brazen
gates? What long, fierce blast of
storm put out this light which illum-
mated the world? What crash of dis
cord drove down the music that poured
from the palace window and garden
grove and called the banqueters to
their revel and the dancers to their
feet? 1 walked upon the scene of des-
olation to find an answer and picked
up pieces of bitumen and brick d
broken pottery, the remains of Bape-
lon. and as in the silence of the night
/ hear the surging of desolation which
rolls over the scene, hear the wild
waves saying: Babylon was proud.
Babylon was impure. Babylon was
star, but by sin she turned to worm
wood and has fallen" -.
pray that our nation may not copy
the crimes of the nations that have
persisted, and our cup of blessing turn
to wormwood. aud like them go down.
am by nature and by grace an or
timist, and / expect that this country
will continue to advance until Christ
shall come again. But be not de.
ceivedl Our only safety is in right
eousness toward God and justice to-
ward man. II we forget the goodness
of the Lord to this land and break
Sabbaths, and improve not by
the dire disasters that have again
and again come to US as a nation,
and we learn saving lesson neither
from civil war nor raging epidemic,
nor drought, nor mildew, nor scourge
of locust and grasshopper, nor cyclone,
nor earthquake; if the political cor
ruption which has poisoned the
fountains of public virtue and be-
slimed the high places of author
/ ity, making free government at
+ times kissing and by-word in all
| the earth; if the drunkenness and
licentiousness that s,agger and bias
! pheme in the streets of our great cities
as though they were reaching after
| the fame of Corinth AMI Soiom
are not repented OF. we will yet see