Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-06-26

! country and could not endure inc Nd. cSen.
trv round Babylon-tbese hanging garGeps
built, terrace above terrace, TIL at .he neis IA
| of 400 feet there were woods waving anu
fountains PLAYING. the verdure, the iona9e,
the glory looking as II mountain were on
the wing. On tho .iptop king walking Win
hisqueen among statues snowy VIM, III
ing up at birds brought from distanl =, '" t.oId
| and drinking out OF tankards OF soliu 81
or looking off over rivers ana lakes up ryu no
tions subdue1 aud tributary. Crying, .o5 10 n0'
this great Babylon which nave uu, ta NH
what batteriue ram smote the walls? what
p1ows1are upturned. the gardens1 Mhas
army shattered the brazen gatesf WHAT
| long. fierce blast of storm put out this ngnt
which ilumiued the world? What crash o,
discord drove down the music that poured
| from palace window and garden grove ana
called the banuueters to their revel and the
dancers TO their feet2 1 walk upon the
scene of desolation to find an answer anu
pick up pieces OF bitumen ana DrIcK au9
broken pottery, the remains OF BABYLON, anu
as in the silence of the night near the surg
| Ing of that billow OF desolatlon which rolls
over the scene. hear the wild waves say
ing. 'tBahvlon was proul. Babylon was
impure. Babylon was star, but By sin she
TUNED to NORWOOD and has fallen.
From the prosecutions OF the pilgrim
fathers and the Huguenots in other lands
God set upon these shores nation. me
council fires of the aboriglnes went out IN
the greater light of free government. Iae
sound Of the warwhoop was exchanged Ior
the thousand wheels of enterprise and prog
refs. The mild winters, the fruitful sum
mers, the heallhful skies, charmed from
other lands a race of hardy men who loved
God and wanted to be free. Before the
woodman's ak forests fell and rose again In
to ships mass and churches pillars. Cities
on thebanks 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 steamers wheel. Fabulous
bushels of western wheat meet on the way lab
ulous tons of eastern coal. Furs from the nortn
pass on the river fruits from the south. Aud
trading in the same market Is Maine LUMBER
man and South Carolina rice merchant and
Ohio farmer and Alaska fur dealer. And
churches and schools and asyums scatter
light and love and mercy and salvation upon
go, 0O) of people.
pray that our Lation may not copy the
crimes of the nations that have persisted and
our cup OF blessing turn to NORWOOD, and
like them we go down. / am by nature and
by grace au optimist, and expect that this
country will continue to advance until Christ
shall come again: But be not deceived.
Our Only safety is In righteousness toward
God and Justice toward man. If 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 q nation, and we learn saving
lesson neither from civil war nor raging cpl
demic nor drought nor mildew nor scourge
of locust and grasshopper nor cyclone nor
earthquake; if the political corruption which
has poisoned the fountains of public virtue
and beslimed the high places OF authority,
making free government at times Kissing
and a byWord in all the earth; IL the drunk
enuess and RIGHTEOUSNESS that stagger and
blaspheme in the streets OF our great cities
as though they were reaching after
tue fame OF Cyrinth and
Sodom are not repented Of. we will
set see the smoke Of our nations
ruin; the pillars of our national anG state
capitols will fall more disastrously than
when Samson pulled down Dagon, aud
future historians will record upon the page
believed with generous tears the story that
the free nation OF the west arose in splendor
which made the world stare. 1t had
magnificent possibilities. 1t forgot God. 1t
hated justice. 1t Rugged It's crime. 1t
halted on its high march. 1t reeled under
tho blow OF calamity 1t fell. Aud as it was
going down all the despotsms of earth from
the top of bloody thrones begln to shout,
"Aha, so would we have itl' whilestruggling
and oppressed people lookel out from
dungeon bars with tears and groans aud
cries of untold agony. the scorn OF those
and the woe of these uniting in the exclama-
zion: "Look yonder! There fell great
star from heaven. burning as it were lamp,
and it fell upon the third part Of the rivers
and upon the fountains of waters, and the
name of the star is called Wormwood!'