Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-06-18

could .s,t drink them, cut of the branch
of certain tree and threw that branch In
to the water, and It became sweet and
slaked the thirst of the suffering host2
Are we with a branch Of the tree of life
sweetening all the brackish fountains that
we can touch?
Three Wishes.
Dear Lord, send us all out on that mis-
sion. AL around US imbittered hves-im-
bittered by persecution, imbittered by hy-
percriticism, imbittered by poverty, i'm
bittered by pain, imbittered by injustice,
imbittered by sin. Why not go forth and
Bweeten them by smiles, by inspiring
words, by benefactions, by hearty counsel,
by prayer, by gospelized behavior Let us
remember that If we are wormwood to
others we are wormwood to ourselves, and
our life will be bitter and our eternity Bit
terer The gospel of Jesus Christ is the on
ly sweetening power that is sufficient. 1t
sweetens the disposition. 1t sweetens the
manners 1t sweetens life. 1t sweetens
mysterious providences. 1t sweetens afflic-
tions. 1t sweetens death. 1t sweetens ev-
erything have heard people asked in So
cial company, "If you could have three
wishes gratifled, what would your three
wishes be9" If I could have three wishes
met this morning, tell you what they
would be: First, more Of the grace of God;
second, more Of the grace of God; third,
more of the grace of God.
In the dooryard of my brother John,
missionary in Annoy, China, there was a
tree called the emperor tree, the two char
acteristicS of which are that 1t always
grows higher than its Surroundings, and
its leaves take the form Of a crown. If this
emperor tree be planted by a rosebush, 1t
grows a little higher than the bush and
spreads out above 1t q crown. If it be
planted by the side of another tree, it
grows little higher than that tree and
spreads above 1t crown. Would God that
this religion of Christ, q more wonderful
emperor tree, might overshadow all your
lives! Are you lowly in ambition or cir
cumstance, putting over you its CROWN
Are you high in talent and position, put
ting over you It's CROWN Oh, for more of
the saccharine in our lives and less of the
| wormwoodl
What Is true of individuals is true of ma
tions. 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 the
| keels OF her laden merchantmen, her mar
| kets rich with horses and camels from
| Togarmah, her bazaars filed with uphol-
stery from Dedan, with emerald and coral
and agate from Syria, with wines from
| Helbon, with embroidered work from Ash,
o,,I Nh,1v,,ol %bo ~
her towers, where the roar of her chariots,
where the masts of her shipsp Let the fish
ermen who dry their nets where once she
stood; let the sea that rushes upon the bar
| renness where once she challenged the ad
| miration of all nations; let the barbarians
| who set their rude tents where once he1
palaces gittered-answer the question
| She was star, but by her own sin turned
to wormwood and has fallen.
| Hundred gated Thebes, for all time tt
be the study of the antiquarian and hiero
| glyphist; her stupendous ruins spread ovel
| 81 miles; her sculptures presenting in fig
ures Of warrior and chariot the victories
with which the now forgotten kings o.
| Egypt shook the nations; her obelisks ant
columns; Carnac and Luxor, the stupen
dous temples Of her pride! Who can imag
inc the greatness of Thebes in those days
when the hippodrome rang with her sport
and foreign royalty bowed at her shrines
| and her avenues roared with the wheels O
professions in the wake of returning con
| querors? What dashed down the vision O.
| chariots and temples and thrones Wha
hands pulled upon the columns of he,
| glory? What ruthlessness defaced her sculp
tured wall and broke obeisks and left he,
indescribable temples great skeletons O
grantee What spirit Of destruction spread
the lair of wild beasts in her royal sepul
chers and taught the miserable cottaRer
of today to build huts in the courts of he,
temples and sent desolation and ruiz
skulking behind the obelisks and dodgins
among the sarcophagi and leaning agains
the columns and STOPPING under the arch
es and weeping in the waters which q
mournfully by as though they were carry
ing the tears of oil ages? Let the mummie
break their long silence and come up tx
shiver In the desolation and point to fall
en- gates and shattered statues and defacet
sculpture, responding: "Thebes built no
one temple to God. Thebes hated right
eousness and loved sin. Thebes was q star
but she turned to wormwood and ha
fallen"
Fall Of Babylon.
Babylon, with her $50 towers and he
brazen gates and her embattled walls, tn,
splendor of the earth gathered within he
palaces, her hanging gardens built by Neb
uchadnezzar to please his bride, Amy
tis, who had been brought up in noun
famous country and could NOT endure th,
fiat country round Babylon-these hang
ing gardens built, terrace above terrace
till at the height Of 400 feet there wer,
woods waving and fountains playing, tn,
verdure, the foliage, the glory looking a.
If mountain were on the wing. On tn,
tiptop king walking with his queen
among statues snowy white, looking NJ
at birds brought from distant lands an(
drinking out Of tankards of solid gold Oh
looking off over rivers and lakes upon ma
tions subdued and tributary, crying, "I.
not this great Babylon which have built2'
| What battering ram smote the walls
| What plowshare upturned the gardens
What army shattered the brazen gates:
What long, fierce blast Of storm put out
this light which illumined the world
What crash Of discord drove down the mu
sic that poured from palace window and
garden grove and called the banqueters tc
their revel and the dancers to their feet
I 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 the scene, ]
hear the wild waves saying: Babylon was
proud. Babylon was impure. Babylon was
a star, but by sin she turned to worm.
wood and has fallen"
From the prosecutions Of the pilgrim
fathers and the Huguenots in other lands
God set upon, these shores nation. The
council fires of the aborigines went out in
the greater light of free government.
The sound of the warwhoop was exchanged
for the thousand wheels of enterprise and
progress. The mild winters. the fruitful