The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-07-01

who hat cesn brought up IN moun>atnous
country and could not endure the fiat coun-
try round Babylon-these hanging gardens
built, terrace above terrace. till at the helgnt
Of 400 feet there were woods waving AMI
fountains playing. the verdure, the tollaee,
the glory looking as If a mountain were on
the wing. On the .iptop king walking vita
his queen, among statues snowy. Whlte, looE'
ing up at birds brought from distant lands,
and drinking out OF tankards OF soiiu sold
or looking off over rivers and lakes upon na-
tions subdued and tributary. crying, is not
this great Babylon which have builtY'
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 ltSat
which ilumined the world? What crash OF
discord drove down the music that poured
| from palace window aud garden grove and
called the banqueters to their reve and the
dancers to their feet2 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 surg
ing Of that billow OF desolation which rolls
over the scene, hear the wild waves say
ing: "Babylon was proud. Babylon was
, impure. Babylon was star, but By SIN she
turned to wormwood and has fallen"
From the prosecutions OF. the pilgrim
fathers and the Hugrenots In other lands
God set upon these shores nation. The
council fires of the aborigines went out in
the greater light of q free government. The
sound of the warwhoop was exchanged for
the thousand wheels of enterprise and prog
ress. The mild winters, the fruitful sum-
mers, the healthful skies, charmed from
other lands race of hardy men who loved
God and wanted to be free. Before the
g.. -ke foII In in
to ships masts 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 fab
ulous tons of eastern coal. Furs from the north
pass on the river fruits from the south. And
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 asylums scatter
60 000, ,00J Of people.
I pray that our lation may not copy the
crimes of the nations that have perished and
our cup Of blessing turn to wormwood, and
like them We 60 down. am by nature and
by grace an optimist, and expect that this
country will continue to advance until Christ
shall como again. But be not deceived.
Our orly safety is in righteousness toward
God and justice toward man. II 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 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 byword in all the earth; If the drunk
euness and licentiousness that stagger and
blasphene in the streets Of our great cities
as though they were reaching after
the fame of Cyrinth and q
Sodom are not repented OF, we will
vet see the smoke OF our nations
ruin, the pillars of our national anC state
capitols will fall more disastrously than
when Samson pulled down Dagon, and
future historians will record upon the page
bedewed with generous tears the story that
the free nation of the west arose in splendor
which made the world stare. It had
magnificent possibilities. 1t forgot God. It
hated justice. 1t husged Its crime. It
halted on its high march. It reeled under
the blow of calamity. It fell. And as 1t was
going down all the despotisns of earth from
the top of bloody thrones beg IN to shout.
AHA, so would We have it," whilestrusgling
and oppressed people lookei out from
dungeon burs with tears and groans and
and the woe Of these uniting in the exclama.
.ion: "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
rame of the star is called Wormwood"