Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-06-20

Wormwood, and you have imbittered
one third if not three thirds of the
waters that roll past your employees and
operatives and dependents and associ-
ates, and the long line of carriages
/ which the undertaken orders for youl
funeral, in order to make the occasion
respectable, will be filled with twice as
many dry, fearless eyes as there are per-
sons occupying them.
There is an erroneous idea abroad
that there are only q few geniuses.
There are millions Of them-thatis, men
and women who have especial adapta-
ton and quickness for some one thing.
It may be great; it may be small. The
circle may be like the circumference OF
the earth or no larger than Il thimble.
There are thousands Of geniuses, and IL
some one thing you are star. What
kind of q star are you? You will be IL
this world but few minutes. As COM
pared with eternity the stay of the
longest life on earth is not more than 9
minute. What are we doing with thai
minute? Are we imbittering the domes
tic or social or political fountains, or arc
! we like Moses, who, when the lsraelltes
in the wilderness complained that the
waters Of Lake Marah were bitter and
they could not drink them, cut of the
branch of certain tree and threw that
branch into the water, and it became
sweet and slakcd the thirst of the suffer
ing host? Arc we with branch Of tho
Tree of Life swectcning I'll the brackisll
fountains that we can touch?
Three Wishes.
Dear Lord, send us all out ON that
mission. All around us imbittered lives
-imbittered by persecution, in1bittered
by hypcrcriticism, imbittered by poy-
erty, imbittcred by pain, imbittercd by
injustice, imbittered by sin Why not
go forth and swceten them by smile, by
inspiring words, by bcnefactions, by
hearty counsel, by prayer, by gospel
lied behavior? Let us remember that II
we are 'ormwood to others we are
wormwool to ourselves, and our life
will be bitter and our eternity bittcrer.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only
sweetcning power that is sufficient. II
sweetens the disposition. 1t sweetcns
! the manners. 1t swcctcns life. It sweet
ems mysterious providcmces. 1t swcetens
Affections 1t sweetcns death. 1t sweet
ems everything I have heard people
asked in social company, If you could
have three wishes gratiticd, what would
your three wishes be-" II could have
three wishes met this morning, I tell
you what they would be: /. More OF
the grace Of God. 2. More Of the grace
of God. 3. More of the grace Of God.
In the doolyard of my brother John,
missionary i'll Annoy, China, there was
tree called the emperor tree, the two
characteristics of which are that it al
WAYS crows higher than its surround
i,lgs, and is leaves take the form Of q
crown If this emperor tree be planted
By n roscbnsii, it grows little higher
than the bush and spreads out above ii
a crown. II it be planted by the side OF
another tree, it grows a little higher
than that tree and spreads above it a
crown Would God that this religion
OF Christ, more wonderful emperor
Tree, might ovcrshadow all your lives
Are you lowly in ambition or circum-
stance putting over you its crown? Are
you high in talent and position, putting
over you its crown? Oh, for more of the
saccharino in our lives and less of the
wormwood
What is true of individuals is true OF
nations God sets them up to reyolve
as stars, bat they MAY fall NORWOOD
Tyre the atmosphere Of the desert,
fragrant with spices, coming i'll cara
vans to her fairs, 81! seas cleft into
foam by the keels OF her laden mer-
chantmen, her markets rich with horses
and camels from Togarmah, her bazaars
filled with upholstery from Dedan, with
emerald and coral and agate from Syria,
with wines from Helbon, with embroid-
cred work from Ashur and Chilmad.
Where now the glcam of her towers,
where the roar OF her charlOts, where
the masfs of her ships? Let the fisher
men who dry their nets where once she
stood, let the sea that rushcs upon the
barrenncss 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 Il star, but by her
own sin turned to wCrmwcod and has
fallen
Turned to Wormwood.
Hundred gated Thebes, for all time
to be the siady of the antiquarian and
hieroslyphist, 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 ma
tons. her obelisks and columns. Carnac
and Luxor, the stupendous temples of
her pride Who can imagine the great
ness Of Thebes in those days when the
hippodrome rang with Eer sports and
foreign royalty bowed at Ter shrine and
her avenues roarcd with the wheels OF
professions III the wake OF returning
Fonquerors? What dashed down the Vi
zion of chariots and temples and thrones?
What hands pulled upon the columns
OF her glory? What ruthlessncss dcfaced
her sculptured wall and broke obelisks
and left her Undesirable temples great
skeletons of granite? What spirit Of de-
struction spread the lair Of wild beasts
in her royal sepulchers, and taught the
miserable cottagers of today to build
huts in the courts of her temples, and
sent desolation and ruin skulking be-
hind the obelisks, and lodging among
the sarcophagi and leaning against the
columns, and STOPPING under the arches,
and weeping in the waters which GO
mournfully by as though they were car
lying the tears of all ages? Let the
mummies break their long silence ard
come up to SILVER in the desolation and
point to fallen gates and shattered statues
aud defaced sculpture, responding: