The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-04-16

/ people prayed nightly. The ships Of
her enemies waited for the high tides
on which to come in. In answer to the
prayers offered the tide, as never be-
fore, was detained IL hours, and before
that IL hours had passed hurricane
swoOped upon the enemies ships and
destroyed them. and Holland was
saved. If God detained the high
tide in answer to prayer. will He not
hasten it in answer TO prayer? Sure
" it has been low tide long enough.
May the Lord hasten the high tide
of national welfare. American citi-
zens. our best hold in on God We
have all seen families in prayer. and
churches in prayer. What we want
vet to see is this whole nation on its
knees.
The most of them are dead: those
who in 1851 moved in that procession
that marched from the city hall of
| Washington down Louisiana avenue
/ to Seventh street, and then through
| Pennsylvania avenue to the north gate
of yOnder capitol to lay the corner
| stone of the extension of that capitol
| The president who that day pre-
/
| three times in dedication, long ago
| quit earthly scenes, and the lips
| of the great orator of that hour are
/ dust, and the grand master of that
occasion long ago put down the square
/ and the level and the plumb with
| which. for the last time, he pronounced
| a cornerstone well laid. But what
most interests me now is that inside
| that cornerstone, in a glass jar, her
metically sealed, is document of ma
| tiOnal import. though in poor penman-
| ship. 1t is the penmanship of Daniel
/ Webster, which almost ruined the pen
manship of this country for many
| years, because many thought if they
had Daniel Webster's poor penmanship,
| it might indicate they had Webster's
/ genius. The document reads as fol-
lows:
''If it shall hereafter be the will of
God that this structure shall fall from
| its base, that its foundation be up
turned. and this deposit be brought to
| the eyes of men, be it then known that
on this day the nation of the United
| States of America stands firm; that
| their constitution still exists unim-
paired and with all its original useful
ness and glory, growing every day
stronger and stronger in the affection
| of the great body of the American
| people, and attracting more and more
| the admiration of the world; and
all here assembled, whether belonging
to public life or to private life, with
| hearts devoutly thankful to Almighty
| God for the preservation of the liberty
and the happiness of the country, unite
| in sincere and fervent prayers that
/ this deposit, and the walls and arches,
the domes and towers, the columns and
entablatures now to be erected over it
may endure forever. God save the
/ United States of America. Daniel
| Webster, secretary of state of the
| United States. ----
| That was beautiful and appropriate
| at the laying of the corner stone of the
| extension of the capitol, IS years after
the corner stone of the old capitol had
been laid. Yet the corner stone of
our republic was first laid in 1776, and
at the re-establishment of our national
| government was laid again in 1865.
But are we not ready for the laying Of
the corner stone of a broader and
| higher national life? We have as a
nation received so much from God
Do we not owe new conservation?
Are we not ready to become better
Sabbath-keeping, peace-lOving, virtue
honoring, God-worshiping nation?
Are we not ready for such a
corner stone laying? Why not now
let it take place? With long pro-
cessiOn of prayers, moving from the
north and the south, the east and the
west, let the scene be made august be-
yond comparison. The God of ma
tiOns. who hath dealt with us as with
no other people. will preside at the
solemnization. By the square and the
level and the plumb of the everlasting
right let the corner stone be adjusted.
Let that corner stone be the masoning
together of two granite tables on which
the law was written when Sinai shook
with the earthquake, and inside the
corner stone put the sermon on the
mount and a scroll containing the
names of all the men and wom-
en- who have fought and prayed
and toiled for the good of
this nation, from the first martyr of
the American revolution down to
the last woman who bound up SOL
dier's wounds in the field hospital.
And let some one. worthy to do so,
strike the stone three times with the
gospel hammer, in the name of God
the Father, God the Son and God the
Holy Ghost. Then let the building
rise, one wall laved by the Pacific
ocean, and the other washed OF the At
lantic, until its capstone shall be laid
amid the shouting of all nations, by
that time as free as our own divinely
founded, divinely constructed. and di-
vinely protected republic, the last
throne of oppression having fallen fat
into the dust, and the last shackle Of
tyranny been hung up in museum as a
relic of barbaric ages.
The prayer that the great expounder
wrote to be put in the cornerstone at
the extension of the capitol, calculate
aS cr1Y- cvr-,,