The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-06-09
SUBSCRIPTION: Sl.OO Per Year.

| turn His face to he islands, propheses
Daniel. The inhabitants of the isles
| shall be astonished at thee" foretells
| Ezekiel Hear it and declare it TO the
| islands afar Off" eXclaims jeremiah.
You see from this the islands are not TO
be neglected. Perhaps they are the
! Lords favorites, rs in households IT
| there is any favoritism at all it is for
| the weakest. The islands too small to
! take care of themselves have the eter-
nal God TO take care of them. Let ma
| tions look out how they tread on the is
! lands, however small and weak, for
they are omnipotentIy defended. They
may not he able to marshal large armies
| or to send out navies TO sweep the sea,
but better than that, they have the
| chariots of Heaven on their side and the
| drawn swords Of the Almighty. have
as much faith in the salvation of the
smallest island of the Falllands of the
| Canaries, of the Ladrones. of the Caro-
Zines, of the Fijis, of the Barbados, OF
| the Cape Verdes, of the Society islands
as have in the salvation of America.
The continents themselves are only
| larger islands, and the world in which
we live is only still larger island, and
the solar system is a group of islands.
and the universe is an archipelago
studded with islands of worlds sur
rounded by the great ocean of infinitude
and immensity. So you see when God
! planned the universe He diagrammed
it into islands, and He will look after
the interest of each of those islands,
however small, and England and France
and Germany and America must not
treat the smallest and weakest island
that comes under their sway any differ
ent from the way they treat the strong
est nation of all the earth. God may
chiefly deal with individuals in the next
world, but He deals with nations only
in this world, and when persistently
nation practices injustice against other
people it is only question of time when
the offender will find his doom. The
path of time is strewn with the car
casses of nations that because of their
maltreat ment of other nations perished.
The higher such offending empires rise
the harder will be their fall.
l believe the United States govern
ment will last as long as the world lasts.
l believe the fires of the judgment day
will leap on the domes of our state and
national capitols while yet they are in
their full power. | believe the last
earthquake will put in it's explosion un-
der our national foundations while yet
they stand firm. l believe the republic
an and democratic form of government
| will be the universal form of govern
ment for all nations when they have
| been evangelical, for then the nations
will be capable of self-government and
will have demanded and secured that
right. 1t will be either that or theoc-
racy, which will be the direct govern
ment of Christ in His personal reign
on earth, as many Bible students be-
lieve. Yet that jubilant expectation is
founded not on the skill of human
craftsmanship or human legislation,
! but upon the belief that this nation will
submit to Divine guidance, and obey
the Divine law, and carry out it's divine
! ly imposed mission. But if we defy the
| God of nations our doom is fixed
We concluded few days ago the an
! nual decoration Of northern and south
| ern graves. Three years ago, at this
| season, in memorial sermon / proposed
! the twisting of two garlands, one to be
| put upon the grave of the northern sol
| dier and the other to be put on the grave
| of the southern soldier, but this year
we need three garlands, the third to be
| put upon the graves of those who fell
in this Americo-Hispanic conflict. The
| third garland needs to be quite as fra
| grant and as radiant as the other two.
| These last heroes braved more than
| bayonets; they braved the pestiferous
| breath of the tropics, whole battalions,
whole regiments, whole brigades,
| whole armies of deathful malaria. They
confronted those oppositions of the
| tOrrid climes which no sword can pierce,
no agility climb, no stratagem flank, no
| torpedo explode, no courage conquer.
| Under the awful charge of visible and
| invisible hosts about 5000 men went
| down, some to instant death and others
[ through lingering pangs in hospital.
If in this third wreath you twist the
crimson rose, suggestive Of sanguinary
sacrifice, and the white Gala lily, sug-
| gestive of glorious resurrection, put in
| also a few forgetmenots, suggestive of
remembrance, and few passion flow
ers, suggestive of the love that mourns
| gestive of the fragrance of their mem
ory. Then let the nights dew put the
tears into the blue eyes of the violets
and all the soldiers cemeteries be SO
many censers burning incense before
the throne of that God who has been
the friend of this nation from the time
of Lexington to the time of San Juan
hill, from the guns of the United States
warships Constitution and Constella-
| ton, at the beginning of the century,
to the guns of the United States war
ships Olympia, Oregon, Brooklyn and
other loaded thunders, at the close of
this century.
Week before last, in this capital of the
nation, we set three nights on fire in
celebration of naval and soldierly he
roles, and there were rockets of fire,
and spouting fountains of fire, and bonn
bardments of fire, and ships of fire
sank in pillows of fire, and those three
nights were three garlands of fire; but
now we are in softer and quieter mood,
and the three garlands of to-day are
woven of blossoms and corollas of all
colors and all pungencies of aroma, and
we bethink ourselves that this third
garland was needed to chain together
the northern garland of other decora-
tive times to the southern garland
of other decorative times. Floral chain
of three links! For the first time in Gu
years the north and south stand in COM
plete brotherhood. Heroes of Vermont
and Alabama, of Massachusetts and
South Carolina, of Maine and Louisiana,