Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-06-08


| achieves the ransom of the soul.
| Conquest of Nations.
| But on this platform the SO called OK
| pnnsionists and so called anticxpnnsion-
| lists will yet stand side by side. Though
| am not Il prophet or the son of II
| prophet, within five years, if this re-
| igio-educational work is properly at
| tended to, there will be n Cuban repub.
| lie. a Porto Rican republic and n Phil
| ippine republic, none of them on n large
scale, but they will all have their schools
and printing presses and evangelical
| churches, their presidents, their senatcs
! and house OF representatives, their may
ors and their conatabularies. and as good
order will he observed in their cities as
now rcigns on Pennsylvania avenue,
| Washington, or Broadway, New York.
| Christ has started for the conquest Of
| the nations, and nothing on earth or in
| hell can stop it. The continents are rap
| idly rolling into his dominion, and why
| not these islands, which for the most
| part are only fragments broken off from
| continents. the interval lands having
| been sunk by earthquakes. allowing the
! ocean to take mastery over them? Each
! mother continent has around it Il whole
! family Of little continents. If the CONT
why not the islands? If America, why
not Cuba and the Bahamas? If Asia,
why not the Philippines and the Mo-
| luccas? If Europe, why not the Azores
and the Orkneys? If Africa, why not
! Madagascar and st. Helena? The same
power that broke them off the mainland
can lift them into evangelzation.
In the old book, which has become n
| new book by reason of modern discover
| les, especial attention is called to the is
! lands Declare the Lords praise in the
! islands," commands Isaiah. Let the
muItitudes of the islands be glad there
Of" says the Psalmist Gan the islands
of the heather shall worship him" writes
! Zephaniah He shall turn his face 10
the islands. prophesies Daniel "The in
| hahitants of the isles shall be astonishcd
at thee" foretells Ezekiel Hear it and
declare it to the islands afar off" OK
claims Jeremiah. You see from this the
| islands are not to be neglected Perhaps
they are the Lords favorites. as in house
! holds if 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
! tons look out how they tread on the is
! lands, however small and weak. for they
are omnipotently 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. l have as much
faith in the salvation of the smallest is
| land of the Falklands, of the Canarics. of
! the Ladrones. of the Carolines, of the
| Fills. of the Barbodocs, Of the Cape
| of h. I'll, 7
! in the salvation of America.
obey the Divine Law.
| Tho 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 surrounded by the
| great ocean of infnitude and immensely.
So you sec when God planned the uni
verse he dagrammed it into islands and
he will look after the interest of each of
those islands. however small, and Eng
land and Holland and France and Ger
! many and America must not treat the
smallest and weakest island that comes
under their sway any different from the
way they treat the strongest 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 a
| question of time when the offender will
| find his doom. The path of time is
stlewn with the carcasses Of nations
! that because Of their maltreatment Of
other nations persisted. The higher such
| offending empires rise the harder will be
their fall
! believe the United States government
will last as long as the world lasts |
believe the fires of the judgment day
| will leap on the domcS of our state and
national capitols while yet they ore in
! their full power. | believe the last earth
| quake will put in its explosion under our
national foundations while yet they stand
firm. | believe that republican and dem
| oCratic form of government will be the
universal form of government for all ma
tons 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 thcocracy, which will be the di
rect government Of Christ in his personal
reign on earth. as many Bible students
believe. Yet that jubilant expectation is
founded not on the skill Of human states.
the belief that this nation will submit to
divine guidance, and obey the divine law.
and carry out its divinely imposed mis-
sion. But if we defy the God of nations
our doom is fixed.
1t required the pen of an Edward Glib
bon, through four great volumes of more
than 800 pages each to tell the story Of
| THE Decline and Fail of the Roman EN-
pire. concluding his monumental work
with the words: 1T was among the ruins
Of the capitol that | first conceived the
idea of n work which has amused and ex-
erciscd nearly 20 years of my life, and
which, however inadequate to my own
wishes, finally deliver to the curiosity
and candor Of the public" What, the
Roman empire dead! Did she lack war.
riors? No. Behold her Pompey and her
Julius Caesar. Did she lack lawmakers
and lawgivers? No. Think of the mas
tiers of Roman Jurisprudence, our Amer
lean attorneys today quoting those laws
in our courtrooms more than II centuries
after they were enacted. In poetry did
she not have her Virgil and Ovid? In
history did she not have her Sallust and
her Livy? In eloquence did she not have
her Scipio and Cicero? In satire did she
not have Juvenal and Horace? What
pens were welded by her Cato, and her
| Terence, and her plny! All nations
heard the cry Of her war eagles, the voices
of her oratory and the chime of her can
chat nation, and Hannibal crossed the
Al. Ill