Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-06-09

earth, as many Bible students believe
Yet that jubilant expectation is found
ed not on the skill of human statesman
ship or human legislation, but upon
the belief that this nation will submit
TO divine guidance and obey the divine
law and carry out its divinely imposed
mission But if we defy the God of ma
tions our doom is fixed.
1t required the pen of an Edward
Gibbon, through four great volumes Of
more than. 500 pages each, 10 tell the
story of 1.-The Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire, concluding his monu-
mental work with the words, at was
among the ruins of the capital that
first conceived the idea of a work which
has amused and exercised near 90 years
of my life. and which, however made
Quate to my own wishes. | finally de-
liver to the curiosity and candor of the
pub What, the Roman empire
dead Did she lack warriors? No. Be
hold her Pompey and her Julius Caesar.
Did she lack lawmakers and lawgivers
No. Think of the masters of Roman
jurisprudence, our American attorneys
today quoting those laws in our court !
rooms more than 15 centuries after
they were enacted. In poetry did she |
not have her Virgil and Ovid? In his
tory did she not have her Sallust and
her Livy? In eloquence did she not
have her Scipio and Cicerof In satire
did she not have Juvenal and Hor
ace? What pens were welded by her
Cato and her Terence and her Pliny
All nations heard the cry of her war
eagles the voices of her oratory and the
chime of her cantos. But the day of
Judgment came for that nation, and /
Hannibal crossed the Apennines, and
the Gotbs and Vandals swooped, and |
the Carthaginian fleet assailed and
Numidian horsemen galloped, and ma
tions combined, and Rome sank. The |
tourist now on the banks .of the Tiber
sees the ruins Of her forum, the ruins
of her coliseum, the ruins of her art,
the ruins CT her aqueducts, the ruins
Of her catacombs. the ruins of her pal
aces.
If our nation forgets its duty to other
nations and practices injustice against
other people, however insignificant, it
will net take another Edward Gibbon
90 years and through four great vol
umes to tell the story of the decline and
fall of American institutions By SO
much as our opportunities have been
greater than any nation that ever lived,
and the mission to which she has been
ordained is more stupendous than any
bestowed by the Almighty upon any
people, if we forget our GCd and enact
wickedness our overthrow will be quick
er and more tremendous, and yonder
capitoline hill, with its architectural
magnifcence, will become a heap OF
gigantic ruins, to be visited by the peo-
pie of other times and other nations,
who will read in letters of crushed and
crumbled marble that which David
wrote many hundred years ago upon
parchment, 1.-THE way of the wicked he
turnetb upside down -
Gnriunds For Our Heroes.
We concluded few days ago the an
nual decoration Of northern and south
IBlOt y CGlS dSO, DIT tulS sed-
son, in memorial sermon l 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 America -Hispanic conflict.
The third garland needs to be quite as
fragrant and as radiant as the other
two These last heroes braved more than
bayonets and bombshell. They braved
the pestiferous breath of the tropics
whole battalions, whole regiments
whole brigades, whole armies of death
full malaria They confronted those op-
positions of the torrid climes which no
sword can pierce, no agility climb, no
stratagem flank, no torpedo explode, no
conquer. Under the awful
charge of visible and invisible hosts
about 5000 men went down, some to
instant death and others through lin
5ering pangs in hospital.
If in this third wreath you twist the
,rimson rose, suggestive of sanguinary
iacrifce, and the white Gala lily, sug-
5estive of glorious resurrection, put in
ilso few forgetmenots, suggestive of
and few passion flowers
of the love that mourns the
lain, and few heliotropes, suggestive
# the fragrance of their memory. Then
ct the nights dew put the tears into
he blue eyes of the violets, and all the
elders cemeteries be so many censers
,urning incense before the throne of
hat God who has been the friend of
his nation from the time of Lexington
o the time of San Juan Hill, from the
,uns of the United States warships
and Constellation, at the
BEGINNING CT this century, to the guns
# the United States warships Olympia,
)regorf, Brooklyn and other loaded
hunders at the close of this century.
Remember here and now that those
rave boys opened up the way for
ind of expansion we all believe in. S
they SWING open tie gates for the O
peedy gospelization of islands stupid Y
With the superstition of ages. They 7
leared the way for missionaries and a
Bibles. They set those islands free. v
leaving to the United States govern v
nent to decide what shall be the politi L
al destiny of those peoples, let rs all b
DIN in campaign of religious expan- v
cf affection that can b
axe all the world in, expansion of our v
heologies until none shall reject their v
road invitation. expansion of hope "
lat embraces eternity as well as time,
ypansiOn of effort that will not cease r