Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-06-09


islands of the heather shall worship
him. writes Zephaniah "He shall
turn his face to the islands, " prophesies
Daniel. 1.-The inhabitants of the isles
shall be astonished at thee, foretells
Ezekiel Hear il and declare il to the
islands afar off. " exclaims jeremiah.
You see from this the islands are not
to be neglected. Perhaps they are the
Lords favorites. as in households, if
there is any favOritism at all, it is for
the weakest The islands, too small to
:ake care Of themselves. have the eter'
nal God to take care of them Let ma
tions look ont how they tread on the
islands. however small and weak, for
they are omnipotently defended They
NAV not be able to marshal large ar
mics or TO send out natives to sweep
the sea, bat, better than that, they have
ibe chariots Of heaven on their side and
the drawn swords of the Almighty.
nave as much faith in the salvation of
the smallest island Of the Falklands. OF
the Canaries. of the Ladrones, of the
Carolines, Of the Fiiis, Of the Barba-
does. of the Cape Nerdes, 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 group Of islands,
and the universe is an archipelago stud
3ed with islands Of worlds. surrounded
by the great ocean Of infnitude and
So you see when God plan
ned the universe he diagrammed It into
islands and he will look after the in.
ferest of each of those islands. however
small. and England and Holland and
France and Germany and America
must not treat the smallest and weak
est 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 be deals with
nations only in this world, and when
a nation practices injustice
against other people it is only ques-
tiou of time when the offender will find
his doom The path of time Is strewn
with the Carca,sos Of nations that be-
cause of their maltreatment Of other
nations perished. The higher such
Offending empires rise. the harder viii
be their fall
perpctuity of Our Government.
Ii.iiove the United States govern
ment will last as long As the world lasts
1 believe the fires of the Judgment day
will leap on the domes Of our state and
national capitals while yet they are III
their full power / believe the last
earthquake will put its explosion under
our national foundations while yet they
stand firm I believe that Republican
and Democratic form of government
VIII be- the universal form Ct govern
meut for all nations WACn they have
been oyauge'izei. tor then the nations
will De capable of soif government and
win have demanded and secured that
right It viii lee either that or the
ocracy. which will be the direct govern
meut Of Christ in his personal reign on
earth. as many Bible students believe
Yet that juti!anr expectation il found
al not on the skill of human rtatesman-
shin or human legislation. hnt upon
.he belief that this nation will submit
10 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 800 pages each, to tell the
story Of "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 20 years
Of my life. and which. however made
qnate 90 my own wishes. finally de
liver 10 the curiosity and candor Of the
public. What. the Roman empire
dead Did she lack warriors! No. Be
hold her Pompey and her julius Caesar.
Did She lack lawmakers and lawgiyers
No. Think of the masters Of Roman
inrisnrudence. our American attorneys
today quoting those laws in our court
rooms more than Is centuries after
they were enacted In poetry did she
not have her Virgil and Ovidi In his
tory did she not have her Sallust and
her Liyyl In el0quence did she not
have her Scipio and Cicerog In satire
did she not have a Juvenal and a Hor-
acsg What pens were welded by her
Cato and her Terence and her Plny
All nations heard the cry of her wal
eagles. the voices Of her oratory and the
chime of her cantos But the day OF
INDICTMENT came for that nation, and
Hannibal crossed the Apennines, and
the Goths and Vandals swoOped, and
the Carthaginian feet assailed anc
Nulnidian horsemen galloped, and ma
tions combined and Rome sank. Th'
tourjst now on the banks Of the Ilbel
sees the ruins Of her forum, the ruin'
of her coliseum the ruins of her art
ihe rnins cf her aqueducts, the ruini
f of ber catacombs. the ruins Of her pal
aces
II our nation forgets its duty to othe
nations and practices injustice agains
other people, however Insignificant. !
will net take another Edward Giobol
90 years and through four great vol
umes TO tell the story Of the decline ant
fan Of American institutions BY s.
much as our opportunities have beel
greater than any nation that ever lived
and the mission to which she has beel
ordained is more stupendous than an
bestowed by the Almighty upon an
p.ople. if we forget our Scd and enac
wickedness our overthrow will be quick
or and more tremendous and yonde
capitoline hill. with its architecture
maanifcence. will heccms a heap
gigantic ruins, to bee visited by the pee
ule Of other times and other nations
who will read in letters Of crushed an
crumbled marble that which Davi
wrote many hundred years ago upo
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