The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-06-16

4 nations n practices injustice against
! other people, however Insignificant, il
| viii not take another Edward Gibbon
90 years and through four great vol
| Tunes 10 tell the story OF the decline
| and fall Of American institutions. By 50
much as our opportunities have been
| greater than any nation that ever ived.
and the mission 10 which she has been
| ordained Is more ~stupendous thar any
| bestowed by the Almighty upon any
| people, II We forget our God and
wickedness our overthrow viii be
| quicker and more tremendous, end yon-
| der cap1tolile hin, with its aTchitectu-
| raj magnificence, viii become a heap
| Of gigantic ruins, TO be visited by the
| people Of other times and other nations.
| who will read in letters Of crushed and
| crumbled marble shat which David
wrote many hundred years G upon
| parchment. The way OF the wicked he
| turneth upside DOWN
GARLANDS FOR OUR HEROES.
We concluded a few days ago the an
| nual decoration Of northern and south
| ern graves Three years ago, a. this sea-
| son, in memorial sermon I proposed the
twisting Of two garlands-one TO be
/ put upon the grave Of the northern SOL
| der and the other 10 be put on the
grave OF the southern soldier. But this
year we need three g~arlands, the third
10 be put upon the graves OF those who
fell in this Americo-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 b~attalions, whole regi-
ments, whole brigades, whole armie Of
beautiful malaria. They confronted
those oppositions of the torrid chimes
which no sword can pierce. no agility
/ Slinoh no STr9T4pan flank no Ttlr1aIn
explode, no ourage onque Under
awful charge of visible and invisible
hosts about 5000 men went down. some
to instant deaf hand others through
lingering pangs in hospital.
If in this third wreath o 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, n a few passion flow
ers, suggestive of the love that mourns
the slain, and a few heliotropes, sug-
geStive OF the fragrance of their MEM
Dry. Then let h nights dew put the
tears into the blue eye of the violates,
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 ITO the time of San Juan
Hill, from the guns of the United States
/ WdISLlpS SOISlflulIOn liz SOIISlClid-
ton, at the beginning of this century,
to the guns Of the United States war
ships Olympia, Oregon, Brooklyn and
other loaded thunders at the close Of
this century.
Remember here and now that those
brave boys opened up the way for a
kind of expansion we all believe in
They swung open the gates for the
speedy gospelization of islands stupid
with the superstition of ages. They
cleared the way for missionaries and
Bibles. They set those islands free.
Leaving to the United States govern
ment to decide what shall be the politi-
cal destiny of those peoples, let us all
join in a campaign of religious expan-
Sion-eXpanSion of affection that can
take all the world in, expansion of our
| theolOgieS until nome shall reject their
broad vitatio expansion of nope
that embraces eternity as we'll as time,
expansion of effort that will not cease
till the whole earth is saved and the
time arrives when the prophecy shall
be fulfilled, and they shall come from
the north and the south and the east
and the west and sit down in the king
dom of God, and the last shall be first
and the first last"
Week before last, in this capital of
the nation, we set three nights on fire
in celebration of naval and soldiery
i IOl O1So ohu liz "Sl n VI Il
and wheels of fire, and sheaves of fire,
and spouting fountains of fire, and
bombardments 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 today are
woven of blossoms and corollaS of all
cOlors n 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 1inksi For the first time in 6(
years the north and south stand in
complete brotherhood. Heroes of Yer
mont n Alabama, of Massachusetts
and South Carolina, Of Maine and Lou
isiana, shoulder to shoulder! May tina
alliance remain until the last oppres
sion is e~Xtirpated from the earth an6
all nations stand in the liberty with
which Christ would max all people
free!