The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1899-07-01

Him." writes Zephaniah. He shall
turn His face to the islands" prophesies
Daniel. The inhabitants of the isles
shall be astonished at thee" fore;ells
Ezekiel. Hear it and declare il 10 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 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
tions look out how they tread on the is
lands, however small and weak, for
they are omnipotently defended. They
may not be 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 Falklands, of the
Canaries, of the Ladrones. of the Caro-
lines, 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 infnitude
and immensely. 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,
howevers 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 NAV
chiefly deal with individuals in the next
world. but He deals with nations only
in this world, and when persistently a
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 strewn with the car
casses 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 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 its explosion un-
der our national foundations while vet
they stand firm. ] 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 a 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 its 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
der and the other to be put on the grave
of the southern soldier, but this yea1
we need three garlands, the third to be
put upon the graves of those who fel
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 thar
bayonets; they braved the pestiferous
breath of the tropics, whole battalions
whole regiments, whole brigades
whole armies of beautiful malaria. They
confronted those oppositions of the
torrid climes which no sword can pierce
no agility climb, no stratagem flank, nj
torpedo explode, no courage conquer
Under the awful charge of visible ant
, invisible hosts about 5000 men wen
down, some to instant death and other:
through lingering pangs in hospital.
If in this third wreath you twist tn,
crimson rose, suggestive of sanguinar,
sacrifice, and the white Gala lily, sug
gestive of glorious resurrection, put il
also few forgetmenots, suggestive o
remembrance, and a few passion flow
ers, suggestive of the love that mourn
the slain, and few heliotropes, sug
gestive of the fragrance of their mem
DRY. Then let the nights dew put tn
tears into the blue eyes of the violet
o and all the soldiers cemeteries be S,
: many censers burning incense befor,
9 the throne of that God who has beer
Il the friend of this nation from the tim
of Lexington to the time of San Jual
y hill, from the guns of the United State
warships Constitution and Constella
$ ton, at the beginning of the century
to the guns of the United States war
}. ships Olympia, Oregon, brooklyn ant
] other loaded thunders, at the close O
D this century.
e Week before last, in this capital of tn
nation, we set three nights on fire il
N