The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-03-24

you could ave three wishes gratined.
what would your three wishes be-" IL
I could have three wishes met / tell
20. what they would be. First, more
of the grace of God: second, more OF
the grace of God; third, more Of the
grace OF God
THE OvERSHADOWING TREE.
once missionary in Annoy, China, there
was a tree called the emperor tree, the
two characteristics of which are that
1t always grows higher thar its sur
roundingings, and its leaves take the
form Of a crown. If this emperor tree
be planted beside a rosebush, il grows
a little higher than the bush and
spreads out above il a crown. II il be
planted by the side Of another tree, Ii
grows a little higher than that tree
and spreads above il a crown. Would
God that this religion Of Christ. a
more wonderful emperor tree, might
overshadow all your lives, Are you
low4y in ambition or circumstance, put
ting over you its crown; are you high
in talent and position, putting over
you its crown? Oh, for more Of the
saccharin in our lives and less of the
worn1wood,
What is true OF individuals is true Of
nations. God sets them up TO revolve
as stars. but they may fall wormwood.
Tyre-the atmosphere of the desert,
fragrant with spices coming in cara
vans to her fairs; all seas cleft into
foam by the keels of her laden mer-
chantmen; her markets rich with horses
and camels from Togarmah; the bazaar
filled with upholstery from Dedan, with
emerald n coral and agate from Syria
Wit mines from Helbon, with embrOid-
cred work from Ashar and Chilmad.
Where now the CLEAN of her towers,
where the rear Of her chariots, where
the masts of her ships? Let the fisher-
men who dry their nets where nee she
stood. let the sea that PUSHES upon the
barrerness where one she challenged
the admiration of all nations, let the
barbarianS who set their rude tents
where once her palaces glittered. an
swer the questions. She was a star. but
by her WI sin turned to wormwood
and has fallen.
to be the study of antiquarian and
hieroglyphist. Her ~stupendous ruins
spread over q miles, her sculptures
presenting in figure of warrior and
chariot the victories with which the
now forgotten kings of Egypt shook the
nations; her obelisks and columns;
Karnak and Luxor, the stupendous
temples of her pride! Who can imagine
the greatness of Thebes in those days,
when the hippodrome rang with her
sports and foreign royalty bowed at
her shrines, and her avenue roared
with the wheels of professions in the
wake of returning c~onQuerorS? What
dashed down the vision Of chariots and
temples and thrones? What hands
pulled upon the columns of her glory?
What ruthlessness defaced her sculp-
! ture6 wall and broke obelisks and left
her indescribable temples great skele-
tons of granite? What spirit of de-
r+r,,ot;on -rroo1 +ho NV ~ g --;1I hoocfc
in her royal s%epulchers and taught the
miserable ~cottagers Of today to build
huts in the courts of her temples and
sent desOlation and ruin skulking be-
hind the obelisks, and lodging among
the sarcOphagi, and leaning against the
columns, and stopping under the arches,
and weeping in the waters which go
m~ournfully by, as though they were
! carrying the tears of all ages? Let
! the mummies break their long silence
and come up to shiver in the desolation
| and point to fallen gates n shattered
! statues and defaced sculpture, respond
| ing: "Thebes built not one temple to
God. Thebes hated righteousness and
loved sin. Thebes was a star, but she
| turned to NORWOOD and has fallen"
THE LESSON OF BABYLON'S FALL
Babylon, with her $50 towers and her
brazen gates and her embattled walls,
the splendOr of the earth gathered
within her gates, her hanging gardens
built by Nebuchadnezzar, to please mis-
bride, Amytis, who had been brought
up in a mountainous country and could
not endure the fiat country around
Babylon. These hanging gardens built
terrace above terrace, till at the height
: of 400 feet there were woods waving
and fountains playing, the verdure, the
foliage, the glory, looking as if a noun
tain were on the wing. On the tiptop
( n lip~ NO Il ~ n ui+h bir ,lnny oronnn
/ the statues, snowy white, looking up at
birds brought from distant lands and
drinking out of tankards of solid gold
or looking off over rivers and lakes upon
nations subdued and tributary, crying,
us not this great Babylon which /
: have built?"
What battering ram smote the walls?
What plOwShare upturned the gar
dens? What army shattered the brazen
gates? What long, fierce blast of storm
put out this light which inuminaed the
world? What crush of discord drove
down the music that poured from pal
ace window and garden grove and call
ed the banqueters to their revel and the
dancers to their feet? I walk upon the
scene Of desolation to find an answer
and pick up pieces Of bitumen and
brick and broken pottery, the remains
of Babylon. l hear the wild a W say
ing: Babylon was proud. Babylon
was impure. Babylon was a star, but
by sin she turned to NORWOOD and
a fallen"
From the prosecutions of the pilgrim
fathers and the Huguenots in other
lands God set upon these shores a IA
ton. The council fires Of the aborigines
went GU in the greater light Of a free
government. The sound of the war
whoop was exchanged for the thousand
wheels of enterprise and progress. The
mild winters, the fruitful summers, the
healthful skies, charmed from other
lands a race of hardy men, who loved
God n wanted to be free. Before the
woodman's az forests fell and rose
again into ships masts and churches
pillars. Cities on the banks of lakes be-
gan to rival cities by the sea- The land
! quakes with the rush Of the rail car
and h waters are churned white with
the steamers wheel. Fabulous bushels
Of western wheat meet on the way fab
uolus tons OF eastern coal. Furs from
the north pass on the rivers fruits from
the south. And trading in the same
market are Maine lumberman and
South Carolina rice merchant and Ohio
farmer and Alaska fur dealer. And