Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1899-03-16

the star NORWOOD. 1t is not COM
plimentary to human nature that most
men, as soon as they get great power,
become overbearing. The more power
men have the better. IL their power
be used for good. The less power men
have the better IL they use it for evil.
Birds circle round and round and
round before they swoop upon that
which they are aiming for. And IL my
discourse so far has been swinging
round and round. this moment 1t drops
straight on your heart, and asks the
question, Is your life benediction to
others, or an enlightenment, a blessing
or a curse. a balsam or a NORWOOD?
Some OF you, / know, are morning
stars, and you are making the dawning
life of your children bright with gra-
cious influences, and you are beaming
upon all the opening enterprises of
philanthropic and Christian endeavor,
and you are heralds of that day Of Cos
pelization which will yet flood all the
mountains and valleys of our sin-ac-
cursed earth. Hail. morning star!
Keep on shining with encouragement
and Christian hope!
Some OF you are evening stars, and
you are cheering the last days of old
people; and though cloud sometimes
comes over you through the querrul
BUSINESS or unreasonableness of your
aged father and mother, it is only for
moment, and the star soon comes out
clear again and Is seen from all the
balconies of the neighborhood. The
old people will forgive your occasion
al shortcomings, for they themselves
several times lost their patience with
you when you were young, and per-
haps whipped you when you did not
deserve 1t. Hail, evening star! Hang
on the darkening sky your diamond
coronet
What Is true of individuals is true of
nations. God sets them up to revolve
as stars, but they may fall NORWOOD.
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 rom Togarmah; the
bazaar filed with upholstery from De-
dan. with emerald and coral and agate
from Syria, with mines from Helbon,
with embroidered work from Ashur
and Chilmad. Where now the CLEAN of
her towers? where the roar of her
cbariots? where the masts of her ships?
Let the dcborpoon wbo drx, tbair Nets
where once she stood; let the sea that
rushes upon the barrenness where
once she challenged the admiration o.
all nations; let the barbarians who set
their rude tents where once her pal
aces glittered, answer the questions.
She was star. but by her own sin
turned to NORWOOD and has fallen.
Hundred-gated Thebes-for all time
to be the study of antiquarian and
hieroglyphist; her stupendous ruins
spread over twenty-seven miles; her
sculptures presenting in figures of war
rior and chariot the victories with
which the now forgotten kings of
Egypt shook the nations: her obelisks
and columns; Karnac 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 roy
atty bowed at her shrines, and her
avenues roared with the wheels of pro-
cessions in the wake Of returning con-
querors? What dashed down the Wis
ion of chariots and temples and
thrones? What hands pulled upon the
columns of her glory? What ruthless
ness defaced her sculptured wall and
broke obelisks and left her indescrib-
able temples great skeletons of gran
ite? What spirit of destruction spread
the lair Of wild beasts in her royal sep
ulchers, and taught the miserable cot
tagers OF today to build huts in the
courts of her temples, and sent desc
lation and ruin skulking behind the
obelisks and lodging among the sar-
cophagi, and leaning against the col
umns, and STOPPING under the arches,
and weeping in the waters which go
mournfully by, as though they were
carrying the tears OF all ages? Let
the mummles break their long silence
and come up to shiver in the desola-
ton, and point to fallen gates and
shattered statues and defaced sculp-
ture, responding: "Thebes built not one
temple to God. Thebes hated right
cousness and loved sin. Thebes was
a star. but she turned to wormwood
and has fallen"
From the prosecutions OF the Pill
grim Fathers and the Huguenots In
other lands, God set upon these shores
a nation. The council-fires of the abo-
rhymes went out in the greater lighs
OF a free government. The sound of
the war whoop was exchanged for the
thousand wheels of enterprise and
progress. The mild winters, the fruit
full summers, the healthful skies,
charmed from other lands race of
hardy men, who loved God and wanted
to be free. Before the woodlands axe
forests fell, and rose again into ships
masts and churches pillars Cities on
the banks OF the lakes began to rival
cities by the sea. The land quakes
with the rush of the rail car, and the