The Penn's Grove record., 1899-03-17

the long line OF carriages which the under
taker orders for your funeral In order to
make the occasion respectable will be filed
with twice as many dry, fearless eyes. as
there are persons occupying them. You
will be IN the world but a few minutes. As
%cotipared with eternity, the stay OF the
longest life on earth Is not more than d
minute What are we doing with that
minute9
What Is true of individuals Is true OF
nations. God sets them Up to reyolye as
stars. bit they may fall wormwood Tyre
the atmosphere OF the desert, fragrant
spices coming in caravans to her fairs; all
seas cleft into foam by the keels OF her
laden merchantmen; her markets rich with
horses ard oamels from Togarmah; the
bazaar filled with upholstery from Dedan,
with emerald and coral and agate from
Syria, with, mines from Helbon. with
embroidered WORK from Ashur and Chill
mad. Where now the CLEAN OF her towers,
where the roar OF. her charlots, where the
masta Of her ships? Let the fishermen who
dry their nets where once she stood, let
the sea that rlshes npon the barrenness
where once she challenged the admiration
OF all nations, let the barbariaps who set
set their rude tents where once her palaces
gllttered, answer the questions. She was
a star, but by her W sin turned to worm
wood and has fallen.
Hundred gated 1hebes-tor all time to be
the study OF antiquarian and hiefoglyphlst.
Her stupendous ruins spread over twenty
seven miles, her sculptures presenting In
figure OF warrior and chariot the victories
with which the o forgotten kings OF
Egypt shook the nations; her obellsks and
columns; Karnak and Luxor, the stipend
ohs temples OF her pride! Who can imagine
the greatness OF Thebes In those days, when
the hip 'roIne rang with her sports and
foreign royalty bowed at her shrines, and
bar a yaDual ron rad with TIM rubaaIa nf nrn-
c~essions In the wake Of returning conqurors?
What spirit OF destruction spread the lair
OF wild beats In her royal sepulchers and
taught the miserable cottagers of to-day
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 col.
umns, and STOPPING among the arches. and
weeping In the waters which go mourn.
fully by, as though they were carrying the
tears OF all the ages? Let the mummies
break their long silence and come up to
SILVER In the desolation and point to fallen
gates and shattered statues and defaced,
one temple to God. Thebes hated right
eousness and loved sin. Thebes was a
star, but she turned to NORWOOD and has
fallen"
Babylon, with her $50 towers and her
brazen gates and her embattled walls, the
SpieDuUr OIL tn6 earLu gathered Within NOR
gates, her hanging gardens built by Ne
buchadnezzar to please his bride. Amytis,
who had been brought up In a mountain.
Gus 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 II a noun
tain were on the wing. On the tiptop a
king walking with his queen among the
statues, snowy white, looking up at birds
brought from distant lands and drinking
out of tankatds OF solid gold or looking of
over rivers and lakes upon nations subdued
and tributary, crying, "Is not this great
Babylon which have butlt?"
What battering ram smote the walls2
What plowshare upturned the gardens?
What army shattered the brazen gates2
What long, fierce blast OF storm put out
this light which Illuminated the world2
What crash OF discord drove down the mu-
sic that poured from palace window and
garden grove and called the banqueters to
their revel and the dancer to their feet? 1
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. | hear the wild wnyes saying:
Babylon was proud. Babylon was i'm
pure. Babylon was a star, but by sin she
turned to NORWOOD and has fallen"
From the prosecutions of the pilgrim
fathers and the HuguenOts in other lands
God set upon these shores a nation. The
council fires of the aborigines went out in
the greater light Of a free government. The
sound of the ~warwhoop was exchanged for
the thousand wheels Of enterprise and pro-
gress. The mild winters, the fruitful sum
mers, the healthful skies, charmed from
other lands a race OF hardy men, who
loved God and wanted to be free. Before
the woodman's AK forests fell and rose
again into ships masts and churches
pillars. Cltiea on the banks OF lakes be-
gan to rival cities by the sea. The land
quakes with the rush of the rail car, and
the waters are churned white with the
steamers wheel. Fabulous bushels of
Western wheat meet on the way fabulous
bushels OF Eastern coal. Furs from the
North pass on the rivers fruits from the
South. And trading in the same market
are Maine lumbermen and South Carolina
rice merchant and Ohio farmer and Alaska
fur dealer. And churches and schools and
asylums scatter light and love and mercy
and salvation upon 70, 900 600 OF people.
pray tina our nation may not copy the
crimes OF nations that have persisted; that
our cup OF blessing turn not to NORWOOD
and we go down. lam by nature and by
grace an optimist, and l expect that this
country will continue to advance until the
world shall reach the millenial era. Our
only safety is in righteousness toward God
and Justice toward man. Ii we forget
the eoodnes of the Lord to this land
and break his Sabbaths, and improve
not by the dire disasters that have again
and again come to us as a people, and
we learn saving lesson neither from
civil war nor raging epidemic. nor
drought, nor mildew, nor scourge of locust
and gra5shopper; II the political corrup-
ton which has poisoned the foundations
Of public virtue and beslimed the high
places of authority, making free govern
ment at times a Kissing and a byword In
all the earth; If the drunkenness and IL
c~entiousness that stagger and blaspheme
In the streets OF our great cities, as though
they were reaching after the lame OF a Cor
NTH and a Sodom, are not repented OF, we
will yet see the smoke OF our nations ruin.
The pillars Of our national aud State capt.
tolls will fall more disastrously thar when
Sampson pulled Town the Dragon, and
future historians will record upon the page
believed with generous tears the story that
the free nation OF the west arose IN
splendor which made the world stare. 1t
had magnificent possibilities, 1t forgot
God; 1t hated justice; 1t hugged Its crimes,
reeled under the blow of calamity;
it fell, and as II was going down all the
despotisms OF earth from the top OF
bloody thrones began to shout: "Ahal
So would we have itl' while struggling
and oppressed peoples looked out from
dungeon bars, with tears and groans and
cries of untold agony, the scorn OF those
and the woe of these, uniting In the ex-
clamation: Look yonderl There fell q
great star from heaven burning as it were
a lamp. and 1t fell upon the third part OF
the rivers and upon the fountains OF
waters, and the name oil the star Is called
Wormwoodp"