The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1899-01-20

w Fltpt'fF t A9s hfrh ioNI W Wy SO
God sometimes puts in one man CROUCH
faith to supply thousands of men with
courage. II a man happens TO be thus
endowed, le; him realize his opooriu-
nifty and improve il. AT this tue mil
lions OF men are a-tre mble lest this ma
lion make ii mistake. and enter upon
some policy Of government for The ISL
auds Of the SEA that will founder he re-
public. God viii give to a few mon on
both sides OF this question faith and
courage for all the rest. There are
two false positions many are row TAX
lug, false as false can be. The one is
that il we decline TO take under fI,l
charge Cuba and Porto Rico and the
viii be disastrous TO our nation, and
other nations will ,ukc control OF those
arc!ipe'agoes and rule them. and per-.
hups TO our humiliation ard deftruc-
ton. The other theory is that II we
take possession of those once Spanish
]coioEcs we invite foreign interference,
and cutter upon 4 career that will hna!ly
be the demolition Of this government.
Both positions are Unreasonable mis-
takes, God has set apart this continent
for free government, and the ~triumphs
of Christianity. aud we may take either
the first or the second course without
ruin, We may say to those Islands.
1--WE do not want you. but we have set
F,,lt Fppl : "a n IL : . "a a. l,un ,thtln wa rnn
that the Spanish panther never again
puts its PAYS on your neck or we may
invite the annexation Of Cuba and Porto
Rico, and say TO the Philippines: Get
ready, ny education and good morals.
for free government, aud al the right
TIM lou sual! be one OF our territories,
on the way 10 be one Of our states"
Aud there is no power in Europe. Asia
or Africa or all combined that could
harm th.s nation in its worldwide en-
dcavor. God is on the side Of the right,
ard by earnest imploration for Divine
guidance on the part Of this nation VT
'will he led 20 do the right. We are on
the brink of nothing. There is no
frightiuI crisis. This train Of rcpub-
iican ard democratic institutions is a
through train. and all we want is to
have the engineer aud the brakeman
and the conductor attend to their bust
ness and The passengers keep their
places, We want men in this nation
with faith enough for all. We want
here aud there a David wortl, 10000
men.
a vast majority of men have no sur
plus OF confidence for others and hardly
enough confidence for themselves.
They 90 through life saying depressing
things and dong depressing things.
They chill prayer meetings, discourage
charitable institutions, iniure com
mcrco and kill churches. They blow out
lights when they ought to be kindliug
them. They hover around a dull fire
much room that no one can catch the
least c%aioric. instead of stirring the
hearth into a blaze. the crackle of
whose backlog would invite the whole
ueighborhood to come in to feel the
Astounding warmth and see the trains
fg,iration of the faces. As We all have
to guess Il great deal about the future,
let us guess something good, for it will
be more encouraging and the guess will
be just As apt to come true. What a lot
OF ingrates the Lord has at His table
people who have had three meals a day
for 80 years and yet fear that they will
soon nave to rattle their knife and fork
on an empty dinner plate. How many
have had, winter and spring and sum
and fall, clothing for 60 years. but
expect an empty wardrobe shortly.
How many have lived under free insti-
tutions all their days, but fear that the
United States may be telescoped in
foreign collision! Oh, but the
taxes have gone up. Yes, but. thank
God, it is easier. with money, to pay the
taxes now that they are up than it was
without money to pay the taxes when
they were down. We want a few men
who have faith in God and that mighty
future which holds several things,
among them a millennium. Colum-
hanus said to his friend: 'Deicolns.
why are you always smiling" The re-
ply was: Because no one can take my
God from me-" We want more men to
feel that they have a mission to cheer
and to draw up the corners of
peoples mouths which have a long while
drawn down-more Davids who
shepherd whole flocks of bright
hopes and play a harp of encourage
ment and strike down a Goliath of de-
aud Of whom we can say: Thou
art worth 100. 900 of us
aIlmit TINT ihiS ihaInlt of my tnxi