The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1899-06-24

| del club in Paris and read To them out
of the prophecies of Habakkuk, and the
infdels, not knowing what book it was,
declared it was the best poetry they
had ever heard. That book brought
, George Washington down on his knees
in the snow at Valley Forge, and led
the dying Prince Albert to ask some
one to sing Rock OF Ages
/ tell you that the worst attempted
crime of the century Is the attempt 10
destroy this book. Yet infidclity, loath-
some, stenchful, leprous, pcstiferous.
rotten monster, stretches out its hand,
| ichorous with the second death, TO take
the hand Of this republic. II stretches
IT, out through seductive magazines,
and through lyceum lectures, and
through caricatures Of religion. tasks
for all that part Of the continent al
ready fully settled and the two-thirds
not yet occupied II says: Give me
all east OF the Mississippi, with the
keys of the church and with the Chris
tian printing presses. Then give me
Wyoming, give me Alaska, give me
Montana, give me Colorado, give me all
the states west of the Mississippi and !
will take those places and keep them by
right OF possession long before the Cos
pei can be fully intrenched.
And this sutton presses his case APP
pallingly. Shall the banns of that mar
rage be proclaimed? "No!" say the
home missionaries of the west, mar
tyr band of whom the world ia not
worthy, toiling amid fatigues and ma
,aria and starvation. "No, not If we
can help it. BY what we and our chill
dren have suffered we forbid the banns
of that marriage!" mol" say all patri-
otto voices. "Our institutions were
bought at too dear price and were de-
Tended at too great a sacrifice to be so
cheaply surrendered" "No!" says the
God of Bunker Hill and Independence
hall and Gettysburg. 81 did not start
this nation for such farce" mol"
cry 10000 voices. "To infidelity this
land shall not be married."
But there is another sutton that pre-
sents his claim for the hand of this re-
public. He is mentioned in the verse
following my text where it says: "As
the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride,
so shall thy God rejoice over thee" 1t
is not my figure. 1t is the figure of the
Bible. Christ is so DESTROYS to have this
world love Him that He stops at no hui
initiation of simile. He compares His
grace to spittle on the eyes of the blind
man. He compares Himself to hen
gathering the chickens, and in my text
He compares Himself to suitor beg
cling hand in marriage. Does this
Christ, 'he King, deserve this land? Be-
hold Pilates hall and the insulting ex
pectoration on the face of Christ. Be-
hold the Calvarean massacre and the
awful hemorrhage of five wounds. ia.
cob served IA years for Rachel, but
Christ, my Lord, the King, suffered in
torture SO years to win the love of this
world AS often princesses at their very
birth are pledged in treaty of marriage
to princes or kings of earth, so this ma
ton at its birth was pledged to Christ
for Divine marriage.
Before Columbus and his 100 men en-
parked on the Santa Maria, the Pinta
and the Nina for their wonderful voy-
age, what was the last thing they did :?
They sat down and took the holy sac
rament of the Lord Jesus Christ. After
they caught the first sight-of this coun-
try and the gun of one ship had an
nounced it to the other vessels that land
had been discovered, what was the song
that went up from all the three decks
"Gloria in Excelsis." After Columbus
and his 100 men had stepped from the
ships deck to the solid ground, what
did they do? They all knelt and con-
secrated the new world to God. What
did the Huguenots do after they landed
in the Carolinas? What did the Hol-
land refugees do after they landed in
New York? What did the pilgrim
fathers 10 after they landed in New
England? With Bonded knee and up
lifted face and Heaven besieging prayer,
they took possession of this continent
for God. How was the first American
congress opened? By prayer, in the
name of Jesus Christ. From it's birth
this nation was pledged for holy mar
riage with Christ.
And then see how good God has been
to us! Just open the map of the con-
tinent and see how it is shaped for i'm
measurable properties. Navigable
rivers, more in number and greater
than any other land, rolling down on
all sides into the sea. prophesying large
manufactures and easy commerce.
Look at the great ranges of mountains
timbered with wealth on the top and
sides, metaled with wealth underneath
One hundred and eighty thousand
square miles of coal. One hundred and
,, eighty thousand square miles of iron.
The land so contoured that extreme
weather hardly ever lasts more than
|, three days-extreme heat or extreme
cold. Climate for the most part brac-
ing and favorable for Drawn and brain.
All fruits, all minerals, all harvests.
Scenery displaying an autumnal pa
geantry that no land on earth pretends
: TO rival. No South American earth
quakes. No Scotch mists. No London
| NJ o.