The Grenada sentinel., 1899-11-18
ALL IN GODS HANDS.
Dr. Talmage on Divine 1nterposition
in Human Affairs
Fate of Nations a. Well as Of In
iividuals Settled In Heaven
-WOrld Not Governed In
q Haphazard Way.


NoPy yAA6aks AcSSp W A<S~As N>AoFN~''S
Washington.
The idea that things in this world
are at loose ends and going at haphaz
ard is in this discourse combated by
Dr.. Tnlmagc. The text is Psalm 119
8: Forever, O Lord, Thy word is set
tied in Heaven"
This world has been in process ot
change ever since it was created
mountains born, mountains dying, and
they have both cradle and grave.
Once this planet was all fluid, and nc
being such as you or have ever seen
could have lived on it minute. Our
hemisphere turns its face to the sun
and then turns its back. The axis of
the earth's revolution has shifted. The
earth's center of gravity is changed.
Once flowers grew in the arctic and
there was snow in the tropics. There
has been redistribution of land and
sea, the land crumbling into the sea.
the sea swallowing the land. Ice and
fire have fought for the possession OF
this planet. The chemical compost
ton of it is different now from what
it once was. Volcanoes once terribly
alive are dead, not one throb of fiery
pulse, not one breath of vapor-the
ocean changing its amount OF saline
quantities. The internal fires of the
earth are gradually eating their way
to the surfaces-upheaval and sub
sidencc of vast realms of continent.
High up in the palace of the sun at
least five things are set1led-that ma
tions which 60 continuously and per-
sistently wrong perish; that happi-
ness is the result of spiritual conGi-
ton and not Of earthly environments;
that this world is schoohouse for
splendid or disgraceful graduation;
that with or without us the world is to
be made over into Il scene of arbores-
cencc and purity; that all who are adj
joined to the unparalleled One of Beth
lchcm and Nazareth and Golgotha will
be the subjects of a supernal felicity
without any taking off.
DO YOU doubt my frst proposition
that nations which 90 wrong perish?
We have in this American nation all
the elements of permanence and de-
s4ruction. We need not borrow from
others any trowcls for upbuilding or
torches for demolition. Elements Of
ruin-nihilism, intidelity, agnosticism,
Sabbath desecration, inebriety, sensual
ity, extravaganza, fraud; they are all
here. Elements of safety-Godwo
Shipping men and women by the scores
OF millions, honesty, benevolence, truth
fulncss. self sacrifice, industry, sobri-
ety and more religion than has char
acteriZed any nation that has ever ex-
listed; they are all here. The only
question is as to which Of the forces will
gain COMMUNICATIVE one class ascend
ant, and this United States government,
] think, will continue as long as the
world exists; the other class ascend
ant, and the United States goes into
such small pieces that other govern
mrnts would hardly think them worth
picking up.
liave YOU ever noticed the size of the
cemetery Of dead nations, the vast
Greenwood and Pcre lie Chaise, where
mighty kingdoms were buried? Open
the gate and walk through this Gem
etCry and read the epitapEs. Here lies
Carthage, born 100 years before Rome,
g"'@t commercial metropolis on the
bGy ot Tunis, a part Of an empire that
gave tie alphabet to the Greeks and
their great language to the Hebrews;
her arms the terror Of nations. COM
maNdng at Cne time 10000 miles of
coast; her Hamilcar leading forth 50
myriad>, or 100000 troops; her Ilanni-
bal carrying out in manhood the oath
he had taken in boyhood to preserve
eternal cnmity to Rome. leaving costly
and imposing monuments at Agrigen-
; tum a ghastly heap of ruins; Carthage
her colonies on every coast, her ships
plowing every sea; Carthage-whcre
are her splendors now? All eXtn-
guishcd. Where are her swords? The
last one broken. Where are her tow
ers ard long ranges of magnificent
architecture? Buried under the sands
VI thC LA as VI
ships much of her radiant marble has
been carried away to build the walls
of trans s-Mediterranean cathedrals,
while other blocks have been blasted
in modern times by the makers of the
Tunis railway. And all of that great
and mighty city and kingdom that the
tourist finds to-day is here and there
a broken arch of what was once 80
mile aqueduct. Our talented and
genial friend. Henry NJ. Field, in one
of his matchess books of travel, la
bors hard to prove that the slight ruins
Of that city are really worth visiting.
Carthage buried in the cemetery of
dead nations. Not one altar to the
true God did she rear. Not one of the
Ten Commandments but she conspicu-
ousIy violated. Her doom was settled
in Heaven when it was decided far back
in the eternities that the nation and
kingdom that will not serve God shall
perish.
Our own nation will be judged by the
same moral laws by which all other
nations have been judged. The judg-
mcnt day for individuals will probably
come far on in the future. Judgment
day for nations is every day. every dav