Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-06-09

their full power believe the last
earthquake will put its explosion under
our national foundations while yet they
stand firm. believe that Republican
and Democratic form of government
will be the universal form CT govern
ment for all nations when they have
been evangelical, for then the nations
will be capable of self government and
will have demanded and secured that
right 1t will be either that or the
ocracy, which will be the direct govern
ment Of Christ in his personal reign on
earth, as many Bible students believe.
Yet that jubilant expectation is found
ed not on the skill of human statesman
ship or human legislation. but upon
the belief that this nation will submit
to divine guidance and obey the divine
law and carry out its divinely imposed
mission But if we defy the God of ma
tions our doom is fixed
1t required the pen Of an Edward
Gibbon. through four great volumes Of
more than 500 pages each. to tell the
story Of 1.-The Decline and Fall Of the
Roman Empire, concluding his monu-
mental work with the words. at was
among the ruins of the capital that /
first conceived the idea of work which
has amused and exercised near 20 years
of my life. and which however made
quate to my own wishes. finally de-
liver to the curiosity and candor of the
public What. the Roman empire
dead Did she lack warriors? No. Be-
hold her Pompey and her Julius Caesar.
Did she lack lawmakers and lawgivers ?
No. Think of the masters of Roman
Jurisprudence, our American attorneys
today quoting those laws in our court
rooms more than 10 centuries after
they were enacted. In poetry did she
not have her Virgil and Ovid7 In his
tory did she not have her Sallust and
her Livy2 In eloquence did she not
have her Scipio and Cicero? In satire
did she not have Juvenal and Hor-
ace3 What pens were welded by her
Cato and her Terence and her Pliny
All nations heard the cry of her war
eagles, the voices of her oratory and the
chime Of her cantos But the day of
Judgment came for that nation, and
Hannibal crossed the Apennines, and
the Goths and Vandals swooped, and
the Carthaginian fleet assailed and
Numidian horsemen galloped, and ma
tions combined. and Rome sank. The
tourist now on the banks of the Tiber
sees the ruins of her forum, the ruins
of her coliseum. the ruins of her art,
the ruins CT her aqueducts, the ruins
of her catacombs, the ruins of her pal
aces
If our nation forgets its duty TO other
nations and practices injustice against
other people, however insignificant, II
will not take another Edward Gibbon
90 years and through four great vol
umes to tell the story of the decline and
fall of American institutions. By sc
much as our opportunities have been
greater than any nation that ever lived,
and the mission to which she has been
ordained is more stupendous than any
bestowed by the Almighty upon any
people, if we forget our Gcd and enact
wickedness our overthrow will be quick,
err and more tremendous. and yondeI
capitoline hill. with its architectural
magnihcence, will become heap OF
gigantic ruins to be visited BY the PEG,
Die of other times and other nations,
who will read in letters of crushed and
crumbled marble that which David
wrote many hundred years ago upon
parchment. 1.-The way of the wicked he
turneth upside down.
Gar1ands For Our Heroes.
We concluded a few days ago the an
nual decoration of northern and south
ern graves. Three years ago, at this sea-
son, in memorial sermon | proposed the
twisting of two garlands- to be
put upon the grave of the northern SOL
der and the other to be put on the
grave of the southern soldier. But this
year we need three garlands, the third
to be put upon the graves of those who
fell in this America Hispanic conflict.
The third garland needs to be quite as
fragrant and as radiant as the other
two. These last heroes braved more than
bayonets and bombshell. They braved
the pestiferous breath of the tropics
whole battalions whole regiments,
whole brigades, whole armies of death
full malaria. They confronted those OPP
positions of the torrid chimes which no
sword can pierce, no agility climb, no
stratagem flank, no torpedo explode, no
courage conquer. Under the awful
charge of visible and invisible hosts
about 6. 600 men went down. some to
instant death and others through I'm
gering pangs in hospital.
If in this third wreath you twist the
crimson rose, suggestive of sanguinary
sacrifice, and the white Gala lily, sug-
gcstive Of glorious resurrection, put IN
also few forgetmenots, suggestive OF
remembrance, and few passion flowers
suggestive of the love that mourns the
slain, and few heliotr0pes, suggestive
of the fragrance of their memory. Then
let the nights dew put the tears into
the blue eyes of the violets, and all the
soldiers cemeteries be so many censers
burning incense before the throne OF
that God who has been the friend OF
this nation from the time of Lexington
to the time of San Juan Hill. FROM the
guns of the United States warships
Constitution and Constellation, at the
beginning CT this century, to the guns
of the United States warships Olympia,
Oregon. Brooklyn and other loaded
thunders at the close of this century.
Remember here and now that those
brave boys opened up the way for
kind of expansion we all believe in.
They swung open the gates for the
speedy gospelization of islands stupid
with the superstition of ages. They
cleared the way for missionaries and
Bibles. They set those islands free.
Leaving to the United States govern
ment to decide what shall he the politi.
cal destiny of those peoples, let US all
join in a campaign of religious expan'
eion-eynansion of affection that car