The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-06-18
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A DISCOURSE FOR GIRLS DELIVERED
BY REV. Or. w. r. HUNTINGTON.
The Preacher Describes Under What Con-
ditinns 1T Is POSSIBLE For = Woman TO
Reconp, in Very Deed and Truth, u
Lady For.vcr-Ee Gentle ana Dicnihed

New YORK CITY.-The Rev. d.. Will
lam Il. Huntington. rector OF Grace
Church. preached recently a sermon 70 Il
fashionable school for s:.'s which h's
attracted much attei on. ana by request
it is here gwen. The text was CHOSEN nom
isaiah Hlyii: =: Thou saidst, | snail be
a lady forever" Dir. Huntington said:
l Quo,e our prophet III THIS iragmentary
way for TIE sake ui vIridn"sS. The hrieief
the text, the more likely 1t Is 10 De re-
memberel. But u, uaGer present cIrcum-
stances. we would do justice to the man
and to his thought. some heed must De
given TO VIVA: has gone before apd to what
follows. Taken by themselves the words
sound aS il they must have been. IN the
first instance. addressed TO Il woman, but
they we're not. The asp.r2nt after an
everlasting !&dyShip was no woman at all
but a city-an ancient city. 4 city opulent,
and superb. Babylon the great.
Emboldencd like ancient Rome by ITS
military c0aGue>ts, intoxicated ike meol-
eval Venice by lis commercial prosperity.
confident ike modern London IN the pos
session OF resources which seemed measure
less. this queen city OF Cha.dea had come
to think OF itsc': ~ invinciDle and indies.
tructihic. House Of Eternity" was the
name it gave 10 che OF its temples. "foun-
dation stone OF heaven and earl, ran the
v~ain-glorious appct:atlon OF anotne:. har-
deus and DariS. the city had in abundance.
A mighty bridge which crossed and = ran
mel which unGelran the river .k.uphIates
were among its engineering triumnhs. The
Circuit OF the walls, lofty and broad al,
most beyond belief, was between fifty aud
sixty miles.
But there was a man in Jerusalem whom
none OF these things greatly moved IN the
sense Of Supplying or alarming am Inc
mans name was Isaiah and his father :
name was Amor. When people came to
him with their panic talk about the big
ness Of Babylon and the littleness of Jerus-
Nalem, he betrayed no apprehenSiOns on the
contrary, he spoke up and haranSued
Babylon with much p!ainness OF speech.
'Sit thou silent" he cried and get thee
into darkness. o daughter of the Chal.
deans, for thou shalt no more be called
the lady OF Kingdoms. Thou saidst |
shall be a lady forever-therefore hear
thou, thou that art given to pleasures,
that 6wellest carelessly-theSe two things
shall come to thee i'll a moment, in one
day. the loss OF children and widowhood.
They shall come upon thee In their pertec-
ton for the multitude of thy sorceries
and for the great abundance OF thine en-
chantments.'
Thus ~sternlv. Amos. Gerce,y. Isaiah, son
of Amoz. addresses mighty Babylon. He
speaks OF her as to a woman OF rank whose
pride and indocility are presently to prove
her overthrow and to transform her pleas
ant palaces into ruinous heaps. She leans
upon her advantage OF high station all UNI
aware that the staff is too brittle for the
weight. F0rgetiuI OF the duties which con-
dition privilege. she iancies that old time
prerogstiye and the accumulated prestige
of many generations will be her safety.
Gods prophet determines to shake her
out Of this illusion, 10 compel her to open
Der eyes to the hard fact and ne does It,
as we have seen.
With the text thus well III hand. We
proceed. Under what conditions Is 1t pos
sible, either for a city or iOr a woman. to
forever?
This is the question to which ] shall ask
YOU to bend YOUR thought tonight. and
whether we have respect TO the week
whic, ended Yesterday or 10 the week
which has been entered upon to-day l
cannot but account the topic 4 timely one.
1t may seem TO be comparing small things
with great TO name the commencement
week OF a scnool for girls in the same
breath with the commemorative week OF a
city which has lived through the fourth
part of 4 thousand years. but, perhaps.
before we are done. my bolGness IN ven
turing thus 10 coupe the two may be Tor
given me.
OF the sorts Of ladyship of which / have
made mention, that to which communities
and that to which individuals may attain.
we will look at civic laGyship first. With
civic ladyship we associate those qualities
which win for cities an admiring love.
Physical strength, riches. commercial en-
%terprise will give d city lordship. That Is
one thing: but iadyship is quite another.
For the compelling Of respect lordsmp
may suffice u city, for the wlAnlng OF al
lection something of laC"ship is essential.
How about the Lady OF the Hudson? Has
she any better ground for counting upon
the perpetuity OF her ladysh,p than had
the Lady of the Euphrates: Can we trust
her any mc-e implicitly than Isaiah trust,
ed BABYLON whcl she says confidently Il
shall be a lady forever That depends
upon tie relative measure OF Importance
which the city. in the long run. shall as
sign to the treasures of the market as
compared with the treasures OF the soul.
| am using the word soul in Il large
and comprehensive sense. Religion ana
religious interests are OF course foremost
in my thought. since, without 4 cue re-
gard to the" 10 city can permanently.
live; but whe. ] speak OF tine treasures OF
the soul a. O. i.rt'ai 10 the city that woatd
adventure IL. p | have in mind all OF
InOSe DIIGlOuS ts-'tilN SHoS ~ W
the idea!istic entrusted with the ma
teriaiistic side -. human life-Righteous-
ness? Yes. Worship? Yes; hut beside
these, poetry, letters and whatever else
there may be that ministers beauty 10 the
eye OF harmony and melody to the ear:
these last are what make the treasures OF
the soul. These, mingled in due proper
ton, give to a municipality what silver
and god and negotiable securities OF them
selves can never eive-that indescrlbable
quality which | have vcntured to call cIvic
ladyshiD.
The prevailing note during the past
week has been the note of s~elf-congratuia-
ton. Whatever flags and flowers could do
to convince people through the eye. or
speech and song 10 persuade them through
the ear has been attempted. 1t has been
jubilate throughout. as was proper enough
in connection with birthday festivities.
and vet there is another side to 1t all. The
statistics OF the city'S trade are marvel
Gus. but what OF the inventory of its
spiritual possessions and the roster or its
great men: How many poets and how
many seers, how many composers and how
many artist, how many scholars and dl-
vines. how many philosophers and states
men has this community produced in the
roursa of ifS tVo hundred and nity wears