The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1917-05-02

few minutes, and then the minister,
reading text from Judges 4:4,
spoke in part as follows:
Sermon of Pastor.
1t was no soft and silken period in
which Deborah lived. Israel could
not sing:
"My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty"
Liberty had fled. The land Of Is
rael was under the iron hee lof the
Canaanite. Frightfulness and op-
preston were the order Of the day.
The people were afraid to walk the
main highways, but skulked in the
by-paths. Pillage and assassination
were so common as to be almost un-
noticed. The maidens who went to
the wells to draw water were greeted
with shower of arrows.
For a score of years a condition
had prevailed which we may better
understand if we compare it with the
condition of Belgium today, that
brave little nation that was crucified
on Prussia's iron cross, that civiliza-
tion might not perish. Their towns
are laid waste, beautiful Louvain and
its wonderful library destroyed; prop
erty, especially manufacturing plants
confscatcd; the people enslaved and
made to till their fields, operate their
o1,sr ,ol b.
alien lands, all of this at the point of
the bayonet, and forced into worse
than Egyptian scrvitude. Think of
the old men, women and children, un-
offending and helpless, lined up in
the streets, and slaughtered to make
a German holiday. Most hateful of
all, think of the "woman- tax" levied
upon every town occupied by these
modern apostles of a perverted and
savage "kultur" And when we
have done our best to imagine the
worst that cruelty can infict upon a
subjugated people, we have fallen
immeasurably short Of the grim
reality.
Belgium'S Service.
Belgium's service to the world can
never be estimated. But for her he
roic stand, Europe today would per-
haps be under people whose only
god is brute force, and whose prin-
cipal attribute is cruelty; Americas
turn would soon come, if indeed it
would not have been here already,
and all that is true, and noble, and
desirable in the worlds civilization
would be well on its way to be swept
from the earth. When the cannon
roar is again silent, and peace comes
once more to earth, the nations
should combine to erect the most
costly memorial on earth to the
honor Of this gallant people, and the
memory Of those who shed their blood
and saved the liberties of Europe, and
perhaps of the world
But Isracrs case was far worse
than Belgium's. Joshua and his In
vincibles had conquered the armies
of Canaan; they had fled from him
cas- from the face of destiny" But
there was none left to draw the
sword Of Joshua. The Canaanites
had conquered the religion and morals
of Israel, as Greece, the conquered,
also overcame Rome, the conqueror.
Their strength and power had always
been in answering loyalty to Je-
hovah. Now they were become the
slaves of those upon wohse necks they
suit, and submit to any injustice and
indignity, if we might only keep
out of war. How little they knew the
American people. Nowhere can be
found people more passionately at
tached to noble ideals; and while
slow to wrath, yet never refusing to
defend the right. Every war in which
we have been engaged has been for
ideals; not one has been fought for
money or territorial ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
Deborah identified patriotism with
religion. True patriotism is reli-