The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1869-12-17
NUMBER 81.
Life.

Prophecy by tho prophet Ezekiel. forty
seventh chapter md ninth verse: and it
shall come to pass that everything that
liveth. which moveth. whithcrsoever tho
rivers shall come. shall live; and thcre
shall bc very great multitude Of fish. be.
cause these waters shall come hither; for
they shall be healed; and everything shall
: live whittier the river comcth." Tho last
clause Of tho verse Is that to which I es-
pccially direct your attention: ."And ev-
erything shall live whittier the river COM
eth" have somewhere seen . picture
which, In brief words and from dim mem.
ories only, I win cndeavor to describe.
The scene Is In the Ear East, tho hour just
when the carth'is lighted up with that
rare Oriental sunrise which wc Westerns
love to see; the time. the sultry August,
when the fierce sun has Il all his own way
and when the earth has sickly cast upon
Il, rs II Il tainted almost beneath tho In
tensity of the glare; the plain Is scorchcd
and arid; the river pressing within It's
scdgy hanks seems to have hardly strength
enough TO propcl Its sluggish stream.
There, on an cmincnce, beneath group
Of ancestral palms, Is knot Of Egyptians.
swarthy and muscular, their eyes strained
wildly toward the south. In which quarter
there seems TO be mn indescribable haze.
forecssting the shadow Of some atmospher-
ic or other change. Why walt they thcro
so eagcrly' Why Is their gaze fastened
distinctly upon the point where the river
glimmers family on the horizons dusky
forchcad' Because they arc conscious,
from the experience Of years. that tho
tmc has come for the inundation Of tho
Nile. They do not know how Il will DO
swcllcd; they are not able to tell tho
source from which the tribute !, distilled.
how In the far Abyssinia II gathers Its vol.
umc Of waters; but n, certainly rs II their
knowledge was profound and scientific.
they calculate upon the coming flood.
And they know, too, that when tho flood
docs como, that arid plain shall wave
with ripening grain; there shall bc corn
In Egypt and those blackened pastures
willbe gay with such fertile plenty that
the whole land shall cat and be satisfied,
"for everything shall live whittier the
river comcth." So marvellous shall bc
the transformation that the Turks de-
scription Of the Egyptian climate shall al.
most hold good; that for three months It
Is white Ike pearl. for three months
brown like musk. for three months green
like emerald. for three months yellow
Ike gold. This picture has struck me as
furnishing ms with very graphic repre-
sentation of Ezekiel's vision embodied In
the experience Of Eastern life. Nothing.
certainly. can better image the moral bar
renness of the world and the wilderness
Of sin than that plain upon which tho
consuming heat has alighted, whitening
the green herb and inducing the dread Of
famine. Nothing can better set forth tho
life and healing Of the Gospel Of Christ
than tho flow Of that blessed life-giving
river; and nothing can better show tho
attitude bcftting all Christian men than
the attitude Of these peasants, eager and
earnest watching the first nfdrmurings Of
the quiescent waters that they might
catch and spread tho joy.-W. Morley
Ia,iSlon. ..T..,. ... ..'.'.