The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-06-09

Lookout mountain, by charging ranks
OF Saracens, routed, cut to pieces, and
an~nihilatedg forever out of the Holy
Land. We passed also the last strip
of table land before reaching the high
bluffs which break off abruptly at the
shore or the sea, where the famished
multitude sat down in ranks and were
fed by the few loaves and fishes.
Two Wild deer started up almost at
our horses feet, and ran up the slope
of the mountain and looked down at
US from the solitary height overlook
ips the SEA where Christ vent away
from the multitude when they
would take Him by force and
make Him a King, and spent the
night in prayer. There came to me
in all its aptnsss and beauty that
figure applied to the young warrior
Jonathan, "He was swift of foot as a
wild roe. upon the mountains of
Israel" Il
And now as we reached top of the
bluff there opened upon US all at
once from shore to shore the green
waters Of the sea Of Galilee, and
below us the ancient walled town of
Tiberias. The first view was GER
tainly disappointing. The sea itself
was desolate enough without sail or
boat or any sign of life, but the
shores were vastly more so. No
tree, no green blade of grass, a with
cred dried up wilderness on every
hand and as far as the eye could reach.
Barren yellow hills without inhabitant,
without even a stump on them, piling
themselves up against the far horizon
of the land Of Moab-a dreary, awful,
shivering solitude. And yet at n
time the most fertile country in the
world lin some parts of it, and
might be again and probably will
sometime. A country, of which a
man who saw it at the time Of Christ
wrote with enthusiastic admiration,
"Its nature is wonderful as we'll as its
beauty. Its soil is SO fruitful that all
sorts Of trees can grow upon it, and
the inhabitants accordingly plant all
sorts of trees there. The walnuts,
which require the coolest all, flourish
there IN vast plenty There are palm
trees, alsoa which grow best in hot
air. Fig trees, also, and olives grow
near them which yet require an air
that is more temperate. One may
call this the ambition Of nature for
it forces those plants that are naturally
enemies to one another to agree
together" s.l,T
The same fruitful soil is there to
this day, but the curse of Almighty
God is upon it. "Woe unto you
Chorazin Woe unto you Bethsaida
And thou Capernaum, exalted unto
Heaven, shalt be cast down to He'll"
One can almost hear those sounds of
woe borne along on the desert winds
as they sweep across the lonely lake
where Capernaum lies level with the
ground and Bethsaida is a heap of
rubbish, and Chorazin has utterly
vanished away and left no name be-
hind. And it is hardly possible to
believe that on the waters of this in
significant lake, IS miles long and 8
miles wide could have happened one
Of the bloodiest sea-fghts of all his
tory. When the inhabitants of the
coast took to their fishing boats to the
number of 5000, and rowed out into
the open lake flying before the Ro-
mans. They tried to land on the
other shore, but the Romans were
there first. Everywhere they looked
by day or night were Romans guard
ing the shore and showing them no
mercy. Until finally they heard the
ring of axes on the shore-saw the
trees falling, saw them shaped into
boats and chained into RATS, and
coming after them. The Jews came
on to meet them-not without hope
of victory, for they were a sea faring
people. They sailed about and lei
into them on every available side,