Connecticut western news., 1890-10-22
HORSEBACK TO JERICHO. DR. TALMAGE CONTINUES HIS HOLY
 LAND ITINERARY.

LAND ITINERARY.
 The Parable of the Good Samaritan and
 Scenery of the Loca1ity-December in
 syria-Anecdotes of Gladstone and Lord
 Napier.
 BROOKLYN, Oct. 19.-The wide spread and absorbing interest in Dr. Talmages course of sermons on the Holy Land and adjoining countries is demonstrated by the thousands who are turned away from the doors of the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Sun- day mornings and from The Christian Herald servicesin the New York Acad- emy of Music on Sunday evenings, un- able to gain even standing room in those immense auditoriums Today the fourth sermon of the series was preached as before-in this city in the morning and in New York at night. Having announced as his text Luke X, 30, "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho" Dr. Talmage said:
 It is the morning of Dec. 5 in Je- rusalem, and we take stirrups for the road along which the wayfarer of old fell among thieves, who left him wounded and half dead Jobs picture of the horse in the orient as having neck clothed with thunder" is not true of most horses now in Palestine. There is no thunder on their necks, though there is some lightning in their heels Poorly fed and unmerci- fully whacked, they sometimes retort. To Americans and English, who are accustomed to guide horses by the bris dle, these horses of the orient, guided only by foot and voice, make equestrian ism an uncertainty, and the pull on the bridle that you intend for slowing up of the pace may be mistaken for hint that you want to outgallop the wind or wheel in swift circles like the hawk.
 But they can climb steeps and de- scend precipices with skilled foot, and the one chose for our journey in Pal estine shall have the praise of going for weeks without one stumbling step, amid rocky steeps where an ordinary horse would not for an hour maintain sure footedness. There were eighteen of our party, and twenty-two beasts of burden carried our camp equipment. We are led by an Arab sheik, with his black Nubian servant carrying a load ed gun in full sight, but it is the fact that this sheik represents the Turkish government, which assures the safety of the caravan
 THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT.
 We cross the Jehoshaphat valley, which, if it had not been memorable in history and were only now discov- cred, would excite the admiration of all who look upon it. It is like the gorges of the Yosemite or the chasms of the Yellowstone park. The sides of this Jehoshaphat valley are tunnel ed with graves and overlooked by Jerusalem walls-an eternity of depths overshadowed by an eternity of archi lecture. Within sight of Mount Oivet and Gethsemane, and with the heavens and the earth full of sunshine, we start out on the very road mentioned in the text when it says, "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves" No road that I ever saw was so we'll constructed for brigandage-deep gulleys, sharp turns, caves on either side.
 There are fifty places on this road where highwayman might surprise and overpower an unarmed pilgrim. His cry for help, his shriek of pain, his death groan would be answered only by the echoes. On this road today we met groups of men who, judging from their countenances, have in their veins the blood of many generations of Rob Roys. Josephus says that Herod at one time discharged from the service of the temple forty thousand men, and that the greater part of them became robbers So late as 1920 Sir Frederick Henniker, an English tourist, was at tackled on this very road from Jeru- salem to Jericho, and shot and almost slain. There has never been any scar city of bandits along the road we travel today.
 With the fresh memory of some re- cent violence in their minds Christ tells the people of the good Samaritan who came along that way and took care of a poor fellow that had been set upon by villainous Arabs and robbed and pounded and cut. We encamped for lunch that noon close by an old stone building, said to be the tavern where the scene spoken of in the Bible cul- minated. Tumbled in the dust and ghastly with wounds the victim of this highway robbery lay in the middle of the road-a fact of which am certain, because the Bible says the people passed by on either side. There were twelve thousand priests living at Jeri- cho, and they had to go to Jerusalem to ohciate at the temple. And one of these ministers of religion, suppose, was on his way to the temple service, and he is startled as he sees this bleed ing victim in the middle of the road | "Oh," he says. There is a man that has been attacked of thieves. Why don't you go homeg" says the minister. The man in comatose state makes no answer, or, with half dazed look, puts bis wounded hand to his gashed fore head and drawls out ''What9' "Well, !" says the minister, "I must hurry on to my duties at Jerusalem. have to kill lamb and two pigeons in sacrifice to- day. I cannot spend any more time with this unfortunate. I guess some body else will take care of him. But this is one of the things that cannot be helped, anyhow. Besides that, my business is with souls and not with
 bodies. Good morning. When you
 get well enough to sit up will be gla(