The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-10-29

and never reports what It does with tho
twenty million cubic feet Of water an
nually received from that sacred river.
1t takes the tree branches and logs
noated into 1t by the Jordan and pitches
them on the banks Of bitumen to decay
there.
The hot springs near Its banks by the
name of Callirhoe, where King Herod
came to bathe of his illness, no sooner
pour into this sea than they are poi
soned. Not fishscale swims in Ii. Not
IN insect walks 1t. 1t hates life, and II
you attempt to swim there 1t lifts you
by an unnatural buoyancy to the sur
face, as much as to say, I'VE want no
life here, but death is our preference,
death" Those who attempt to wade
into this lake, and submerge themselves,
come out almost maddened, as with the
sting Of hundred wasps and hornets,
and with lips and eyelids swollen with
the strange ablution. The sparkle OF
its waters is not like the sparkle OF
beauty on other lakes, but a metallic
lustre like unto the fash Of sword
that would thrust you. The gazelles
and ibexes that live on the hills beside
1t, and the cranes and wild ducks that
fly across-for, contrary to the old be-
lief. birds do safely wing their way over
it-and the Arab horses you have been
riding, though thirsty enough, will not
drink out Of this dreadful mixture. A
mist hovers over parts Of 1t almost con-
tinually, which, through natural evap-
Grafton, seems like q wing Of doom
spread over LIQUID desolation. 1t Is the
rinsings OF abomination. 1t Is an aque-
ous monster coiled among the hills, or
creeping with riples, and stenchful with
nauseating malodors.
In these regions once stood four great
cities Of Assyria: Sodom, Gomorrah,
Adma and Zeboim. The Bible says they
were destroyed by tempest Of fire and
birthstone after these cities had filed
up OF wickedness. mo, that is abb
surd," cries some one. 'Tt is evident
that this was region of salt and brim-
stone and pitch, long before that" And
so 1t was. The Bible says 1t was re-
gion OF sulphur long before the great
catastrophe. swell, now," says some
one, wanting TO raise quarrel between
science and revelation, ''you have no
right to say tho Cities Of the Plain were
destroyed by tempest Of fire and sui
phur and birthstone, because this re-
gion had these characteristics long be-
for these cities were destroyed" Vol
canic action is my reply. These cities
had been built out OF very combustible
materials. The mortar was OF bitumen
easily ignited, and the walls dripped
with pitch most infiammable. They sat,
1 think, on ridge OF hills. They stood
high up and conspicuous, radiant in
their sins, ostentatious In their de-
baucheries, four hells on earth. One
day there was q rumbling in the earth,
and q quaking. whats that?" cry the
affrighted inhabitants. whats thatp
The foundations Of the earth we're Civ
ing way. A volcano, whose fires had been
burning for ages, at Gods command
burst forth, easily setting every thing
afiame, and first lifting these cities high
in the air, and then dashing them dowr
in chasms fathomless. The fires Of thai
eruption intershot the dense smoke and
rolled unto the heavens, only to descend
again. And all the conhguration Of tha
country was changed, and whore there
was a hill there came valley, ant
where there had been the pomp Of un
cleanliness came widespread desolation
The red hot spade Of volcanic action hat
shoveled under the cities Of the plain
Before tho catastrophe the cities stoot
on the top OF the salt and sulphur. Afte
the catastrophe they we're under thu
salt and sulphur. Science right Rev
elation right HE touched the hill
and they smoke"
No science ever frightened believer
in revelation so much as geology. The.
feared that the strata Of the earth woul'
contradict the Scriptures, and thei
Moses must 20 under. But rs In tn
Dead Sea instance, so in all cases, God
writing on the earth and Gods writin
In the Bible are harmonious Tn
shelves Of rock correspond with tn
shelves Of the American Bible Society
Science digs into the earth and find
deep down the remains Of plants, and s
the Bible announces plants first Scienc
digs down and says, Marine animal
next" and the Bible says, Marine an
!. mails next" Science digs down an
says, LAND animals next" and th
Bible responds, LAND animals next
''Then comes mani" says science. "The
comes MANI responds the Bibl,
Science digs into the regions about th
|. Dead Sea, and finds result OF fire an
.. masses OF birthstone, and announces
. wonderful geological formation. "(
yes" says the Bible: "Moses wrot
thousands OF years ago, The Lord raine
, upon Sodom, and upon Gomorrah brin
|. stone and nre from the Lord out
, Heaven and David wrote, He touchet
: the hills and they smoke.'" 30 ! guei
We will hold on TO our Bibles littl
!. longer. A gentleman In the ants-roo
OF the White House, at Washington
|, having IN appointment with Mr.. Lincol
: at fiye O'Clock in the morning, got thei
fifteen minutes early, and asked II
: servant, "Who ia talking In the mel
roomp" ut Ia the President sirT' g
anybody with him7" mo, sir; he
i, reading the Bible. He spends ever
: morning from four TO Ave o'clock, res'
Z ing the Scriptures"
/ Ny text implies that God contro
|. volcanoes not with the full forco Of II
a hand, but with the tip Of His hnge
4 Etna, Stromboli and Vesuvius fawn