The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-11-12

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under the salt and sulphur. Science right;
Revelation right. HE toucheth the hills
and they smoke"
No science ever frightened believers in Re.
velation so much as geology. They feared
that the strata of the earth would contradict
the Scriptures, and then Moses must go un.
der. But as in the Dead Sea instance so in
all cases Gods writing on the earth and Coils
writing in the Bible are harmonious The
shelves Of rock correspond with the shelves
Of the American Bible Society. Scienca
digs into the earth and finds deep down the
remains of plants. and so the Bible announces
plants first. Science digs down and says,
'.Marine animals next" and the Bible says
Marine animals next" Science digs down
and says, Land animals next" Then
comes manp says science. Then comes
man. responds the Bible. Science digs into
the regions about the Dead Sea, and finds
result Of fire and masses of brinl-
stone, and announces wonderful geologi-
cal formation. "Oh, yes" says the Bible,
Moses wrote thousands Of years ago, The
morrah birthstone and fire from the Lord
out Of heaven and David wrote, He touch
eth the hills and they smoke" So guess
we will hold on to our Bibles little longer.
A gentleman in the ante-room of the White
| House, at Washington, having an appoint
ment will, Mr.. Lincoln at 5 o'clock IN the
morning, got there fifteen minutes early, ana
asked the servant, "Who is talking In the
next room% ut is the President. sir" us
anybody with himP' ''No, sir; he is reading
the Bible. He spends every morning from
4 to o'clock reading the Scriptures"
My text implies that God controls vo:-
canoes, not with the full force Of his hand,
but with the tip Of his finger. Etna, Strom-
boil and Vesuvius fawn at his feet like
hounds before the hunter. These eruptions
of the hills do not belong to Pluto's realm, as
the ancients thought, but to the divine do.
minions. Humboldt counted two hundred
of them, but since then the Indian archipel-
ago has been found to have nine hundred Of
these great mouthpieces. They are on every
continent and in all ATTITUDES That earth
quake which shook all America about six or
seven summers ago was only tho ravlng
around of volcanoes rushing against the
sides of their rocky caverns trying to break
out. They must come to the surface, but 1T
will be at tho divine call. They seem re-
served for the punishment Of one kind OF sin.
The seven cities they have obliterated were
celebrated for one kind Of transgression.
Prohipacy was the chief characteristic OF the
seven cities over which they put their slnoth-
ering wing: Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stable,
Adma, Zeboim, Sodom and Gomorrah.
If our American cities do not quit their
profigacy, if in high life and low life disso-
futeness does not cease to be joke and be-
come a crime, If wealthy libertinism con-
tinues to find so many doors Of domestic life
open to its faintest touch, II Russian ana
French and American literature stepped IN
pruriency does not get banished from ths
news stands and ladies' parlors, God will let
loose some of these suppressed monsters OF
the earth. And I tell these American cities
that it will be mora tolerable for Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment,
whether that day Of judgment be in this
present century or in the closing century
Of the earths continuance. The volcanic
forces are already in existence, but in the
mercy Of God they are chained in the ken
nels Of subterraneous fire. Yet let protil-
eacy, whether it stagger into a lazaretto or
Sit on commercial throne, whether it laugh
In faded shawl under the street gas light or
be wrapped in the finest array that foreign
loom ever wrought or lapidary ever I'M
nsnrled. know right we'll that there is vol
cano waiting for it, whether in domestic life
or social life or political life orin the founda-
tions of the earth from which sprang out the
devastations that swallowed the cities Of the
plain. she toucheth the hills and they
smoke"
But the dragoman was rejoiced when we
had seen enough of this volcanic region Of
Palestine. and he gladly tightens the girths
for another march around the horses
which arc prancing and neighing for de-
parture We are off for the Jordon, only
stern features melt into smile as we give
them the salutation Salaam Aleikoum,
."Peace be with you," their smile sometimes
leaving US in doubt as to whether it is
caused by their gladness to see US or by our
poor pronunciation Of the Arabic Oh,
they are a strange race, those Belou!ns.
Such a commingling of ruffanism and
honor, of cowardice and courage, of cruelty
and kindness! When band of them came
down upon party in which Miss Whately
was travelling, and were about to take
pocketbooks and perhaps life, this lady, sit
ting upon her horse, took out her notebook
and pencil and began to sketch these brig
ands, and seeing this composure the bandits
thought it something supernatural and fed:
Christian womanliness or manliness Is all
conoueq.ing. When Martin Luther was told
that Duke George would kill him If he went
to Leipsic, Luther replied: II would go to
Leipsic if it rained Duke Georges nine days"
Now we come through regions where there
are hills cut into the shape of cathedrals,
with altar and column and arch and chancel
and pulpit and dome and architecture Of the
rocks that think can hardly just happen so.
Perhaps it is because God loves the church so
well, he builds in the solitudes Of Yellow.
stone park and Yosemite and Switzerland
and Palestine these ecclesiastical piles. And
who knows but that unseen spirits may
sometimes worship there? "Dragoman, when
shall we see the Jordan" I ask. All the
time we were on the alert and looking
through tamarisk and willows for tns
greatest river of all the earth. The Missls-
sippi Is wider the Ohio is deeper, the Anna
ron is longer, the Hudson rolls amid regions
more picturesque, the Thames has more
splendor on its banks the Tiber suggests
more imperial procession. the uyssus has
more classic memories, and the Nile feeds
greater populations by its irrigation, but the
Jordan is the queen Of rivers, and runs
through all the Bible, silver thread strung
like beads with heroics, and before night we
shall meet on its banks Elijah and Elisha
and David and Jacob and Joshua and John
and Jesus.
At last between two trees got glimpse
of a river and said, "What is that" "The
Jordan" was the quick reply. And all along
the line which had been heightened by other
pilgrims, some from America, and some from
Europe, and some from Asia, the cry was
sounded 1.-The Jordan? The Jordan" Hun,
dreds of thousands of pilgrims have chanted
on it's banks and bathed IN Its waters. many
of them dip a wet gown in the waves and
wiring it out and carry it home for their own
shroud. It is an impetuous stream ana
rushes on as though it were fastening to tell
its story to the ages. Many an explorer has
il whelmed and many boat has it wrecked.
Lieut Moloneaux had copper bottomed
crafts split upon its shelvingS. Only one
beat that of Lieut.. Lynch, ever lived TO
sail the whole length OF it. At. the season