The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-11-05

I pass BedOuinS whose stern features
melt into a 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 Ara
Bedouins Such a commingling OF
ruf1ianism and honor, of cowadice and
courage. of cruelty and kindness. When
a band of them came down upon a
party in which Miss Whately was trav-
cling, and were about to take pocket
books and perhaps life. this lady sitting
upon her horse took out her note book
and pencil and began to sketch these
brigands, and seeing this composare
the bandits thought it something su-
pernatural and fled. Christian woman
illness or manliness is all conqueriEg.
When Martin Luther was told that
Duke George would kill him if he went
to Leipsic Luther replied, Il wonld 60
to Leipsic if it rained Duke Georges
nine days
FIRST VIEW OF THE JORDAN.
Now we come through Tegious where
there are hills cut into the shape OF ca
thedrals, with altar and column and
arch and chancel and pulpit and dome
and architecture OF the rocks t;4at l
think can hardly just happen so. Per-
haps it is because God loves the church
so we'll, he builds in the solitudes OF
Yellowstone park and Yosemite and
Switzerland and Palestine these eccles-
iastical piles. And who knows but
that unseen spirits may sometimes
worship there? "Dragoman, when shall
we see the Jordan ?" l ask. All the
time we were on the alert. and looking
through tamari * and willows for the
greatest river of all the earth. The
Mississippi is wider, the Ohio is deep
er, the Amazon is longer, the Hudson
rolls amid regions more picturesque,
the Thames has more splendor on its
banks, the Tiber suggests more impe-
rial procession, the llyssuS 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, a silver
thread strung like Leads 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 a
glimpse of 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 "The Jordan, The Jor-
dan.'' Hundreds of thousands of pill
grims have chanted OF its banks and
bathed in it's waters. Many of them
dip "a wet gown in the wave and wiring
it out aad carry it home for their own
shroui. 1t is an impetuous stream,
and ruSheS OF as though it were has
tening to tell its story to the ages.
Many an explorer has it whelmed and
many Il boat has it wrecked. Lieut..
MolineauX had copper bottomed crafts
split upon its shelyings. Only one
boat, that of Lieut.. Lynch, ever lived
to sail the whole length of it. AT the
season when the SHOWS on Lebanon
melt the rage of this stream is like the
Conemaugh when JohnstoWn perished,
and the wild beasts that may be near
run for the hills, explaining what Jer-
emiah says, Behold he shall 60 up like
a lion from the swelling of Jordan"
No river so often changes its mind, for
it turns and twists, travelling two hun
dred miles to do that which in a
straight line might be done in sixty
miles. Among banks now low, now
high, now of rocks, now of mud and
now OF sand, laviag the feet of the ter
ebinths and oleanderS and acacias and
reeds and plstachios and silver poplars.
This river marrieS the Dead sea to
Lake Gallilee. and did ever so rough
groom take the hand of so fair :; bride?
MIRACLES AT TIE JORDAN.
This is the river which parted to let
an army of two million ISraelites
across. Here the skilled major general
of the Assyrian host at the seventh
plunge dropped his leprosy not only by
miraculous cure, but suggesting to all
ages that water, and plenty Of it, has
much to do with the sanitary improve
ment of the world. Here is where
some theological students of Elisha's
time were cutting trees with which to
build a theological seminary, and an AK
head, not sufficiently wedged to the
handle, flew off into the river and sank,
and the young man deplored not so
much the loss Of the AK head as the
fact that it was not his own. and cried,
''Alas. it was borrowed" and the pro-
phet threw a stick into the river, and
in defiance of the law of gravitation
the iron ak head came to the surface
and tloated like a cork upon the water,
and kept floating until the young man
caught it. \ miracle performed to
give one an opportunity to return that
which was borrowed, and rebuke in
all ages for those who borrow and nev-
er return, their bad habit in this re-
spect so established that it would be a
miracle If they did return it. Yea, from
the bank of this river Elijah took
team of fire, showing that the most
raging clement is servant OF the good,
and that there is no need that child
of God fear anything. for if the most
destructive of all elements was that
day fashioned into /; vehicle for de-
parting saint, nothing can ever hurt
you who love and trust the Loru.
am so glad that that chari Ut OF Ell
jah was not made out CT wood or crvS-
tai or anything ordinarily pleasant but
out Of fire, AID yet he went up without
having so much rs to fan himself.
When, stepping from amid the foliage
of these oleanderS and tamarisks on
the banks of the Jordan, ne put his
foot on the red step of the red equip
age, and took the red reinS OF vapor IN
his hands, and spurred the galloping
Steeds toward the wide open gate Of
heaven, it was scene forever memor-
able. So the hottest afilictions of your
life may roll you heayenward. SO the
most burning prosecutions, the most
fiery troubles: may become uplifting.
Only be sure that when you pull on
the bits of fire, you drive up toward
God, and not down toward the Dead
sea. When Latimer and Ridley died at
the stake hey went up in a chariot of
fire. When my friend Z. p. Bliss. the
pOSOel singer was consumed with the