Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-11-13

huTlSnteu lnnaDltantS. whats thatI'
The foundations OF the earth were giving
way. volcano, whose fires had been
burning Tor ages at Gods command burst
forth, easily setting everything afiame. and
first lifting these cities high in air, and then
dashing them down in chasms fathomless.
The fires OF that eruption intershot the
dense smoke. and rolled into the heavens
only to descend again. And all the con-
fguration of that country was changed,
and where there was u hill there came a
valley, and where there had been the pomp
OF uncleanneSS came widespread deSola-
ton. The red hot spade of volcanic action
had shovelled under the cities of the plain.
Before the cat asst rophe, the cities stood on
the top OF the salt and sulphur. After the
catastrophe they were under the salt and
sulphur. Science right. Revelation right.
''He touc hed the hills and they smoke"
NO science ever frightened believers in
revelation SO much as geology. They
feared that the strata OF the earth would
contradict the Scriptures, and then Moses
must go under. But as in the Dead sea
instance. so in all cases Gods writing on
the earth. and Gods writing in the Bible
are harmonious. The shelves OF rock cor
respond with the shelves OF the American
Bible Society. Science digs into the earth
and finds deep down the remains OF plants,
ana so the Bible announces plants first.
Science digs down and says, "Marine ami
mails next and the Bible says. Marine
animals next Science digs down and
says. LAND animals next" and the Bible
responds, LAND animals next" Then
comes mani" 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 brim-
stone, and announces wonderful geologi-
cal formation. "Oh, yes" says the Bible:
''Moses wrote thousands Of years ago, THE
Lord rained upon Sodom. and upon Gomor-
rah birthstone and fire from the Lord out
OF heaven and David wrote, He toucheth
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 APP
po1ntment with Mr.. Lincoln at five o'clock
in tho morning. got there fifteen minutes
early, and asked the servant, "Who is talk
ing in the next room?' 1T is the President,
sir.' ais anybody with him?'' "No, sir: he
is reading the Bible. He spends every
morning from four to five o'clock reading
the Scrip lures"
My text implies that God controls vol
canoes not with the full force of His hand.
but with the tip OF His finger. Etna, Strom-
boil and Vcsuvius fuwn 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
dominions. 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 latitudes. That earth
quake which shook all America about six or
seven summers ago, was only the raving
around OF volcanoes rushing against the
sides OF their rocky caverns trying to break
out. They must come to the surface, but it
will be at the 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 transgres-
ntsh of ri lnvpn fnyi
tic OF the seven cities over which they put
their SIN offering wing: Pompeii, Hercula-
neum, Stable, Adma, Zeboim, Sodom
and Gomorrah. If our American
cities do not quit their prohigacy. if
in high life and low life dis
soluteness does not cease to become joke
and become q crime, il wealthy libertinism
continues to find so many doors OF domestic
life open to its faintlst touch, If Russian.
and French, and American literature. steep
ed in pruriency, does not get banished from
the news-stands and ladies' parlors, God
will let loose some of these suppressed mon
sters of earth. And l tell these American
cities that 1t will be more tolerable for Sod
ON and Gomorrah in the Day OF Judgment,
whether that Day OF Judgment
be in this present century or in the closing
century Of the earth's continuance. The
volcanic forces are already in existence, but
in the mercy Of God they are chained in the
kennels Of subterraneous fire. Yet let pro-
| higacy, whether 1t stagger into laZaretto
| or sit on o 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
| empearled, know right well that there is a
| volcano waiting for 1t. whether in domestic
life, or social life, or political life or in the
| foundations OF the earth from which sprang
| out the devastations that swallowed the
cities of the plain. HE 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 are prancing and neighing for de-
| parture. We are on for the Jordon, only
! stearn features melt into q smile as we give
them the salutation ''Salaam Aleikoum,'
| "Peace be with you," their smile some-
| times leaving us In doubt US to whether it il
| caused by their gladness to see us or by our
poor pronunciation OF the Arabic. Oh, they
are strange race, those BedOuins! Such
! a cOmmingling OF rufianism 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 pocket
books and perhaps life. this lady sitting
upon her horse took out her note book and
pencil and began to sketch these brigands
| anu seeing tnlS COmpOSure, inc DanO Us
thought it something supernatural and fed
Christian womanliness or manliness IS all
conquering. When Martin Luther was told
that Duke George would kill him II he went
to Leipsic, Luther replied, II would 60 tt
Leipsic II 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, anG
chancel, and pulpit and dome, and archi'
lecture OF the rocks that think car
hardly just happen SO, Perhaps it is be-
| cause God loves the church SO we'll, HI
builds In the solitudes of Yellowstone Park
and Yosemite, and Switzerland, and Pales
tine. these ecclesiastical piles. And wht
knows but that unseen spirits may some
times worship there2 "Dragoman, whel
shall we see the Jordan?" I ask. All tn
time We were on the alert, and lookin
through tamarisk and willows for tn
greatest river of all the earth. The Missis
sippi is wider, the Ohio is deeper. tho Anna
zon Is longer. he Hudson rolls amid re
gions more picturesque, the Thames ha
more splendor on its banks, the Tibe
suggests more imperial procession. tn
Illyssus has more classic memories, and tn
| aAe ,Jox 81 hxyS tie