The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-12-05

the clergyman, "You will not believe
any thing you have not seen. Have
you backbone?" "Yes," said the
skeptic. How do you know?" said the
clergyman Have you ever seen it?'
This mystery of God-head and human
ity interjoined 1 can not understand,
and l can not explain, but believe it
am glad there are so many things we
can not understand, for that leaves
something for Heaven. If we knew
every thing here, Heaven would be
great Incidence.
In about two hours we pass through
Cana, the village of Palestine where
| the mother of Christ and our Lord at
tended the wedding of a poor relative,
| having come over from Nazareth
for that purpose The mother of Christ
for women are first to notice such
things-found that the provisions had
fallen short and she told Christ, and He,
to relieve the embarrassment of the
housekeeper, who had invited more
guests than the pantry warranted, be-
came the butler of the occasion, and
out of cluster of few sympathetic
words squeezed beverage of 1876 gall
Ions of wine in which there was not one
drop of intoxicant or it would have left
that party as maudlin and drunk as the
great centennial banquet in New York
two years ago left Senators and Gov
errors, and Generals, and merchant
princes The difference between the
wine at the wedding in Cana, and the
wine at the banquet at New York being
that the Lord made the one and the
devil made the other. We got off our
horses and examined some of these
water jars at Cana said to be the very
ones that held the plain water that
Christ turned into the purple bloom of
an especial vintage.
And here is remarkable fact in my
recent journey-I travelled through
Italy, and Greece, and Egypt, and Pal
estine, and Syria, and Turkey, and how
many intoxicated people do you think I
saw in all those five great realms? Not
one. We unjust in our Christianized land
| have got hold of some kind of beverage
| that Christ did not make. o, am glad
that Jesus was present at that wedding.
and last December standing at Cana,
that wedding came back. Night had
fallen on the village and its surround
ings. The bridegroom had put on his
head bright turban and a garland of
! flowers, and his garments had been
made fragrant with frankincense and
| camphor, and preceded by a band of
musicians with flutes and drums, and
horns, and by torches in full blaze, he
starts for the brides home. The bride
=. j. H.,
covers her face but envelopes her body.
Her trousseau is as elaborate as the
resources of her fathers house permit
Her attendants are decked with all the
ornaments they own or can borrow.
At first sight of the torches of the
brid egroom and his attendants coming
over the hill the cry rings through the
home of the bride: ''They are in sight!
Get ready! Behold the bridegroom
cometh! Go We out to meet him." As
the two professions approach each other
the timblers strike and the songs COM
mingle, and then the two professions
become one and march toward the
bridegroom's house, and meet third
procession which is made up of the
friends of both bride and bridegroom
Then all enter the house, and the dance
begins and the door is shut And all
this Christ uses to illustrate the Joy
with which the ransomed of earth shall
meet Him when He comes garlanded
with clouds and robes in the morning
and trumpeted by the thunders of the
last day.
Lookl There He comes down off the
hills of Heaven. the bridegroom! And
let us start out to hail Him, for / hear
the voices of the Judgment day sound
ing, Behold, the Bridegroom comethi
Go ye out to meet Him." And the dis
appointment of those who have declined
the invitation to the Gospel wedding is
presented under the figure of door
heavily closed You hear it slam. Too
latei The door is shut!
But we must hasten on, for / do not
mean to close my eyes tonight till see
from a mountain top Lake Galilee, on
whose banks next Sabbath we will wor-
ship, and on whose waters the following
morning we will take sail On and
up we go in the severest climb of all
Palestine, the ascent of the Mount of
Beatitudes, on the top Of which Christ
preached that famous sermon on
blesseds-blessed be this and blessed be
that
On and up until on the rocks of black
basalt we dismount and climbing to
the highest peak, look out on an en-
chantment of scenery that seems to be
the beatitudes themselves, arched into
skies, aud rounded into valleys, and
silvered into waves. The view Is like
that OF North Carolina from the top
of Lookout mountain, or like that Of
Vermont and New Hampshire from the
top of Mount Washington. Hail hills
of Galilee! Hail Lake Genesaret, only
four miles away Yonder, clear up and
most conspicuous is Safed, the very
city which Christ pointed for illustra-
ton in the sermon preached here, say
ing: "a city set on hill can not be
hid" The valley Of Hattin between
here and Lake Galilee is an amphithea-
ter, as though the natural contour Of the
earth had invited all nations to come
and sit down and hear Christ preach
sermon in which there were more start
ling novelties than were ever announced
in all the sermons that were ever
preached.
The worlds theory has been: Blessed
are the arrogant; blessed are the super
cilio1s; blessed are the fearless; blessed
are they that have every thing their
own way; blessed are the war eagles;
blessed are the prosecutors; blessed ara
the popular; blessed are the Herods, and
the Caesars, and the Ahabs. 'Nol mol
nor says Christ with avoice that rings
over these rocks and through yonder